Counseling Multicultural Counseling and Diversity 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In collectivistic cultures, which counseling approach may need to be adapted because it emphasizes individual autonomy and self-disclosure?
- Narrative therapy
- Traditional person-centered therapy (Correct answer)
- Structural family therapy
- Behavioral activation
Correct answer: Traditional person-centered therapy
Person-centered therapy's emphasis on individual autonomy, self-disclosure, and emotional expression may conflict with collectivistic cultural values that prioritize group harmony and indirect communication.
Question 2: Research indicates that Asian American clients may underutilize mental health services due to:
- Lack of insurance coverage as the primary barrier
- Cultural stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment (Correct answer)
- Geographic inaccessibility of counseling centers
- Preference for group therapy over individual sessions
Correct answer: Cultural stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment
Cultural stigma around mental illness, emphasis on family privacy, and the expectation to manage problems within the family are well-documented barriers to mental health service use among Asian Americans.
Question 3: The concept of 'familismo' in Latino/Hispanic culture refers to:
- The role of the Catholic Church in family decision-making
- Strong family loyalty, solidarity, and obligation among family members (Correct answer)
- The patriarchal authority structure in Hispanic families
- Traditional gender roles assigned within the Hispanic family unit
Correct answer: Strong family loyalty, solidarity, and obligation among family members
Familismo describes strong feelings of loyalty, reciprocity, and solidarity with immediate and extended family members that are central to Latino cultural identity.
Question 4: When counseling Native American/Indigenous clients, which approach is generally considered most culturally congruent?
- Psychoanalytic exploration of early childhood experiences
- Incorporating traditional healing practices and community involvement (Correct answer)
- Strict application of evidence-based manualized treatments
- Focusing primarily on individual cognitive restructuring
Correct answer: Incorporating traditional healing practices and community involvement
Integrating traditional healing practices, respecting the role of community and elders, and incorporating spiritual and holistic perspectives aligns with Indigenous worldviews that emphasize interconnectedness.
Question 5: Affirmative therapy with LGBTQ+ clients is characterized by:
- Remaining neutral about the client's sexual orientation or gender identity
- Actively validating and supporting LGBTQ+ identities as healthy variations (Correct answer)
- Focusing only on presenting problems unrelated to sexual orientation
- Encouraging exploration of whether the identity can be changed
Correct answer: Actively validating and supporting LGBTQ+ identities as healthy variations
Affirmative therapy explicitly validates LGBTQ+ identities as normal and healthy variations of human experience and addresses minority stress and stigma that clients may experience.
Question 6: Intersectionality, as introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, is most relevant in counseling because it:
- Explains how cognitive distortions intersect with emotional responses
- Recognizes that multiple social identities interact to create unique experiences of privilege and oppression (Correct answer)
- Describes how different therapeutic modalities can be combined effectively
- Outlines the intersection of individual and systemic factors in career development
Correct answer: Recognizes that multiple social identities interact to create unique experiences of privilege and oppression
Intersectionality recognizes that clients hold multiple identities (race, gender, class, sexuality) that overlap and interact, creating unique experiences that cannot be understood by examining each identity in isolation.
Question 7: A counselor working with an African American client who frequently attributes problems to racism should:
- Gently challenge these attributions as potentially distorted thinking
- Validate that racism is a real and significant stressor and incorporate this into the case conceptualization (Correct answer)
- Refer the client to group therapy to process these concerns with peers
- Remain neutral and avoid taking a position on the client's experiences of racism
Correct answer: Validate that racism is a real and significant stressor and incorporate this into the case conceptualization
Culturally competent practice requires counselors to recognize racism as a legitimate systemic stressor and validate clients' experiences rather than pathologizing reality-based attributions.
Counseling Multicultural Counseling and Diversity 2
In collectivistic cultures, which counseling approach may need to be adapted because it emphasizes individual autonomy and self-disclosure?