Professional Debate in Counseling: Managing Cultural Diversity - Essay Example

? Professional Debate in Counseling: Managing Cultural Diversity Professional Debate in Counseling: Managing Cultural Diversity Introduction The art and science of counseling is developed and conceptualized in order to foster life satisfaction in human beings (Ahn & Wampold 2001). But the practice of psychology is significantly influenced and affected from various factors such as culture, gender and even ethnicity of the patients (Speight, Myers, Cox, & Highlen, 1991). Still the most notable influence on counseling practice comes from cultural setting and norms of the society from which the patient belong. However leading cultural gurus consider culture as the software of human mind and therefore societal and sacred beliefs are identified as guidelines for professional and personal decision making of a particular society. In most practical sense the practice of psychology is based on the concept of patient-counselor confidentiality while interestingly cultures with an emphasis on individualistic needs are considered ideal for the application of psychology. It is because individualistic cultures are famous for overvaluing individual’s needs over collective ones and therefore parents and closed friends support one’s decision to go in psychotherapy while supporting his or her decisions that he or she will make after completion of the sessions. On the contrary collective cultures have an outlook opposite to the previously mentioned one because they emphasize on collective needs rather than individual ones (Hays, 1996) and therefore parents are contented to make their children’s professional and personal decisions. The abovementioned trend does not allow much breathing space for individuals, in reaction the collective cultures are not considered as ideal ones for the profession of psychological counseling. Additionally in developed and individualistic cultures such as America, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand psychologists and counseling professionals are respected a great deal and are considered ideal ones for getting guidance (Williams, Morton, Jay, Koss, Schroeder, & Loeb, 2005). However in collective societies such as China, South Asian nations psychology as a work-line is identified as a practice that should never be practiced in the first place (Lim, Lim, Michael, Cai, & Schock, 2010). Psychologists working in the latter type of nations rely on medications to treat the patients while the professionals belonging to developed countries consider counseling and motivational interviewing as the true sources of practicing the science of mental healing. The professional communities of counseling have come too far from days when brutal implementation of discipline was identified as psychological practice (Mallen, Vogel, & Rochlen, 2005). Moreover the idea of counseling and psychological practice is not welcomed in developing nations where people recognize counselors and psychologists as mentally ill while they are socially ridiculed and people do not willingly pursue cognitive treatments. In progressing nations success rates of psychological counseling are negligible to say the least and therefore people do not have confidence in mental science. However the basic and fundamental reasons of the abovementioned trend include seriousness of cases that reach to psychological experts and these experts do not any choice other than going for intensive medications in order to keep the patients sedated so that they cannot harm others. Yet most of the patients do not recover and spend their lives in mental hospitals. Thus general public does not spot going to a counselor as an attractive option while due to prevailing mental disturbances people are increasingly getting engaged in domestic violence, terrorism and other sorts of crimes. Another disadvantage of social setup of collective and developing nations with reference to successful and effective practice of counseling is the general public’s poor orientation towards the concept of privacy. The idea of privacy is considered as the cornerstone of the scientific practice of mental healing. But people of developing nations identify counselors as responsible for their condition and therefore they do not refrain from defaming their helpers. The need to blame others for the problems that are caused by some other factors that include flawed religious thinking, poor brought up or a sudden depressive attack is quite notable in the population of developing nations (Sue & Sue, 1977). Furthermore the deprived financial situation does not permit people to buy the time of counseling services providers. They usually tend to ignore their private psychological needs in order to fulfill those of their family. In recent years scholars identified lack of commitment towards upholding privacy as the major reason for deteriorating importance and value of counseling in developing economies. The researchers have blamed both counselors and patients for not attaching to higher ethical standards needed in the course of therapy. The scholars have advised practitioners to continue their professional duties despite the testing times while government and media are expected to foster the image of psychological practice via permitting leading professionals to explain the importance of psychology. The practitioners are also supposed to nullify the false belief that psychology is just a soft name for brutal discipline and they shall enlighten people about early consultation to a counselor because it will significantly drop the chances of more offensive medications and treatments. Literature Review The counseling is defined as the practice of enhancing the patient’s self confidence via using motivational interviewing and other therapeutic techniques (Rochlen, Zack, & Speyer, 2004). Furthermore individuals who consult counseling services are suggested to focus on their professional and educational duties as it will enhance their financial outlook that will in turn solve major psychological problems. However introvert patients are recommended to engage in reading and other intellectual activities while extroverts are told to expand their social endeavors. The ultimate purpose of counseling services is to foster life contentment and happiness in people who seek guidance. The idea of counseling is getting famous as the use of drugs has been noticed for causing major reduction in sexuality and mating desire in both the genders. But in less developed countries the concept of medical practice is incomplete without intensive use of drugs and other types of medicines and therefore counseling is recognized as nothing more than