Cultural Sensitivity and Cognitive Therapy in Thailand.

There has been increased emphasis placed on training counselors to be competent multicultural practitioners (Atkinson, Wampold, Lowe, Mathews, & Ahn, 1998; Arredondo et al., 1996; Kiselica, 1998; Ponterotto, 1998; Ridley, Li, & Hill, 1998; Sue & Sundberg, 1997). In fact, Fischer, Jome, and Atkinson (1998) discussed the etic and emic approaches in multicultural counseling. Etic relates to the belief that counseling is culturally generalizable or universal, while emic approaches are designed to be culturally specific. Specifically, etic refers to a common factor perspective that the curative properties of counseling pertain not to theoretically unique components, but to components common to all counseling approaches (Garfield, 1992). These common factors include the therapeutic relationship, the shared world view between the client and counselor, and client expectations. On the other hand, the emic perspective suggests that counseling strategies unique to the client's culture are needed to effectively meet the needs of ethnic minority, clients and, thus, must be congruent with the cultural characteristics of a particular client group. An example of an emic perspective would be the integration of traditional Native American values and methods of problem solving into a systems-oriented counseling approach (Fischer et al., 1998). Although Fischer et al. stated that there is pressure to incorporate culturally specific treatments in the training of counselors, they indicate that there is significant empirical evidence for the common factor perspective in multicultural counseling. In the same manner, there have been numerous articles which have focused on a global vision of counseling (Barak & Golan, 2000; Leong & Blustein, 2000; Leung, Guo, & Lam, 2000; Marchetti-Mercer & Cleaver, 2000; Poasa, Mallinckrodt, & Suzuki, 2000). For instance, Leong and Blustein (2000) stated this broader vision will provide a global perspective of counseling that recognizes other cultures in other countries. Further, the authors indicated that it is important to develop and maintain a truly multicultural and international perspective of counseling so that we can understand how other cultures describe the major attributes of human behavior. The importance of obtaining this knowledge from different parts the world will broaden the world view of mental health counselors and enhance their sensitivity to clients of diverse cultural backgrounds. In a prior study, the researchers surveyed two groups of graduate students in India on whether they felt that the cognitive theories of counseling they were taught were consistent with their religious and cultural values (Scorzelli & Scorzelli-Reinke, 1994). Briefly, the sample consisted of 62 graduate students in psychology and special education, with most of the students identifying their religion as Hinduism (80%). Even though the results of the study indicated that the students felt that the cognitive approach to counseling conflicted with their values and beliefs, no common trend was identified. Instead, the reasons provided varied and seemed based more on the students' interpretation of religious or cultural values than any group norm. In order to determine whether this trend could be applied to another distinct cultural group, an exploratory study was conducted with a group of school and rehabilitation agency directors in Thailand on whether the cognitive approaches to counseling conflicted with their religious and cultural beliefs. In 1998, the primary author received a senior Fulbright award to Thailand. During this time, he gave a 2-day workshop on the roles and functions of the rehabilitation counselor to a group of school and agency directors. Five hours of this workshop were devoted to two cognitive approaches to counseling (reality therapy and rational emotive behavioral therapy), and each participant received a written description of these approaches prior to the presentation. …