Psychotherapy for Immigrants and Refugees - Term Paper Example

?Psychotherapy for Immigrants and Refugees Immigrants and refugees do not all have similar experiences since most of them differ in terms of nationality, age, geographic locations, employment status, family and the time of arrival into the host country (Corey, 2009). Some of the common issues that face immigrants and refugees include exploitation, fairness and equity, stress, communication problems, discrimination, mental health issues as well as cultural competence. Social workers and psychotherapists have a duty to respond to the needs of each of these immigrants and refugees in order to lessen their burden. Social training skills and psychotherapy support go a long way in ensuring that this group of people have an easy transition from the lives that they are used to their adopted lives (Pumariega, Rothe and Pumariega, 2005). One of the major challenges that face psychotherapy for the immigrants and psychotherapists is communication problems. In the US, many of the refugees who come to the country hardly ever know English, making communication a daunting task (Balgopal, 2000). This lack of clear communication between the psychotherapists and the immigrants makes it hard for the professional counselors to help the immigrants cope with their new life. Without proper communication channels, it becomes hard to understand the needs, fears and expectations of the immigrants. However in some instances, there are some immigrants who and understand multiple languages, including the language spoken in the host country. This makes it possible for the psychotherapists to have them as translators. Although this is better than not communicating at all, it has its limitations. The translator may not put the message across as it is supposed to be, hence meaning might be lost between the psychotherapist and the immigrant that he is supposed to be helping (Fong, 2004). Another challenge that immigrants, refugees and psychotherapists normally face is the problem of cultural differences. Concepts of psychotherapy for immigrants and refugees emphasizes on the importance of understanding the various cultures involved (Ryan, 1992). However, doing so is not very easy as most people are inclined to think in terms of their own cultures and in total disregard of the other person’s culture. In many cases psychotherapists do not have any idea of how to deal with all the different cultures that they face in their line of work. The immigrants themselves are also mostly adamant to let go of their worldview in support of another new one. The ensuing conflict that results form cultural misunderstandings may impact negatively on the work of social psychotherapists (Corey, 2009). The psychotherapy process for the immigrant might seem like a very long and time consuming activity, and this impacts negatively on what the psychotherapists are trying to achieve. Many immigrants and refugees normally flee from their own countries of origin to new ones in search of a better life (Chang-Muy and Congress, 2009). If anything comes between them and the attainment of their new status, they are bound to consider it a waste of time. Acculturation and integration are hardly some the things that come top on the immigrants’ priority lists. Getting them to understand the importance of psychotherapy to help them fit in may be difficult and some of them might even resist any attempt to help them adopt smoothly into their new lives (Pumariega, Rothe and Pumariega, 2005). Psychotherapists need to be given enough training before dealing with immigrants and refugees. They should be trained on cross-cultural communication and acceptance as it plays a big role in how successful any psychotherapy process is. There is need for the development of psychotherapy and counseling techniques that should focus on skills that are influential to the integration, assimilation and acculturation of immigrants and refugees (Pumariega, Rothe and Pumariega, 2005). Training programs for counselors should include skill development for the incorporation of the family and/or the community in the psychotherapy sessions. The skills to address the personal and community beliefs of immigrants and refugees should also be enhanced during counselor training. Gaining these skills could go a long way in ensuring that the immigrants’ transition in their new environments is smooth (Corey, 2009). In the process of adaptation, immigrants and refugees can be offered different forms of psychotherapy including: behavioral therapy, family therapy, humanistic integrative psychotherapy and group psychotherapy (Chang-Muy and Congress, 2009). These therapies are among those that can help the immigrants to settle and integrate well in their new environments without necessarily feeling pressured to leave behind their culture, traditions and identities. Behavioral therapy me be useful in helping the immigrant or refugee individuals and families to deal with the stresses that come with starting a new life in a foreign place. This therapy may also help the immigrants get over any physical and emotional traumas that they have suffered while on transit to their host countries (Ryan, 1992). The process of moving form a familiar place to a completely different one may have a toll on the family. Family therapy is therefore useful in helping families cope with the stress of getting to start anew. Humanistic integrative psychotherapy is important as it helps immigrants develop personally and in their relationships with other people in society. Most immigrants move in groups, therefore group therapy is important as it helps individual immigrants and refugees learn how to cope with any challenges that they may face, as a group and not alone (Balgopal, 2000). Conclusion Many immigrants and refugees normally go through a lot of tough situations that may impact on their physical and psychological lives. Psychotherapy helps to alleviate some of the pain and suffering that the immigrants might have suffered, or might be suffering as a result of their being away from home. Since many of them come from different socio-cultural backgrounds, they need to be counseled in order to make their integration, assimilation and acculturation in their new countries easier. Although there may be challenges encountered when dealing with counseling needs of immigrants and refugees, they can be minimized through proper training that focuses on cross-cultural understanding and acceptance. This will help both the immigrants and their psychotherapists to understand each other and this way, it will be easier for the immigrants to accept their current situation and learn how to make the best out of it. Psychotherapists can make sue of different types of psychotherapies to help immigrants and refugees get to settle down to their new lives without much stress and worry. References Balgopal, P.R. (2000). Social work practice with immigrants and refugees. New York: Columbia University Press Chang-Muy, F. and Congress, E.P. (2009). Social Work with immigrants and refugees: legal issues, clinical skills and advocacy. New York: Springer Publishing Company Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole Fong, R. (2004). Culturally competent practice with immigrant and refugee children and families. New York: Guilford Press Pumariega, A., Rothe, E. and Pumariega, J. (2005). Mental health of immigrants and refugees. Community. Mental Health Journal, vol. 41(5), 581-97 Ryan, A.S. (1992). Social work with immigrants and refugees. New York: Haworth Press, Inc. Read More