SOCIETAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING

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SOCIETAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING

• Paul Pedersen
• University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Dept of Human Studies

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1.1 The culture-centered premise of counseling

• behaviors are learned and displayed in a cultural
  context
• accurate assessment, meaningful understanding and
  appropriate intervention are context dependent
• the cultural context of counseling is complicated

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1.2.  The cultural context
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1.3.   Multiculturalism  has evolved from a
method to a theory

• emphasizing both the parts and the whole
• the generic application of culture
• making all theories culture-centered

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1.4.  The broad definition of culture

• ethnographic, demographic, status and affiliation
  
• within-group differences exceed between-group
  differences
• emic and etic are two perspectives of the same
  reality
• culture is the complex totality of the
  environment
• culture is dynamic according to what is salient

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1.5.  The culturally encapsulated counselor

• defines reality according to one set of
  assumptions
• is insensitive to cultural variations among
  individuals
• protects unreasoned assumptions without proof
• seeks technique-oriented short-term solutions
• refuses to evaluate contrary viewpoints

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1.6.  Defining balance in the client's cultural
context

• the rule of opposites reconciles discord in
  harmony
• reflects the organimic systems of holistic health

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1.7.  Examples of balance in counseling

• positive implications of negatives
• negative potentials of positives
• tolerance for ambiguity
• resist simple solutions
• sensitivity to complicated collective forces
• sensitive to changes in the client
• sensitivity to changes in the counselor
• ability to adjust interviewer influence
• ability to maintain harmony in the interview

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1.8.  Implications of balance in counseling

• knowledge must go beyond rationality to include
  feelings
• relationships are important
• westernized perspectives are incomplete
• change is not inevitably positive
• we do not control our environment
• recovery skills get us out of trouble
• training of counselors must become more inclusive
  
• more emphasis on culture is need among counselors
  
• research has failed to develop  multicultural 
  theory

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1.9.  Underlying assumptions of culture-centered
counseling

• culture controls behavior
• each culture interprets counseling differently
• values are constructed by cultures
• behavior is displayed in a cultural context
• the same cultural context is experienced
  differently
• cultural patterns give meaning to cultural
  contexts
• aggregate data can lead to stereotyping
• as the cultural context changes behaviors also
  change
• only when the context has changed will
  individuals change
• meaning is constructed in each cultural context

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1.10.  Describing cultural identity
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2.1.  Managing culturally learned assumptions

• people are both similar and different at the same
  time
• culture is complex and not simple
• behaviors are not meaningful data
• not all racism is intentional
• we are vulnerable to cultural encapsulation
• inclusion is balanced with exclusion
• medical model is balanced with educational model
• clients depend on their own internal dialogue
  first

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2.2.  The cross-cultural trade off for conflict
management
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3.1.  The historical context of culture

• began in  17th  and  18th  century Europe to
  defend colonialism
• distinguished civilized people from savage
  primitives

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3.2.  The recent popularity of culture in the
social sciences

• awareness of consequences of development
• need for a  postcolonial  perspective
• social sciences have been internationalized
• national liberation movements have increased
• cross cultural psychology has developed
• activist social scientists of the  60s  are in
  power
• interdisciplinary cooperation has become more
  popular
• new forms of cultural diversity have emerged
• educational exchanges have increased
• a growing interest in indigenous psychology

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3.3.  The "racial" context

• race has been discredited as a scientific
  construct
• race continues important as a sociopolitical
  construct
• as few as 3 races and as many as 37 have been
  suggested
• Philippe  Rushton 's (1988) Asian-Blacks-Whites
• Arthur Jensen's (1992) intelligence research
• Hernsteins  (1994) bell curve
• racism is prejudice plus power to impose it
• Pinderhuges  (1984) on the nature of powerlessness

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3.4.  The Contact Hypothesis

• when groups come together under favorable
  conditions positive consequences occur
• when groups come together under unfavorable
  conditions negative consequences occur
• most spontaneous group contact is under
  unfavorable conditions

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3.5.  High Context cultures and Low Context
cultures

