Western Psychotherapy and Cultural Misunderstanding - Coursework Example

Psychological Disorders from a Cultural Perspective The of the Numerous psychological disorders may be treated by the means of traditional Western psychotherapy as well as through indigenous healing. An experience of the recent time has evidenced an extremely positive effect of indigenous methods of treatment on improvement of various psychological disorders. One of such methods is Naikan therapy that has in its basis the practice of meditation. Indigenous healing has many advantages in its approaches to the solution of psychological problems comparing to traditional medicine, namely: in-depth analysis of psychological mechanisms from the perspective of human’s interaction with his culture, active involvement of patients in the process of healing, constant accompanying participation of practitioner in patients’ recovery. Moreover, it has its particular benefit for overwhelming of cultural misunderstanding between different nations. Keywords: indigenous healing, Western psychotherapy, cultural misunderstanding. Psychological Disorders from a Cultural Perspective There is a common belief that psychological disorders are caused by some psychological aspects of our development or appear to be a result of particular harmful external factors. In this regard, very often psychological disorders are treated by traditional therapy based on an analysis of intrapersonal, interpersonal conflicts or a kind of outer conflict within environment, which is one of contributors for onset of a disorder. Anyway, there is rare practice of applying for some indigenous methods of healing for treatment of an individual case of mental affection. Indigenous healing with its therapeutic intervention, focused on specific cultural assumptions in exploration of patients’ past experience, sometimes brings benefits in the cases where traditional therapy is unable, or can be applied alongside with it for greater state improvement. Let’s consider the role and meaning of indigenous healing through the studying of its methods and their comparison with methods of traditional Western notions of treatment. There is a practice of Naikan therapy, a type of indigenous healing. Being based on the principle of introspection Naikan therapy examines perspective of a person’s intercommunion with others analyzing it from the perspective of people’s cultural peculiarities. Patients of this method come through constant meditation, in which their past is explored in the aspects of the role of others in the life of patients, and respectively positive and negative activities of the latter for their surroundings. Serving as a profound analysis of the very root of personal problems, Naikan method of healing “… is able to reframe our thought processes to produce outcomes which bring us deeper insight and happiness” (Xinmen, 2010). It is built on the premise that people’s existence is supported by their world, or rather to say society. However, men take it from other persons without a shred of gratitude or even without realizing of their contribution to their everyday life. Theory of Naikan argues that people suppress the recognition of this support, because they are afraid to be obliged and to lose their infirm feelings of self-sufficiency due to revaluation of their existence (Krech, 2002). One way or another, practice of Naikan is focused on rebalancing of the incorrectly perceived past. If I were a patient of Naikan therapy I would likely feel in unusual way, as it is quite new practice for me because of meditation. Probably, it is hard to sit at one place for about 15 hours per day during a week concentrating on evaluation of my self-perception in our society and understanding the nature of our interaction. Still, this is worth it on the assumption of the positive effect on the second thought about my role in people’s life as well as their role in my everyday being. According to data of practitioners who have applied such a method of healing, most patients at the end of the therapy typically report experienced by them feelings of guilt and remorse alongside with the rising recognition of love and care from others and the desire to thank the world for its continued support (Krech, 2002). Being aware of my personal vision of society and some of my grievances towards my surrounding, I think it would be rather beneficial for me to think over my existence, even investigating a problem after a problem every day, spending the whole time puzzling out my attitude to other people. In particular, there is a person in my environment who has experienced indigenous healing. She was diagnosed with manic depressive psychosis by her psychotherapist. In fact, the treatment that put on medication for her case was quite successful, and there even were particular positive changes in her state. Naturally, it took some time. But at some stage of the treatment the progress just stopped, and there wasn’t evident development for almost two months. My friend continued to suffer from sudden mood drops, moreover there appeared a tendency of prevalence of depressive mood over motiveless fun, which made her suffer even more. By pure accident, her mother’s colleague told about indigenous healing, in particular Native American medicine. The case is that its key emphasis is put on the meaning of social spirit in people’s life. Being tired of lasting traditional treatment, my friend decided to try this one. As a result, after some time of healing, during which