Introduction
Culture is defined as the people’s way of life in regards to attire, religion, and beliefs. A multicultural society is the one where people of diverse backgrounds live together. Every multicultural society usually faces many challenges. Certain people within a multicultural society may not be tolerant of or accommodative of other cultures. Multicultural societies are mostly common in urban centers where there are migrants from all sorts of places coming to live together and share amenities.
Mental ailments are common in multicultural societies. In a set up in which there are many people from wide-ranging backgrounds, the disparities in mental ailments lie in the very tiny differences that define normality and abnormality. Outright madness is easy to verify, but fatigue and stress are issues brought about by the new living order in a multicultural society how people react to these differences shapes their behaviors. It thus becomes very obsolete to apply a uniform formula in such unique behavior patterns. However, a tailor-made approach to the uniqueness of every case ensures great success in the diagnosis of a particular case. In this way, a doctor establishes the reasons for the change in behavior and whether the change is positive and beneficial to the client, or it is derogatory (Murphy & Dillon, 2011).
The ineffectiveness of a diagnosis impairs the process of recovery of a patient. For patients of mental disorders to regain their former selves and behaviors, they must be prescribed to the most effective treatments.
Major problems inherent in being a technique-driven counselor in a multicultural setting
One of the major problems that are brought about as a result of technique-driven multicultural counseling is that it leads to generalizations of the various cultures. It thus leads to stereotyping, which might adversely affect the whole process. It is, therefore, appropriate to note that in the existence of shared values among the various cultures living together, there must be the realization that there are certain differences that should not be overlooked. For counseling to achieve relevance beyond the challenge that generalizations pose to counseling psychology, every counselor must learn to treat every counseling case as unique. Every counselor must embrace a variety of counseling approaches to give his counseling work results bring out the different perspectives of a psychoanalysis study (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2009). This is because the lack of variations in counseling strategies will most likely bring similar outcomes or fail to bring out the counselor’s expected outcomes.
The second major hurdle in this model of counseling is the assumption that is seen in the characterization of minority groups among the different cultures co-existing together. An Individual client giving the notion that diverse cultures are reserved may then lead to the conclusion that the assumptions are true. Cultures will always rely on each other in terms of ideas, trade, and other aspects of life.
The third major hurdle in technique-driven counseling is the acceptance that different individuals or cultures require personified attention due to their different needs. Most counselors fail to recognize that different cultures differ in needs and characteristics. Some counselors have the tendency to be dominating and authoritative in their counseling approaches and in providing solutions for their clients’ needs and thus fail in their counseling duties or endeavors. Such counselors would not therefore be considered as worthy.The counselor should always conduct a comprehensive research on different cultures. All the key variables that dictate the way people live should be outlined for manipulation in the research process by the counselor. These variables include sex, gender, culture, tradition, and economic activities. The methods of data collection should be relevant and accurate to achieve the targeted counseling goals. All biases and limitations of the counseling study should also be put into perspective. A counselor who does not conduct a needs assessment as an approach meant to provide solutions to his or her counseling work, is usually bound to fail.
Multicultural set ups widen the base of psychological problems. The sheer number of people who live in a single locality as well as their diversity present social, economic, and cultural challenges. It is required that a doctor lives in the same environment as that of the patient. It is also of paramount importance that the doctor tries to go through the very experiences his clients go through and eventually determines whether indeed the clients are mentally disturbed or not, and if this is the case, he or she should establish what types of diagnoses and treatments would be best for his or her clients.
Conclusion
In conclusion, psychoanalysis is a discipline of medicine that is geared towards determining the mental state of an individual and it is also charged with the professional obligation of offering solutions to those who are mentally disturbed. The definition of mental disturbance is never predetermined. It ranges from mild behavior change to absolute madness. Patterson in his article named, “Multicultural counseling: From diversity to universality.” prescribes having a personal relationship with the client in order to better understand his or her problems. This is what Patterson describes as the process of humanization (Patterson, 1996). Effective diagnosis does not lie in the techniques of counseling employed by a doctor towards a patient but by the degree in which the doctor understands his or her patient.
References
Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (2011). Interviewing in Action in a Multicultural world (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Patterson, C. H. (1996). Multicultural counseling: From diversity to universality. Journal of Counseling and Development, JCD, 74(3), 227.
Seligman, L. W., & Reichenberg, L. W. (2009). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: Systems, strategies, and skills (3rd ed.). Boston, USA: Pearson.