• some cultures put more emphasis on context than
  others
• most developed cultures are low context
• HC  is where the information is internalized
  concrete
• LC is where information is in the depersonalized
  abstract

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3.6.  The five stages of culture shock and the
U-curve

• initial contact honeymoon stage
• disintegration and self blame
• reintegration and anger
• integration of similarities and differences
• biculturalism

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3.7.  The ideological context of "explicit" moral
exclusion

• biased evaluations with unflattering comparisons
• derogation disparaging and denigrating
• fear of contamination
• expanding the target to legitimize victimization
• accelerating harm doing in destructive acts
• approving and condoning destructive behavior
• reducing moral standards to accept harmful
  behavior
• blaming the victim
• self-righteous comparisons
• desecration to demonstrate contempt

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3.8.  The ideological context of "implicit" moral
exclusion

• group think 
• transcendent ideologies to glorify the group
• deindividuation  and anonymity
• moral engulfment to replace ethics
• psychological distancing
• technical orientation
• double standards
• unflattering comparisons

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3.8.  The ideological context of "implicit" moral
exclusion (continue)

• euphemisms
• displacing responsibility to higher authorities
• diffusing responsibility to the collective
• concealing the effects
• glorifying violence
• normalizing violence
• temporal containment by making exceptions

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3.9  The future context alternatives

• authoritarian future
• chaotic future
• pluralist future
• learning the facility for our own survival
• chaos and complexity theory of nonlinear
  self-organizing dynamics

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4.1  The Westernization of counseling

• counseling is spreading from west to east with
  modernization and urbanization a one directional
  approach to reduce pain
• Western is a political not a geographical term
• Westernization is also scientific acculturation
• Western are more  idiocentric  and competitive
• Non-Western cultures more  collectivistic 
• the dangers of  pathologizing  mystical
  experiences
• the rise of " Easternization "

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4.2.  Non-Western assertions

• reincarnation
• individual self and cosmic SELF
• de-emphasize individualism with social
  relationships
• constructive dependency
• interdependence in parent-child relationships
• Japanese emphasis on obligation and self-sacrifice

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4.2.  Non-Western assertions(continue)

• parents model social behavior patterns
• personality patterns learned from roles
• paradoxical personality patterns
• the constructive role of rigid authority
• experience as well as logic provide data
• life is dialectical balance of opposites
• everything is political

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5.1.  The spiritual counselor inside the person

• counselors with a secular orientation are
  disadvantaged
• inside the person resources are important
• globally talk therapy is the exotic choice

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5.2.  The rationale for counselors knowing about
religion

• a high percentage of the population is religious
• people in crisis tend to rely more on spiritual
• therapy is not exclusively a secular process
• therapists are typically less religious than
  clients therapists are typically not well
  informed about religion

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5.3.  The role of alternative therapies based on
spiritual sources

• 50 of U.S. 75 of Europe and 80 of world relies
  on alternative therapies
• healing is following the straight path
• illness is being "tangled" requiring
  "straightening"
• self-righting mechanisms
• conventional and alternative therapies
  complementary

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5.4.  The cosmology of the Toba Bataks

• cosmos includes underworld, middleworld  and
  upperworld  time has quality as well as quantity
• space is not neutral
• the symbol is the thing it symbolizes
• all things have religious/spiritual meaning
• the need to take care of one's  tondi 

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6.1  Counseling the international student

• neither overemphasize nor underemphasize
  differences orientation is a continuous process
• learn the culture-specific skills of students
• students may bring in a companion for counseling
• peer support is extremely important
• help students monitor their own culture shock
• follow up students after their return home

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7.1.  Family therapies across cultures

• interlocking pathologies when problems are
  entangled
• fusion occurs when family members can not act
  independently
• pseudomutuality  refers to loss of boundaries

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7.2.  Major theories of family therapy

• Object Relations Theory
• Bowen Theory
• Structural Family Therapy
• Communication Theory

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7.3.  Increased problems for families

• working mothers experience guilt
• conflict in redefining responsibility
• wife's career outside the home is demanding
• media-driven pressure
• successful families experience pain in mobility
• increased conflict and legal problems in families
  parental roles increasingly differentiated

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7.4.  Alternatives for multicultural families

