Cultural Sensitivity and Family Systems Approach in Psychology

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Cultural Sensitivity in Psychology
When working with culturally diverse clients, one should approach diagnosis and treatment plans with a culturally sensitive and informed perspective. Frisby (2018) observes that the need for a psychiatrist to be culturally sensitive can be attributed to the significant role that cultural factors play in shaping individuals' beliefs, values, and behaviors, which can impact their mental health and the effectiveness of interventions. Notably, the cultural formulation interview provides a reliable framework that one can use to understand the cultural context of the client's experiences and tailor diagnosis and treatment accordingly. Additionally, one must factor in age-related considerations, cultural diversity, and the needs of special populations when formulating diagnosis and treatment plans. In this paper, factors of cultural sensitivity and approaches that one can use to formulate diagnosis and treatment plans are examined.
Cultural formulation interview (CFI) is an indispensable tools for psychiatrists. To this end, The CFI is a structured interview developed for DSM 5 to facilitate the collection of information about a client's cultural background and how it influences their experience of mental health (Lewis-Fernández, Aggarwal, & Kirmayer, 2020). The tool has five domains that facilitate the psychiatrist’s understanding of the client’s cultural experiences. The first domain explores the client's understanding of their symptoms and distress within their cultural framework to identify cultural idioms of distress, somatization, or supernatural beliefs that may influence the diagnosis and treatment process. In the second domain, the client's cultural perceptions of the causes, context, and support related to their distress are assessed. The third domain explores the client's coping strategies and identifies previous help-seeking experiences to facilitate the psychiatrist's understanding of the role of cultural factors in seeking and utilizing professional assistance. The fourth domain reviews the influence of cultural factors on the client's decision to seek professional help. Finally, the last domain reflects on how the clinician's cultural background and biases may influence the therapeutic alliance with the client. By considering the five domains, a clinician gains a comprehensive understanding of the cultural factors at play and integrates them into the formulation and treatment planning process.
Notably, the cultural competency of a psychiatrist is linked to their understanding of cultural diversity. Cultural diversity describes elements such as ethnicity, language, religion, socioeconomic status, and migration history. Gopalkrishnan (2018) notes that psychiatrists should recognize that the difference in culture with that of the client has a significant influence on various aspects of the care delivery process including the client’s understanding of diagnosis and adherence to treatment. For example, shame as a barrier to mental help-seeking in clients ranges across cultures, with members of diverse cultures in the United States and Canada seeking mental help much later than those fr...