Читать книгу Counseling the Culturally Diverse - Laura Smith L. - Страница 44

It is obvious that Dr. D. operates from an individualistic approach and values individualism, autonomy, and independence. He communicates to Gabriella that it is more important for her to decide what she wants for herself than to be concerned about her parents’ desires. Western European concepts of mental health stress the importance of independence and “being your own person,” because this leads to healthy development and maturity, rather than dependency (in Gabriella's case, “pathological family enmeshment”). The psychosocial unit of identity in many societies is not the individual, but resides in the family, group, or community. Dr. D. fails to consider that in many collectivistic cultures, such as Latinx and Asian American cultures, independence may be considered undesirable and interdependence as valuable (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2014; Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013). When the norms and values of Western European concepts of mental health are imposed universally upon culturally diverse clients, there is the very real danger of cultural oppression, resulting in “blaming the victim.”