Study Study: Cultural Humility And Trauma Treatment

[seedling]

This could be relevant for me. My first therapist really worked to understand me but there were things I didn't share with him because I didn't think he could go there. Seemed like he had a hard time when I started acupuncture and saw both him and my acupuncturist at the same time. He was supportive but there was always an awkwardness about it.
The therapist I am with now understands where I'm at completely.
I am going away for a week tomorrow. Will check back and see if you still need participants when I get back.
Thanks!

 

[Lola Nocheprieta]

I will take it, and so will my wife. We are an interracial (African American/Caribbean; White) lesbian couple who have been together over 20 years, and we raised her little sister together (who is now married to a man with 2 babies of her own, jeesh I feel old!) We also come from 2 totally different parts of the country and different socioeconomic classes (Northeast, large urban area, impoverished economically; Southwestern, suburban middle class.) My family is Jewish/Buddhist and her family is Christian. We are so fortunate that our families absolutely love each other and that we have a wide range of diverse friends! Our outdoor wedding was officiated by a Yoruba Priestess from Jamaica: we poured libations to the ancestors, stood under a huppa, jumped the broom and broke the glass. We had live drumming, danced the limbo, the hora, and had a Soul Train line! People still talk about it 8 years later.

Cultural competency and diversity is important to us. We've had good and bad experiences with Ts, and it wasn't so much the race or background of the T, but their ability to recognize their own limitations, and be open and curious about what each of us brought to the therapeutic relationship.

Kudos to you for exploring this area of the therapeutic alliance as it relates to trauma! My T is Mexican & Japanese and specializes in multicultural issues, including cultural wealth models; she'll love this!

 

[Friday]

One of the better written studies I've taken ...and very much appreciate. The only piece I had difficulty with was that I'm seeing a new provider / only a few months in. As such there were quite a few questions where I simply don't know enough about him to have formed an opinion, nor have been in treatment long enough to have seen change, much less be satisfied or dissatisfied with it. In that section, however, there isn't a neutral / NA / or similar option to select, so I feel my answers may be a bit skewed, there.

While I'm willing to take good advice from ANY source? A cultural understanding is actually my second line item -and an absolute must- in shopping for therapists. (First is training & experience. Aka education & specialization & population they work with.) For the very simple reason that without understanding where I'm coming from / where my head is at? I've found that it becomes -at best- an uphill battle in their assumptions being mostly/entirely incorrect about... Everything. From my motivations to how something affected me. All of their knee-jerk reactions are just wrong. Which just leads to explosive unhelpfulness & a waste of both our times.

Spoiler: TMI

On a slightly related note... I could have saved myself close to $80,000 in my divorce, if the initial social worker who decided whether or not there was merit (domestic violence) had any understanding of military culture. I didn't find out for nearly a year, from the LCSW who made the final determination was that the initial read was that I was lying (despite X-rays, witnesses, and a confession by my ex). She was confused how, with piles and piles of evidence & multiple confessions by my ex early on in the process, how it had gotten so far as to come to her desk over a year later. Apparently, I "read" wrong / like a man? "But that's to be expected. You're prior service military. It's perfectly natural for you to be angry, rather than afraid. And to be direct, concise*, minimize, and appear self confident. Whomever initially handled your case was an idiot. I'm sorry. We don't see a lot of military through here, much less female military." :banghead:

Same token, spent 2 years homeless rather than in a DV shelter for even a night, for the pure and simple reason that one has to be "afraid" to be considered for admission. I'm not afraid. I never have been. He's tried to kill me a few times, came close once or twice. Had been stalking me that entire time period leading up to it (when I still had housing / why getting housing in my name was pointless; he broke in 2-3 times a week, kept canceling my utilities, so no heat or power in winter for 2 years, etc.). He makes my life hellish, but the last thing I am is afraid of the prick. Infuriated? Sure. Afraid? No. Could I really USE the help a DV shelter could provide (safe housing, name change, bills not in either name, employment under the radar, counseling for my son, etc.)? Yes. But my son and I are disqualified for it, because I'm not afraid of my ex. Shrug. Oh well. It would be nice to have expert help in dealing with this asshole, but it's not the end of the world. There's a lot worse out there than being stalked & broke & homeless. And I may not be that smart, but one of these years I'll figure it out.

