The world today has over seven billion people all categorized under different cultural groups. In a daily encounter with the rest of other people not from our cultural affiliation, we tend to make assumptions, judgment, and prejudices regarding their cultures (Fredrickson, 1988). These views and perceptions may lead to biasedness in the way we handle the other group. As a counselor, I encountered several instances of cultural bias. Such is the understanding of the East Asian culture emphasizing on honor and status. In such a community, the display of sickness signifies the level of weakness and defeat to the individual. The individual will, therefore, be adamant to reveal their acceptance to illness (Paniagua, 2013). Another bias is that the Latino community firmly believes in God’s healing power. Many people in this culture, especially those with lower education level and class, believe that the medical condition is a display of God’s will.
Therefore there is a mistrust in the Western methods of administering treatment and counseling. The counseling process may be hampered by the fact that the person, despite them understanding the scientific cause and the process, portrays distrust on the process simply because of fear of the social organizations in the Western world. Another bias is on eye contact with the Middle East Asians. In America, eye contact means respect while in the Middle East, it means disrespect. So a bias exists when trying to avoid eye contact with them on the grounds of not provoking them while in the counseling session.
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As a Jewish-American, I have faced several instances of discrimination especially from Christians in school. One teacher, who was anti-Semitic sent me out of her class because I was a Jew. She would say, “What in God’s name is a filthy Jew doing in my class?” She would throw me out. My Jewish heritage would have contributed to this. Some people hate Jews openly, and they don’t have to apologise for it. I have also received name-calling of all kinds and even death threats from schoolmates. History shows that the Jewish group has experienced several instances of anti-Semitic discrimination, the worst being the Holocaust (Wegner, 2014).
A scenario in college where I met a South African friend is an exciting encounter. On my side, I had a perception that South Africans wore no clothes. But to my astonishment, this young fellow was more fashionable than me. These differences taught me that someone should learn more about the other person’s culture before making biased conclusions just because of what they see being spread by the mainstream media. The encounter made me start being curious about the other cultures by raising reasonable questions. I also tell them about our culture. It has made me know that there are a lot of cultures in this world that people take for granted but are equally important in the field of counseling. In the case of my African friend, I learned that the Blacks are more expressive and gives more interpretations and directions. In the exchange, we built rapport with each other, and this changed my way of perception towards other cultures. It was no longer an “us against them” situation. It was imperative for me to listen to the second part of their story to avoid unnecessary discrimination and biases such as racism.
Racism is the individual discrimination act perpetrated towards a person or community based on their ethnic affiliation or race. The underlying promoter of racism is the fact that human race can be subdivided into specific groups in different geological setup or communities. These groups can be ranked as superior or inferior. Some races view themselves as the superior and express hate and contempt towards the rest whom they see as inferior. Racism can be experienced in vast frontiers, from social actions to political systems supporting the repugnance in discriminatory practices.
Subtle racism is a form of aberrant expression of racism that is undercover and can go unnoticeable. To be a subtle racist means that the perpetrator has one goal of harming the victims of racism indirectly without them asserting to the act themselves (Liao et al. 2016). Some researchers call this form a modern racism. Currently, every citizen knows that racism is wrong, but some of the majority feels like the racial minorities are getting too much attention and favors regarding resources. The hate stems from this feeling (Overt and subtle racial discrimination and mental health, 2017).
As opposed to the old fashion racists, who openly expressed prejudice towards the minority groups, subtle racists can go unnoticed and perceived to as just making fun of the situation. Their remarks can be hard to pin down due to the ambiguity in them. An example of being a subtle racist is when someone invites their friends over for a party but not one person who happens to be from a minority racial group (Liao et al. 2016). It is hard to figure out whether that host has been friends with the invites for long or because they are not comfortable with your race. Another instance is where a person from the Middle East is being ignored in a plane, and no one wants to sit close to them just because of the bushy beard and the robe. The ignorance can cause the man to question whether the people don’t like him or they just choose to sit away. Subtle racism results into a person asking more questions on themselves based on the reaction of others.
In every society, people are different, and they also have different interests and perceptions. The values of an ethnic group can be influenced by the geographical positioning and the history. An ethnic group is a collection of people bound by a common culture, norms, beliefs or ways of being. Within a particular ethnic group, it is possible to find that there are differences in the way the members perceive things and how they carry themselves. Some factors that bring the differences are including religion or faith, exposure to the outside world, geography, among others (Paniagua, 2013). A good example is the Black-Americans and the African ethnic group. They share a common origin, but the values are different due to the factors aforementioned. The former feels more exposed to the Western culture, and even the status of living has changed concerning the African culture. Some have gone ahead to support the pro-life such as gay marriages which are not part of the African beliefs (Sharf, 2016). Religion has made most ethnic groups being different according to the exposure they got first. It is possible to get a family that has various religious beliefs. In some instances, religion has been considered as an ethnic group due to shared interest. So the differences in values swing from one end to another depending on what stance you take. Education has caused the difference in perception for most educated individuals as they seek a wider view and perspective and deeper thinking than the ones who are not educated.
