This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Oppenheimer, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Alma's Bedside Ghost: Or the Importance of Cultural Similarity

Doctors Family Care, South Miami

Cultural similarity between client and therapist is a significant variable in the successful outcome of therapy. People from different cultures do not only speak different languages, but also have different (sometimes opposing) perceptions of reality. Values, moral and social codes, and the meaning of pathology can often only be understood within the parameters of the patient's culture. This article describes the case of a severely depressed Hispanic patient who started improving only after she was able to reframe her depression within the context of her Latino spiritist beliefs. During therapy, her belief in the supernatural was not labeled pathological. The therapist, also a Hispanic, accepted the client's references to "intranquil spirits" as a way of dealing with painful issues within some Latino cultures. This is an example of how cultural affinity between client and therapist is often a necessary tool in therapy.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?