9/24/14 McGoldrick Chapter 1

9/24/14 McGoldrick Chapter 1: Overview of Ethnicity and Family Therapy

Cultural background: our ethnicity but is also profoundly influenced by social class, relition, migration, geography, gender, oppression, racism, and sexual orientation, and family dynamics.

• We still live in communities that are segregated.

The Meaning of Ethnicity page 2

Having a sense of belonging, of historical continuity, and of identity with on'es own perople is a basic psychological need.  

Ethnicity: the concept of a group's "peoplehood"  is transmitted from generation to generation.

• evokes deep feelings, often polarizing
• We will not be culturally competent until we let go of the idea the America is primarily from European descent.
• America is very ethnocentric (even all the world maps, we are at the center.)

African Americans

• community is a bigger part of their identity.

DSM IV was the first to finally recognize cultural influence in some of the diagnosable problems.

• typically we don't go very far back into getting race and ethnic information.

The Complexity of Ethnicity page 6

• Each of us is a "hodgepodge" of ethnicity, we are all migrants, moving between our ancestors cultures.  
• We all belong to a variety of groups and different cultures.  EXAMPLES page 6
• Each generation has a different culture!!  Culture changes with historical events, geography, socioeconomics, religion.
• We try to get people to label themselves: African American, Hispanic, White, etc.  But this is TOO SIMPLE!  We are complex  and we need to acknowledge that.
• "Bill of Rights" for racially mixed people
• Identify myself differently than stranger expect
• Identify myself differently than my parents identify me
• Identify myself differently than my brothers and sisters identify me
• Identify myself differently than different situations
• to create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial
• to change my identity over my lifetime and more than once
• to have loyalties and identify with more than one group of people
• As therapist we must help clients understand their ethnicity is a fluid, ever-changing aspect of who they are.
• Ethnicity can become a toxic topic, and people may avoid it, but you can't let clients do this!
• Ethnicity is tricky because so much of people's past cultures is associated with poverty, pain, hurt, and often the pain continues in their homeland.  
• so many immigrants want to forget their past, forget the migration, the difficulties and move on and assimilate as soon as possible.
• As they assimilate the lose their sense of themselves!  
• Families may even fight about assimilating and trying to "pass" for the dominant ethnicity.  
• Example of a man who tried to ignore is ethnicity and past page 12.
• We cannot judge other because their culture is different that us.  CASE STUDY page 10.  Family was given a hard time for not being as nice or kind to each other, but that was their culture.
• Therapists must work to see the limitations of our own view so we can open our minds to the experience of others. 
• Cultural Competence means to have an appreciation for the hidden cultural aspects of our psychological, spiritual and social selves, a profound respect for the limitations of our own cultural perspective, and an ability to deal respectfully with those whose values differ from our own.
• We all want and need a place to call home.
• Those who try to assimilate at the price of forgetting their connections to their heritage are likely to have more problems than those who maintain their heritage.
• We often see people in therapy who are disconnected from their history, Help them reconnect!!

Stereotyping



Our Evolving Concept of Ethnicity

The Changing Face of Ethnicity in The United States at the Start of the 21st Century

Factors Influencing Ethnicity

Race and Racism

Religion

Social Class and Socioeconomic Status

Cultural Differences in Worldview and Basic Values

Migration at Different Phases of the Life Cycle

• Young Adult Phase
• Families with Young Children
• Families with Adolescents
• Launching Phase
• Later Life

Cultural and Racial Intermarriage

Clinical Intervention from a Cultural Perspective

Cultural Attitudes toward "talk" and therapy

Cultural Difference in what is viewed as a Problem

Not Romanticizing Culture

Ethnicity Training

Conclusion