• single parent families increasing
• blended families are reconstituted through
  divorce
• extended or joint families with relatives and
  in-laws augmented families include nonrelatives 
• nonfamily shared households
• nonfamily sole person households
• homeless

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7.5.  Factors to consider in bicultural families

• issues of racism and poverty
• value conflicts between majority and minority
• most minority families are bicultural
• many minorities have experienced oppression
• common bounds of language symbolize belonging
  class differences complicate cultural differences

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7.6.  A racial/cultural interaction model for
family therapy

• within group and between group differences
  important dynamic changes at all levels
• racial/cultural identity role of the counselor
• cultural issues when minority clients are matched
  with majority counselors

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7.7  The five most frequently used models of
ethnic identity

• dominant majority model
• transitional model moves toward dominant culture
• alienation model seeks to make adjustments
• multidimensional model presumes multilevel
  transition bicultural model presumes joint
  membership
• the orthogonal model presumes multiple
  memberships

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7.8.  Characteristics of the orthogonal model

• cultures may associate without competition or
  isolation
• minority cultures need not be eliminated or
  absorbed
• a permanent  multicultural  society need not be a
  melting pot
• value conflicts are not insurmountable
• cultural conflict may be a positive force
• people less militant when survival not the issue
• interaction of majority and minority may be
  constructive
• economic advantages of cooperation
• existing models of orthogonal relationships

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7.9.   Ho'oponopono  family gatherings

• pule or prayer of opening
• kukulu   kumuhana  reaching out to the disruptive
  person
• hala  is describing the problem
• mahiki  is untangling
• ho'omalu  is the sanction of silence
• mihi  where the wrongdoer asks forgiveness
• kala where the wrongdoer is brought back into the
  group
• pani  is the religious prayer of closing

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8.1.  Complexity in culture-centered counseling

• clear and separate identification of counselor
  views
• clear and separate identification of client views
  
• see the other's actions from the other viewpoint
• listen and store information for later
• shift topics
• label feelings
• identify support systems
• identify alternative solutions
• define criteria for evaluation
• generate new insights

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8.2.  Varieties of training models

• classroom model
• attribution training
• cultural awareness training
• cognitive behavior modification
• experiential training
• interactional  training with resource persons

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8.3.  Barriers to skill training

• comparability and  generalizability  is difficult
  
• clients are fitted to the technique
• transfer from the laboratory to the real world
• defining the limits of skills
• skills training is Westernized
• focuses on changing the individual rather than
  the context
• can violate rights of privacy
• hard to identify reinforcing events or rewards
• too expensive

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8.4.   Intrapsychological counseling

• introjection (like imaginary playmate)
• identification (imitate someone else)
• incorporation (bluer distinction between self and
  others)
• cognitive therapies focus on internal dialogue
• Gestalt focuses on good-me-bad-me
• Psychodrama focuses on alter ego
• Conjoint family therapy focuses on pathogenic
  coalitions

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8.5.  The Triad Training Model works best when

• includes positive and negative feedback
• simulated interviews of real situations
• safe context
• train the  procounselor  and  anticounselor 
• feedback to trainee is immediate and continuous
• resource persons are articulate and authentic
• counselor trainee can focus on the client
• spontaneous and not scripted
• videotaped debriefing
• brief interview of 8-10 minutes

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8.6.  The role of the  anticounselor 

• forces counselor to see client's perspective
• articulates the unspoken impolite messages
• forces counselor to examine defensiveness
• immediately identifies inappropriate
  interventions forces the counselor to focus
  attention

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8.7.  Distractions that an anticounselor  might
do

• build on positive side of problems
• distract or sidetrack the counselor
• obstruct communication
• annoy the counselor
• exaggerate differences between counselor and
  client
• demand immediate results
• communicate privately with the client
• identify scapegoats
• attack the counselor's credibility

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8.8.  The role of the  procounselor 

• resource for the counselor to consult
• provider of explicit information
• provides a partner for the counselor
• helps counselor stay on track
• provides beneficial feedback

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8.9.  Supports the procounselor might do

