This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kirmayer, L. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kirmayer, L. J. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Psychotherapy and the Cultural Concept of the Person

McGill University, laurence.kirmayer{at}mcgill.ca

Psychotherapies are distinguished from other forms of symbolic healing by their emphasis on explicit talk about the self. Every system of psychotherapy thus depends on implicit models of the self, which in turn, are based on cultural concepts of the person. The cultural concept of the person that underwrites most forms of psychotherapy is based on Euro-American values of individualism. This individualistic and egocentric concept of the person can be contrasted with more sociocentric, ecocentric or cosmocentric views, which understand the person in relation to the social world, the environment, and the cosmos. Intercultural psychotherapy must consider the cultural concept of the person implicit in therapeutic discourse and practice to determine how well it fits or conflicts with the concepts, values and way of life of the patient.

Key Words: individualism • intercultural psychotherapy • personhood • self • symbolic healing • values

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. P. Gone `So I Can Be Like a Whiteman': The Cultural Psychology of Space and Place in American Indian Mental Health Culture Psychology, September 1, 2008; 14(3): 369 - 399. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. McKinney Culture, Power, and Practice in a Psychosocial Program for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Trauma Transcultural Psychiatry, September 1, 2007; 44(3): 482 - 503. [Abstract] [PDF]