Culturally sensitive revision of personality theories and psychotherapeutic approaches: A model of i
MENA Dubai 2003 Abstract
Author Marwan Dwairy
Copy Psychology in general and counseling psychotherapy in particular developed to understand the individual that emerged as an independent entity in the era of individualism in Europe and North America. Theories of development described a process of individuation that ends in having independent identity. Personality theories explain behavior based on intra-psychic constructs and processes. Psychopathology is considered to be an intra-psychic disorder and psychotherapy intends to restore intrapsychic order.

In Asia, Africa, and South America people still live in a collective socio-cultural system. In these societies adults continue to adopt collective identity.

Much of the psychology tends to be reductionistic: separating mind from body, and the individual from the family. In addition, psychology tends to be positivistic: appreciating materialistic reality and undermining imagination. Most of collective societies are holistic rather than reductionistic, and spiritualistic who appreciate dreams and visions rather than materialistic reality. All these psycho-cultural features of collective people challenge the essence of psychotherapy and counseling.

My model of intervention suggests to fit the psychotherapeutic approach to the client, according to three main factors that should be evaluated before intervention begins: level of individuation, coping ability, and family strictness. Clients who are less individuated, lacking coping abilities, and live in a strict family are recommended to short-term, concrete, and goal oriented therapy. With these clients, therapy should involve the family too and should not be restricted to the clinic. Within this context therapist should identify contradictions within the value system of the client and within that of the family, and join and mobilize the progressive forces within both client and family. Metaphor therapy is recommended for collective clients because it allows deep change without disclosing or discharging forbidden contents from the unconscious that may cause confrontations with the family. A bio-psychosocial model of metaphoric therapy is proposed. Three metaphor therapies will be presented and explained according to this model.