Effect of Culture, Religion, and Socioeconomic Status on Perception of Psychotherapy

Effect of Culture, Religion, and Socioeconomic Status on Perception of Psychotherapy

Even though psychotherapy is an effective treatment modality, several factors can influence how clients perceive it. These factors include culture, religion, and socioeconomic status. Psychotherapy involves communication, and hence, therapists must be culturally competent to handle their clients. Culture defines how individuals think. Clients who come from cultures in which it is prohibited to share fears may find it hard to share their fears with the therapist, which may negatively impact treatment with psychotherapy. When choosing a psychotherapy plan, religion is an important factor that therapists must consider (Charzyńska & Heszen-Celińska, 2019). Religion is also an important factor in how patients receive psychotherapy. Individuals from different religions have different beliefs. Some people may be comfortable opening up to individuals they feel are religious figureheads.

Socioeconomic status is also an important factor in psychotherapy. People from a lower socioeconomic status have greater dysfunctionality in mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. These individuals disagree on treatment goals, are likely to drop out of psychotherapy, and have poor clinical outcomes (Levi et al., 2018). Clinicians must thus be aware of this and implement patient-centered care.

Ethical Considerations for Group Therapy

For both group and individual therapy, ethical principles must be ensured. The therapist must ensure the privacy and confidentiality of patients (Stoll et al., 2020). The clinician must set rules to ensure that this is maintained. The difference between group therapy and family is that privacy is not just with one patient but maybe a couple of patients. Hence, the therapist must know how to handle this issue since patient confidentiality is critical in therapy. Anything shared in family and group therapy remains in the group and is not shared with individuals who are not part of the therapy group. The therapist must be aware that therapeutic dynamics in group and family therapy are very different. The therapist must establish a therapeutic alliance with all patients instead of forming a therapeutic alliance with one patient. The members of family and group therapy must feel free in the session, and they must not feel that they will be judged by whatever they say in the session.

The articles that have been used in this paper are all scholarly articles. All the names of the authors have been included. The authors’ affiliations have also been included. The language in the paper is very technical. They have been published in reputable academic journals. Finally, all the work in these articles has been cited, and a section for the bibliography has been included.

References

Charzyńska, E., & Heszen-Celińska, I. (2019). Spirituality and mental health care in a religiously homogeneous country: Definitions, opinions, and practices among Polish mental health professionals. Journal of Religion and Health, 59(1), 113-134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00911-w

Levi, U., Laslo-Roth, R., & Rosenstreich, E. (2018). Socioeconomic Status and Psychotherapy: A Cognitive-Affective View. J Psychiatry Behav Health Forecast. 2018; 1 (2), 1008