In the field of psychology, there are ethics guidelines to guide and regulate the practice of counseling in a community with multiple cultural make-up. Ethics are the standards that govern the conduct if a person (Paniagua, 2013). It defines the way of being a normal being. The ACA and NAADAC have set of codes to aid the counselor, and the client both benefit in the counseling process while there exists less friction between them. These systems would be helpful as a guideline to know what is expected of me as a qualified counselor to satisfy the diverse needs of my different clients.
In the ACA codes, I would use for the sake of this paper is Code C.5: Nondiscrimination. The code quotes, “Counselors do not condone or engage in discrimination against prospective or current clients, students, employees, supervisees, or research participants based on age, culture, disability, ethnicity, race, religion/spirituality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/ partnership status, language preference, socioeconomic status, immigration status, or any basis proscribed by law.” (ACA, 2014) It talks about the prohibition of discrimination on any cultural grounds. The same consent is expressed in the Discrimination Principle I code 6 of the NAACAD ethics code. It says “Addiction Professionals shall not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination against any client on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religious or spiritual beliefs, age, gender identification, national origin, sexual orientation or expression, marital status, political affiliations, physical or mental handicap, health condition, housing status, military status, or economic status” (NAADAC, 2016)
Given that the United States is a multicultural nation with minority races making up to one-third, it is imperative that there be knowledge of the different culture before embarking on any treatment or use the knowledge to prepare a treatment plan. Cultural sensitivity is important in making us aware of the group we are dealing with and how to approach them without making any prejudices. It improves cross-cultural communication and makes the whole counseling process smooth and beneficial (Paniagua, 2013). Cultural sensitivity makes it crucial to understand that people are different even if they come from the same ethnic background, so assumptions are discouraged.
Communication and help-seeking differ from culture to culture. To ease the work of comparison, we will take a case study between East Asians and Americans. Research show that Asian-Americans are less likely than European-Americans to seek professional help (Park & Chelsa 2010). This is because the Asians believe in interdependence among the group members and dwelling in a society with harmony. As a result, it would be easier for the Asians to communicate among themselves than to approach another professional from a different culture (Hodgson & Gaff, 2013). On the contrary, the American culture is individualistic, and a person prefers privacy from the rest of the group thus making it easier to approach a professional.
This difference calls for different strategies in building rapport with different cultures. The history of the person and the current situation is critical in knowing whether they have experienced acculturation or not (Paniagua, 2013). For instance, it would be harder to create a rapport with a Black-American who views the medication process in America with distrust resulting from abuse in the previous centuries.
The reasons why there is provision for differential treatment methods vary from race to race. For instance, the Hispanic race patients report that there is a barrier to obtaining health care on alcoholism treatment due to the concerns of being stigmatized by the community (Hodgson & Gaff, 2013). They also have beliefs that treatment would not be successful. Such claims make counselors have biases because Latino people do not trust the importance of American treatment. Another source of bias is that all the non-Blacks have psychological and social problems in locating the treatment services.
One of the resources I can use to dispel personal bias is first to listen to the individual’s story as we interact and then classify them based on his or her traits rather than the culture they are in. The other resources are the American Psychological Association guidelines, the ACA and the NAACAD codes of multicultural practices.
In conclusion, the learning obtained here can help me in managing my biases in future and help the patients get the better of themselves without them having a notion of being discriminated.
References
ACA. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics . American Counseling Association. Retrieved 6 February 2017 from https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
American Psychological Association (2003) Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. American Psychologist, 58 (5), 377-402
Fredrickson, George M (1988). The arrogance of race: historical perspectives on slavery, racism, and social inequalit y . Wesleyan University Press
Hodgson, J., & Gaff, C. (2013). Enhancing family communication about genetics: Ethical and professional dilemmas. Journal of genetic counseling , 22 (1), 16-21.
Knopf, A. (2016). Ethics: New code from NAATP, ongoing from NAADAC. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly , 28 (16), 4-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adaw.30545
Liao, H. Y., Hong, Y. Y., & Rounds, J. (2016). Perception of Subtle Racism: The Role of Group Status and Legitimizing Ideologies Ψ. The Counseling Psychologist , 44 (2), 237-266.
Overt and subtle racial discrimination and mental health . (2017). News-Medical.net . Retrieved 6 February 2017, from http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/06/01/25896.aspx
Paniagua, F. A. (2013). Assessing and treating culturally diverse clients: A practical guide . Sage Publications.
Park M., Chelsa C. (2010). Understanding complexity of Asian American family care practices . Arch. Psychiatr. Nurs. 24 , 189–20110.1016/j.apnu.2009.04.004
Sharf, R. S. (2016). Applying career development theory to counseling . Cengage Learning.
Wegner, G. (2014). Anti-Semitism and schooling under the Third Reich . Routledge.
