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Theory and Design in Counseling and Psychotherapy
Susan X Day , Iowa State University and University of Houston
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CHAPTER 11: Systemic Approaches: Culture and
Gender Bases
Chapter Review
Cultural systems thinking takes into account the influences of subgroups within the larger culture. Human beings are social in nature, and as such form communal groups. Societal structures determine how the groups relate to one another. People within groups take on characteristics that reflect the interactions between subgroups and the distribution of power or influence. To a large degree, the groups we belong to affect who we are in our own minds and in the minds of others. Focusing attention on the interaction of societal groups can reveal important influences on individual human beings.
The social context each person grew up in, and lives in, creates a values orientation, such as valuing individual independence rather than social belongingness. Contextual influences are so basic; it is difficult to think outside the defining confines of what we are taught and what is reinforced. Each person has internalized expectations originating from the mainstream culture and relevant subcultures to which he or she belongs. Some mental health disorders show global uniformity regardless of the specific society, but culture affects the impact of a disorder in terms of clients' behavior, prognosis, and symptom improvement. Research also demonstrates that counseling professionals show inconsistencies in diagnosing clinical disorders based on societal expectations of people in specific groups.
Training and education alert helping professionals to cultural differences and encourage ethnographic attitudes. As counselors clarify the contextual conditions, clients can better understand themselves and the origins of psychological issues. Gender expectations create an image of what defines masculinity and femininity and are the most salient of all social mandates based on subgroup classification. Mirror image stereotypes prescribe characteristics for men that are the opposite of what is considered appropriate for women, though scientific research has not shown a genetic basis for broad behavioral differences between sexes. Counselors help clients recognize the prescribed quality of gender expectations and facilitate an awareness of resulting inner experiences. As societal messages for gender roles have changed across generations, role strains and conflicts have also created psychological reactions and issues relevant for counseling. Feminist therapists stress the sex differences in power, status, and economic equity. To encourage a therapeutic experience of empowerment rather than submissive acceptance, feminists also emphasize a collaborative counseling process and encourage social activism. Consciousness-raising groups examine personal experiences in the context of societal sexism. Men's groups and individual counseling deal with the restrictive nature of male gender roles.
Minority groups have subcultural differences as well as experiences stemming from their minority status. The majority culture has the influential power to set not only major expectations for participating in the society at large, but also to characterize minority groups from the majority culture's point of view. Discrimination and bias demand that minority members acquire the social habits of paying attention to differing expectations as well as deferent behaviors acceding to the power of members of the ruling group. Economic status, also controlled to a great extent by the majority, often overlaps with minority status and adds external pressure as well as social psychological difficulties. Respect for cultural differences and sensitivity to the implications of differing economic and power positioning includes acceptance of healing traditions that are not certified by mainstream professionalism. Indeed, the profession itself is a subgroup with its own biases that need to be adapted according to Person-Centered preferences.
However, training that explicates cultural differences runs the risk of amplifying generalities to the point of stereotyping, assuming that general observations about the group as a whole apply to individuals. Examining client characteristics and counseling issues from various perspectives, cultural as well as family dynamics and individual preferences, avoids stereotypic assumptions. There is considerable similarity between humanistic and other counseling approaches and cultural orientations, and in fact, most counselors integrate diversity awareness with other theoretical conceptualizations.
One particular concept is worth noting. The psychological costs of negative social conditions do not suggest individuals lose an ability to make independent choices or to overcome obstacles that inhibit psychological health and contentment. Although recognizing external influences can reduce shame and self-blame, healing entails taking personal responsibility for the course of one's life. Living from a victim's stance over time diminishes a person's capacity for self-expression and his very humanity. The goal of sorting out cultural and gendered precedents from individual preferences is to enhance personal identity.
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