Cultural Barriers

Cultural barriers are sources of bias that can play a significant role in the effectiveness of multicultural psychotherapy. Culture-related, class-related, and language-related barriers are three major (and overlapping) sources of potential bias identified in the seminal writings of Derald W. Sue and David Sue. Each source of bias can produce problems that may affect the initiation, continuation, and success of psychotherapy. Among the problems that may arise are the misinterpretation of a client's cultural norms as symptoms of a disorder; misunderstanding of culture-bound syndromes and sociopolitical reasons for client behavior; and the misuse of interpreters.

Culture comprises the values, beliefs, and norms that are shared by a group of people, such as a racial on ethnic minority. Culture influences how people think about, act on, and ...