• restate or reframe message in a positive fashion
  keep the interview on track
• offer approval or reinforcement
• call attention to priority items
• reinforce significant client statements
• suggest alternative strategies to the counselor

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9.1.  The Awareness-Knowledge-Skill framework

• awareness of basic underlying assumptions
• facts and information of knowledge
• skills for taking appropriate action

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9.2.  Using the intrapersonal cultural grid

• identify a significant behavior or action
• identify expectations behind that behavior
• identify values behind each expectation
• identify the culture teachers of those values

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9.4.  The Three Dimensional Model 
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9.5.  The interpersonal cultural 
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10.1.  Three general perspectives of ethics

• relativism
• absolutism
• contextual/universalism

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10.2.  Philosophical premises of ethics

• principle of altruism
• principle of responsibility
• principle of justice
• principle of caring

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10.3.  Ethical guidelines for cross-cultural
research

• significant involvement is correct
• criteria for informed and free consent
• ultimate responsibility with the researchers
• what is the benefit of the research and to whom
  advisory principles rather than a strict code
• continuous reformulation of guidelines

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10.4.  Ethical violations are often unintentional

• color blindness
• overly color conscious
• transfer good or bad feelings from elsewhere by
  client
• transfer good or bad feelings from elsewhere by
  counselor
• misinterpret cultural ambivalence
• client might see counselors implicit bias
• counselor might misinterpret nondisclosure

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10.5.  Rest's six stages of moral development

• obedience, "do what you are told"
• instrumental egoism, "let's make a deal"
• interpersonal concordance "be considerate to make
  friends"
• law and duty, "obey the law and it will protect
  you"
• consensus building, "the duty to follow due
  process"
• nonarbitrary  cooperation "be rational and
  impartial

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10.6.  Systematic biases in the ethical codes

• individualism is favored
• client must adjust to the system or majority
• an elitist bias favoring the more powerful
  provider oversimplification of cultural issues
• assumed absolute standards of right and wrong
• what is good for the counselor is good for
  everyone

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11.1.  Culture-centered controversies

• is counseling culturally encapsulated?
• are counseling measures culturally biased?
• should culture be defined narrowly or broadly?
• can you measure  ethno -racial cultural identity?
  
• should similarities or differences be emphasized?
  
• are professional ethical guidelines adequate?

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12.1.  New research is required in the following
areas

• accurate epidemiological data
• development of identity models
• historical influences on counseling
• how to control and manage prejudice
• the developmental progress of White cultures
• a balanced perspective

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12.1.  New research is required in the following
areas (continue)

• more emphasis on within-group differences
• a bicultural or  multicultural  identity
  development community-based samples
• primary prevention programs
• accurate tests and measures
• a balance of  emic  and  etic 

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12.2.  Models of culture-centered counseling

• culture-specific models
• culture-general models
• culture-free/culture-fair models
• culture deficit models
• relativism and absolutism

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12.3.  Changes for the future of society

• demographic stable world population
• reduce the environmental impact of technology
• economic transition to the "real" costs
• social transition through supranational alliances
  
• institutional transition to focus on global
  problems
• informational transition to educate the masses

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12.4.  Changes for the future of counseling

• increased awareness of revolutionary change
• generic understanding of culture
• pressure by minority groups
• separate identities for each special interest
  group
• counseling theories adapted to different cultures

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12.4.  Changes for the future of counseling
(continue)

• counseling methods adapted to different cultures
• counseling more globally popular
• more participation by non-Western cultures
• cultural encapsulation is challenged
• counseling becomes  multidisciplinary 
• counseling becomes more readily available
• counselors forced to adapt or be left behind

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12.5  The culture-centered alternative for
counseling

• tolerance of ambiguity increases
• a balance of pain and pleasure is accepted
• indigenous counseling becomes more important
• counseling will focus on restoring balance to
  clients
• individuals are seen in the collective cultural
  context
• intuition will become a source of information

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12.5  The culture-centered alternative for
counseling (continue)

• higher states of consciousness will be achieved
• problems will be viewed in the cosmic context
• social responsibility will become more important
• both similarities and differences will become
  important
• more emphasis on the historical context
• counselors will become more aware of their own
  biases