there was a series of meditations and self-analysis in the context of her self-perception as an active part of the whole named life, my friend noticed that there was no depression in her being any longer, while her motiveless fun was replaced by sound happiness and harmony with herself and the outer world in general. Thus, indigenous healing has helped in treatment of a serious psychological disorder by healing mental sufferings of my friend. As we can see, there is a vivid difference between indigenous therapy and Western psychotherapy, which lies in the aspect of collectiveness of the first method and individualism of the second one: “… the Western seeker cannot integrate their psychological material into the world views of collectivist cultures” (Lotus Yoga). As a result, cardinally different approach to the understanding of a psychological problem serves as a bridge detaching two kinds of healing. A key principle of indigenous therapy is perception of personal identity: “Personal identity is holistically defined in terms of kinship, ritual, spiritual relationships, and responsibilities, all of which are inseparable from each other and the land, that is, nature itself” (Benning, 2013). As for the Western psychotherapy, it considers personality problems from the aspect of internal or external conflict only, without its tying to the cultural environment. All in all, this defines a key difference between approaches to the analysis of a particular psychological problem and a place of psychotherapist in this process and the general process of treatment. For example, a person with depression addresses for psychological counseling to a doctor of the Western therapy and a practitioner of indigenous healing. In the first case we will see a standard and usual procedure of some deep analysis of the problem with the help of advisory on the side of the therapist. In the second case (indigenous healing) a person receives not only appropriate consultation and study of his or her disorder, but also participates in recovery in a most active way, as it is one of the key aspects of indigenous therapy. Respectively, a patient of Western psychotherapy may probably spend much more time for healing than the patient who practices constant meditation for recovery. In such a context, the question is about people’s active involvement in their therapy and permanent analysis of their particular situation from the perspective of their role in their culture and its sound treatment. Only under such circumstances the most effective and beneficial healing is possible. All the mentioned above suggests a positive effect of indigenous therapy on treatment of many psychological disorders. It is obvious, that many of them are caused by inappropriate perception of a person within his or her cultural environment. For that matter increase of cultural competence is of a great importance. There is a possible plan for gaining of this purpose, namely: tolerant and friendly acceptance of representatives of numerous nations and cultures in our society, which sometimes suffer from misunderstanding by others or even must overcome a kind of opposition or humiliation. This, in its turn, serves as a trigger for many psychological problems with a consequence of a greater decreasing of cultural interaction and hostility. As the practice shows a social microclimate becomes negatively affected that directly influences too many people, and society cannot be perceived as healthy. In such a situation, representatives of every culture may be touched by total depression or even more serious psychological disorders. So, our direct duty is to provide healthy relations between different cultures for benefits of the whole world’s mental health. As for the practical implementation of the plan, there must be specialized establishments with division onto different groups (according to the stage of the problem): ‘peace-love’ group for adoption of tolerant attitude towards various cultures, training centers for those people who face the problem of cultural misunderstanding, and centers of indigenous therapy for people with mental problems on the ground of cultural aspects of social coexistence. Such a structure is able to deal with all the stages of problem development that is a main demand in increasing of cultural competence. To sum it up, consideration of psychological disorders from a cultural perspective provides a proof of its essential role in contraction of mental problems. Traditional Western psychotherapy is quite effective for patients’ treatment, though indigenous healing with its key concept of patients’ active involvement in their healing by the means of meditation evidences more benefits for effective recovery and further happy life of society. References Benning, T. B. (2013). Western and Indigenous conceptualizations of self, depression, and its healing. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 17(2), 129-137. Retrieved 22 May from: http://www.psychosocial.com/IJPR_17/Western_and_Indigenous_Benning.html Krech, G. (2002). Naikan: Gratitude, grace, and the Japanese art of self-reflection. Massachusetts: Stone Bridge Press, 71-76. Lotus Yoga. (2014). Can psychotherapy bridge worlds between East and West, spirt and matter? Retrieved 22 May from: https://lotusyoga.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/can-psychotherapy-bridge-worlds-between-east-and-west-spirt-and-matter/ Xinmen, M. (2010). Naikan do it! Article Dashboard. 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