playing verbal games. Yet media along with government and NGOs is recommended to advertise the notion of counseling as less harmful to physical health than traditional techniques (Deacon & Abramowitz, 2006). According to Hill, (2000) the travellers from developed countries have to adjust in the culture of developing ones and therefore they need extensive psychological counseling in order to attain the aforementioned goal. The companies that send expatriates to developing economies are suggested to not only provide cross cultural training to their employees but also make arrangements for their regular counseling so that they can adjust more easily in an alien culture. Tinsley & Tinsley, (1987) suggest that factor analysis is an ideal way of conducting research in the field of psychology because this method permits the research to isolate the psychometric causes of a certain mental diseases and then the practitioner can cure the illness in the field by focusing on the most significant causes that will reduce time and effort required for the treatment. In the view of Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, (1992) the practitioners have to practice their profession by remaining within the cultural norms of the society. The counselors that are operating in collective culture are suggessted to keep their behavior professional and do not explicitly draw examples from their personal and private lives. It is because this kind of information can be used for extortion, blackmail and even coercion. Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, (2000) state that wheel of wellness is still the effective technique for fostering life satisfaction in humans. But the counselors are recommended to guide their patients towards increassing leisure activities so that stress can be minimized in their life. Morrow, (2005) said that qualitative research methodology in psychological research can help significantly in recording and summurizing personal experiences of counselors. These experiences can be used by junior practitioners in terms of overcoming the challenges that seniors faced. Thus the art and science of counseling will continue to get better and process of evolution will persistantly move ahead. Sue S. , (1998) added that counselors from the same culture can guide the psychologically struggling population of a certain society. The sameness of the culture between counselor and patient enhances understanding whereas practitioner will have the option of practicing empathy more effectively. The practice of psychology is much more simple and easy in developed economy because people from urbanized countries are more than willing to take care of them and therefore the challenge for the practitioner reduces significantly (Vera & Speight, 2003). Nevertheless in developed countries psychological services have been properly institutionalized and therefore people of all ages use them without fear when in need. In America and United Kingdom parents have been known to support their children to go through psychotherapy when the need arises. Parents in advanced countries have become awake to the fact that counselors and psychologists are well trained in guiding people. This belief helps them in allowing children to make free decisions after coming out of the therapy. It is because parents in developed nations have indeed acknowledged the notion that humans remain happy when they are permitted to pursue their dreams. Based on the above argument psychotherapy and counseling are ideal practices for individualistic cultures while collective societies have too much societal and peer pressures to cause notable hindrance in the journey of spiritual growth of an individual. In addition psychological professionals are considered as mentally ill in latter kind of societies and therefore they are not considered as ideal people to get enlightenment from. Furthermore in collective cultures parents do not support their kids to consult with a psychological expert because of the myth that counselors corrupt people as they have a habit of disguising people with explaining false ways that in their view lead to success. Hanson, Creswell, Clark, & Creswell, (2005) suggested that the blend of research methodologies must be used in psychological research so that the research process can draw information and support from various types of materials and methods. The scholars added that there is no perfect method for conducting research so the mixture of techniques will bless researchers with the opportunity to better the practicality of results of a certain investigation. Whitlock, Orleans, Pender, & Allan, (2002) believe that counseling can help in promoting self initiated healthcare and therefore it can play a significant role in reduction of the most frequent diseases that are caused by lack of personal hygiene and care. Still general public is to be informed about advantages of visiting a counselor in developing nations. The problem remains in the area of higher ethical standards and it is difficult for practitioners to adopt modern ethical concepts when rest of the society is not willing to do so. The challenges for national counselling centers are growing as children and people are getting more and more informative on techniques of psychotherapy with the help of internet (Benton, Robertson, Tseng, & Newton, 2003). The experts have to explain every step of the procedure because people are not willing to coorporate without knowing the underlying objective of every measure of psychotherapy. As mentioned earlier that the application of counseling practices is limited in collective cultures. The use of counseling can lead to social disasters and riots in the featured communities as well. It is because people have failed to develop their ego boundaries in collective cultures that cause them to share almost each and everything with their families (Dartey-Baah, 2013) and therefore the probability associated with breach of privacy increases because patients or practitioners due to their lower ethical standards may indulge in sharing private conversations and these talks may be used for blackmailing and coercing. In the light of above argument it is strongly suggested to use conventional means of psychotherapy in developing nations because the possibility of privacy breach is overwhelming with deployment of modern counseling in cultures with collectivism. The patients from developing nations are noted to have character disorder in major number of cases that compels them to blame counselors for their illnesses and therefore the desire of patients to seek retribution enhance and that might cause them to engage in active defamation of their counselors. Nonetheless