Affirmative Psychotherapy for American Jews by Schlosser (2006) is an enlightening article that aims to address the issue of oppression among Jewish Americans.
According to the author, psychotherapists have failed to address matters relating to ethnicity, race and culture affecting the Jewish community in America. As a result, Jewish Americans have received inadequate consideration in clinical work and professional literature.
In place of actual understanding or knowledge about American Jews, people tend to rely a lot on suppositions and stereotypes that exist owing to the substantial variability among the Jews.
The article helps the reader to understand the Jewish culture and the American Jews, including effective ways that help to ensure that the Jewish community gets access to culturally harmonious and positive psychotherapy services.
Schlosser (2006) offers guidance that would enable psychotherapists to work effectively with American Jewish clients. For instance, the author provides vital demographic information relating to this community.
He also presents information relating to Jewish culture and Judaism, including the various psychotherapeutic interventions suitable for the Jewish Americans. Psychologists have developed comprehensive interventions that help to address the issue of culture.
These interventions are critical because they enable psychologists to consider the influence that cultural factors have on people. Despite these developments, experts in the field of psychology have not explored the issues of culture, identity and ethnicity affecting Jewish Americans.
For example, the experts have not documented any studies on the psychotherapeutic interventions that are most suitable for Jewish American clients.
According to Schlosser (2006), Jewish Americans are an ethnic minority because their population represents approximately 2 percent of the total population in America. Recent statistics indicate that there are nearly 12 to 17 million Jews in the world.
Five to six million of the Jewish population lives in America. Jewish Americans also represent a unique cultural group that deserves consideration in the multicultural literature. As the author notes, most Jewish Americans live in large cities such as Chicago and California.
The three cities in America with the highest number of Jews include Los Angeles, Miami and New York. The Jewish people have a history that is both long and rich.
Many people across different parts of the world identify themselves as Jews. Ashkenazim is among the major Jewish ancestries. Other leading ancestries include Sephardim and Mizrachim.
Judaism represents a lot for the Jews. While some Jews view it as a culture and religion, others view it as an embodiment of ethnicity and traditions. Due to their inconceivable diversity, it is impossible to group Jews into a particular demographic class.
Jews have different ways of expressing their identities. In addition, different Jews have different levels of devotion to their law. This means that there is no standardized way of being Jewish.
Moreover, Jews demonstrate wide differences in their practices and holiday observances. Besides, there are notable differences in their ethnic and cultural categorization.
The main issues affecting many Jewish Americans include antisemitism, the Holocaust and the perception of their religion (Schlosser, 2006).
To ensure success in providing affirmative psychotherapy, psychotherapists must strive to increase their awareness of the Jewish people. The psychotherapists must understand the feelings and thoughts that they have regarding the Jews.
In addition, they must deal with any antisemitic perceptions before working with Jewish American patients (Schlosser, 2006). Besides, they have to demonstrate consciousness when asking about Jewish identity.
Likewise, the psychotherapists need to bond with their clients and exercise caution when interpreting their interpersonal suspicions. Furthermore, the psychotherapists should realize that Jews have high regard for insightful conversations and emotional expressions.
Reference
Schlosser, L. Z. (2006). Affirmative Psychotherapy for American Jews. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43 (4), 424-435.