So cultural familiarity? IMO/IME Huge. Whether one is talking therapy, assessment, or rebuilding.

* yeah. I'm not so good at concise this days :wtf: Sorry.

 

[Eagle3]

O, forgot to mention, because I'm half-Jewish ethnically, but raised Christian, I've had some very traumatic experiences from the less-informed concerning my religion/ethnicity. One of my biggest insecurities is not belonging to any specific group, but being constantly ostracized by all. My T understands this, being half-Japanese (his father was American of Russian descent, his mom was Japanese), and growing up in post WW2 Japan/US he experienced similar discrimination and bullying. Having such an issue in common really helped me trust my T.

 

[EveHarrington]

Why do you assume that people know all this stuff about their mental health care providers? Why is there no "I don't know and I don't care" option? Seriously, I only care if my doc is damn good at what he does. And he is. He doesn't share anything about his private life. Why would he? I know his race is at the very least partially different than mine but I don't know the exact breakdown. Many years in and it crossed my mind that he may not be straight but in the end I don't care. Gender identity? Don't know/don't care. Religious beliefs? Don't know/don't care. Value system? Don't know/don't care. Your data is going to be skewed by not having these options available and as such your research is compromised. I'm shocked that you don't realize this. Then again, most researchers leave out things that are plain as day to those of us who actually have PTSD and deal with it 24/7.

I think what you want is people who are in therapy-------chit chat, "my therapist is my new best friend@ therapy. I am not in therapy but I AM in treatment.

My doc is there to make me better. Not to be my friend. I don't give a lick about his personal life.

And when I was in therapy? I never knew 75% of these things about my therapist(s). And I didn't care.

 

[Gs172003]

I personally have had many different counselors/ therapists and they've all been different. I've had two out of churches. Both were white, one man one woman. Man had been married i think 40 years. The woman was getting her masters.They were the ones that were specific to my faith TO A POINT. I had one that was also a Christian but was in private practice. She was a black woman, had been in practice for twenty years. She let you know on her cards but didn't use it in her therapy. She was also married with two kids.
And my one now. She is from Croatia. She is not a believer.she's also married with an 11 month old. I talked about this earlier in the thread.
Why am I telling you all this?
I think getting to "know" your therapist is important as to build trust. If I don't "know" you why the heck would I want to spill my guts to you?

 

[Richie]

I need to restate. She isn't treating me as a Christian. She's specifically not doing treatment that goe...

surely this is fundamentally ethical? I am an atheist and I am forced to study 12 weeks of religion (among other subjects) but i accept that as I have to take a patients beliefs into account. My own personal beliefs should be left at home because the treatment is purely for the patients benefit

 

[One step at a time]

For a lot of the questions that ask me to rate 0-5 whether, as a result of my crisis, I am more self-reliant/accepting/emotionally vulnerable, I don't know what to say. I cannot imagine a scenario in which trauma would result in these outcomes. These things are starting to come about as a result of treatment. Can I answer on the premise that the trauma brought me to treatment, and that treatment also led to these positive outcomes, so indirectly the trauma led to these things?

 

[Gs172003]

surely this is fundamentally ethical? I am an atheist and I am forced to study 12 weeks of religion (amo...

If you don't you're simply going to offend your client and lose their trust.

 

[Richie]

If you don't you're simply going to offend your client and lose their trust.

mutual interests can build trust but therapy cant be based on the therapists beliefs or culture. I hate having religious people knocking on my door so walking into a therapists office and having it waved in my face would make me walk straight back out again. I know a therapist should take a patients beliefs into account but contradicting them is unacceptable just like passing judgement on them

 

[allpow15]

Thanks I went ahead and did the study and I appreciate how detailed and open you were with the ter...

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[allpow15]

Why do you assume that people know all this stuff about their mental health care providers? Why i...

For anyone else who shares this concern, you may skip most of the demographic questions about your treatment provider if you prefer not to answer or don't believe they are applicable. It is true that some may not be applicable for all treatment providers or that you may simply not recall, and that's completely understandable.