counselors belonging to developing economies are recommended to use face to face meetings in psychotherapies while maintaining highly professional behavior. They ought not to give any examples and instances from their personal life during sessions so that they can avoid future blackmailing from the patient. In generic terms psychological counseling is based on the idea and concept of privacy and therefore the countries where people do not have higher ethical and moral standards are not considered supportive towards psychological counseling. However this paper suggests that practitioners should not abandon their practice while carrying on with it with caution and care. Nevertheless in less and under developed economies a strict and professional behavior is recommended. Perhaps patients should not gain insight in the personal and private life of their helper to say the least. In the long run prospective psychologists, media and educated people must promote and reinstate the importance of counseling so that people can trust the featured institution once again and the counselors are advised to keep their oath of secrecy intact despite patients’ poor orientation in the direction of privacy. Findings The key findings of the study are enlisted as follows The practice of counseling is conceptualized and designed in order to foster happiness and satisfaction in human beings The science and art of counseling is primarily based on the idea of upholding patients’ privacy Therefore those cultures that sport questionable behavior towards privacy are identified as problematic with reference to successful implementation of the featured profession The deployment of factor analysis, mixed research methods and qualitative methodologies are recommended ways of conducting psychological research The factor analysis allow the researcher to pinpoint important factors that are causing a certain mental problem The mixed research methods allow researchers to compensate for weaknesses of individual research methods by applying several of them while it is believed that there is no perfect way of research conduction According to leading scholars culture is the software of human mind The cultural norms are believed to be basic and fundamental guidelines that are used by people to make their professional and personal decisions. The collective cultures are notorious for having poor orientation and understanding towards privacy The questionable understanding of privacy makes the living of counselors and psychologists very hard in the given societies The practice of counseling is defined as working for the betterment and spiritual growth of mankind but people in developing nations are known for their stubbornness when it comes to changing themselves Thus the attainment of the goal of human spiritual growth appears to be very challenging and time-consuming to say the least. On the other hand developed nations have a very supportive mindset towards the concerned practice and therefore they consider psychologists and counselors as ideal people to draw guidelines from The scholars believe that an indigenous counselors are recommendable for giving guidance to the local population The cross-cultural counseling is much more difficult than the traditional one The success rate of counseling is negligibly low in developing countries because people do not willingly pursue treatments and they are forced to do that The cases that come to the attention of counselors are in such degraded form that intensive medication is required in order to at least stabilize the subject The helplessness of practitioners against the use of sedative drugs makes the practice appear brutal and inhumane in the eyes of general public In developed nations however the use of medications are limited to worst case scenarios and the major focus remains at strengthening the will power of the patient through detailed application of motivational interviewing Conclusion This paper reviewed the practice of counseling in developed and underdeveloped countries and found quite a few disparities in cultural realities regarding the featured practice. The paper concludes that counseling should be used as means of conducting psychotherapy with caution in developing nations because people of these countries have poor orientation towards privacy. The poor comprehension of privacy can induce people to use personal information of their counselor for blackmailing and coercion. Counseling on the other hand is deemed as ideal for those countries where there is higher dedication towards privacy in public. The practice of counseling originated from developed nations while the underdeveloped ones did not care for their human factor in the first place and therefore there is certain level of hatred is noted to be present towards mental sciences in less enlightened world. Still due to globalization people and few professionals got interested in the neglected line of work that is taken as early sign of evolution in the field. But soon after that the practical application of the field did not flourished as firstly people had not been informed about the hidden benefits of going into psychotherapy and secondly the cultures in question have a profound tendency to reject those who pursued psychological treatment on the basis that he or she has gone insane and due to this reason he or she should not be allowed to interact with others. It is because his or her disease may engulf others as well. Furthermore in developing nations the practice of considering people with different mindsets as insane is quite common and due to this trend majority of geniuses end up spending their lives in the holding cells of mental hospitals. Finally the psychological researchers have thus far failed to fully understand the problems that divergence of cultures cause with reference to successful implementation of counseling while they hold on to the idea of detailed joint research endeavors so that both developing and developed worlds’ psychologists may come up with the solution of the above-stated problem. In the meanwhile counselors and psychologists of developing nations are suggested to practice their profession with caution and they are also guided not to get too much open while interacting with the patients because it can lead to the acute breach of their privacy. The breach in privacy may direct to defamation that can in turn actively cause the practitioner’s credibility to reduce. References Ahn, H., & Wampold.B. (2001). Where Oh Where Are the Specific Ingredients? A Meta-Analysis of Component Studies in Counseling and Psychotherapy. Journal of Counseling Psychology Vol 48(1) , pp.251-257. 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