Cross-cultural practice

by Sharon-Ann Gopaul-McNicol

Developed primarily in the consulting rooms and universities of Europe and North America, traditional forms of psychological assessment and treatment are not up to the task of dealing with today's culturally diverse patients. In an increasingly multicultural society, where basic terms such as "normality" and "family" can have radically varying definitions, it is not unusual for well-meaning clinicians to inadvertently misclassify unfamiliar behaviors or beliefs as abnormal or pathological. Ultimately, the solution lies in educational reform. In the meantime, a major first step toward ensuring that ethnically different patients receive quality mental health services is the adoption of culturally sensitive assessment and intervention models such as those described in this pathbreaking book. The culmination of its authors' many years of experience in working with culturally diverse patients, this timely guide arms practitioners with an array of innovative - yet clinically grounded - appro