Asian Indian

Return to Cultures.

## Historical and Cultural Background

India is a diverse country, but in the 1500's Europeans began to invade and influence their culture. By 1610 Britain began to control its trade and eventually began to colonize India. Though the country is made up of 456 languages, English still remains an official language today.

## Values and Social Customs

### Religions

Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism all come from the same origins and make up the main religions of Asian India.

#### Hinduism

* Pantheistic: The Universe and everything in it are divine. View of God as impersonal and unknowable
* Reincarnation: Consequence of life choices results in ascending or descending rebirth
* Karma: Good and Evil deeds are weighed, influences the reincarnation cycle
* Dharma: Prescribed life stages
* Caste System: Systematic segregation influenced by religion
* Individual responsibility to meditate and worship gods

#### Buddhism

* 4 Noble Truths: Suffering exists, will occur, it will end, and the path is attainable
* Nirvana: Heavenly bliss, release from suffering

#### Sikhism

* Gurubani: Teachings of the guru and the presence of the

guru are equal in reverence, guide to salvation

#### Jainism

* Non-absolutism: Multiplicity of viewpoints
* Non-attachment: To possessions and worldly things
* Non-violence: Vegetarianism is a response to the desire to not harm any life forms

#### Islam

* Allah is the one true God: sovereign and omnipotent but unknowable
* Muhammad is the final prophet sent by Allah
* Five Pillars that all

Muslims should abide by to attain salvation

### Marriage and Family

The Traditional Hindu family promotes arranged marriages, but Westernized Hindus are willing to accept love marriages. However, Hindu purity excludes the ability to marry a Muslim.

The mother-son dyad is often enmeshed to the point where the mother-in-law will seek control in many aspects of a marriage.

## Counseling Methods and Considerations

### Attitudes Towards Counseling

Counseling and psychotherapy are foreign concepts to Asian Indians.Three major factors include cultural barriers language barriers and religious barriers:

#### Cultural

* Cultural prohibitions against revealing interpersonal conflicts to strangers
* Concept of shame and stigma
* Fear of causing the entire ethnic group to suffer
* Dissonance with goals of separation and individuation
* Group obligations and loyalty

#### Language

* Help seeking will vary according to degree of education and acculturation
* Less-educated families or individuals tend to turn to local priests, or elders in the community.
* Acculturated Indians are becoming more willing to seek help from Western-trained mental health professionals.
* *Ayurvedic* medicine and healing traditions

### Implications for Counseling

**Cultural:** Seeking counseling will not be a first option. Those who seek help will trust a Asian Indian counselor.  Others may deliberately avoid Asian Clinician for fear of exposing family problems to the Community.

**Religion:** The absence of the sacred from Western healing sciences, including psychiatry and psychotherapy, might contribute to attitudes of distrust and alienation.

**Language:** Acculturated Indians are becoming more willing to seek help from Western-trained mental health professionals.

#### Five Assertions Common to Asian Indian Psychology

1. A newborn infant, as a result of previous lives, has certain personality and character traits, which, after its present life, are transmitted to its existence.
2. Self, the substance of individuality, and the reality of belonging to an absolute cosmic self are intimately related.
3. Asian Indian theories of personality de-emphasize individualism and emphasize social relationships.
4. The Hindu ideal of maturity emphasizes a continuity of dependent relationships.
5. Experience rather than logic serves as the basis for interpreting psychological phenomena.

### Common Presenting Problems

* Multiple somatic complaints (headaches, stomach pains)
* Struggles between parents and children
* Academic difficulties, depression, malnutrition, suicidal ideas (among females)
* Arrogant behavior toward parents and teachers, substance abuse (among boys)
* Domestic violence and child abuse
* Isolation and extreme helplessness especially for elderly relatives and young brides; unresolved loss issues
* Marital difficulties due to enmeshed relationships and relationship with husband’s family of origin (mother-in-law issues)

### Approach to Counseling

#### Counselor should…

* Communicate respect for the family and for the culture

* Take initiative to learn something about their migration history and socioeconomic variables
* Be understanding of the different levels of acculturation.
* Be aware that outward signs may coexist with significant retention of traditional values and behaviors

#### A counselor should be aware that…

* There may be skepticism about the relevance of childhood issues to current dilemmas
* A reluctance to assign blame to elders.
* The taboo against discussing sexual matters is especially strong for women
* Nonverbal messages have more credence than verbal ones
* The counselor may be perceived as the expert and be expected to take an active role in the session, giving explicit instructions on solving problems and finding immediate relief from distress.

### Counseling Implications

#### Joining is crucial in establishing trust

* They may fear that the counselor wants to assimilate them; explain the difference between *assimilation* and *acculturation*.
* They tend to value reserved and modest self-disclosure. Introspective probing and insightful reflections may cause discomfort. They tend not to initiate dialog, they are comfortable with silence.

* Maintaining direct eye-contact may be interpreted as disrespectful, especially by the elderly.

* Pay particular attention to the Qu’ran behavior codes with Muslim clients

* Respect their hierarchical, male-dominated, group-oriented world view.

* They may prefer a few extended sessions rather than an unspecified number of weekly sessions.

#### Assessment Approaches

* Gather information on their family’s cultural beliefs

* Find out their views on India’s colonization by the West

* Explore their migration history

* Discuss differences between family rules and rules in dominant-culture families

#### Interventions

* Limit intimate personal questions

* Explain the counseling process

* Presenting issue may not be the main issue, but may be related to their limited social and functional skills in the dominant culture. Interventions include structurally

reinforcing appropriate skills, modifying existing skills, and teaching new
skills.

* Most likely in crisis stage

* Keep suggestions concrete and direct

* Use short-term or time-limited goals

* Medication may be requested

* Children and teens may be afraid to talk because of punishment—mediation may be needed

* Women are more likely to seek counseling; but if a man is present, engage him as much as possible; avoid threatening the authority structure.

* Overcome resistance by drawing on the cultural values of tolerance, passivity, interdependence, respect for family over individual rights, and acceptance of life’s difficulties.

* Structural, strategic, solution-focused, and family systems counseling approaches tend to be more effective than introspective or insight-oriented approaches.

### Rogerian Therapy vs. Systems Therapy

Pure Rogerian therapy is generally unsuccessful with clients because such a paradigm requires clients to be future oriented. Furthermore, the Rogerian paradigm expects clients to feel a sense of control over their own destinies. Such a view directly violates the Hindu idea of dharma.

In addition, expecting the client to take control of his or her own destiny could put the client in direct conflict with his family system. The systems approach of family therapy seems to be better suited for the worldview of Indian clients.

### Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

With CBT, explain concepts like overgeneralization, selective abstractions, labeling, and arbitrary inference. Family members begin to see the situation from each other’s points of view. Homework may include tracking cognitions by using a thought journal. As a result the family may regain a sense of balance within the family system and a better understanding of each other.

## Effective Witnessing

Witnessing to Asian Indians:
File:Witnessing to Asian Indians.pdf
Witnessing to Hindus:
File:Witness to Hindus.pdf

## Additional Resources

File:Cultural Patterns and the Family System in Asian Indians Implications for Psychotherapy .pdf
File:Depression with infertility Pakistan.pdf
File:Working with Asian Indians.pdf
File:Working with Hindu Clients.pdf
File:Therapeutic approach for hindi women.pdf