Open AccessCulturally Competent Treatments for Asian Americans: The Relevance of Mindfulness and Acceptance‐Based Psychotherapies
Author(s) -
Hall Gordon C. N.,
Hong Janie J.,
Zane Nolan W. S.,
Meyer Oanh L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clinical psychology: science and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.285
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1468-2850
pISSN - 0969-5893
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2850.2011.01253.x
Subject(s) - mindfulness , asian americans , mental health , psychology , acceptance and commitment therapy , relevance (law) , divergence (linguistics) , psychotherapist , cultural diversity , culturally sensitive , population , clinical psychology , social psychology , ethnic group , medicine , sociology , psychiatry , anthropology , political science , linguistics , philosophy , environmental health , law , intervention (counseling)
[Clin Psychol Sci Prac 18: 215–231, 2011] The development of effective treatments for Asian Americans is important because treatment disparities continue to exist for this population. Because of their theoretical grounding in East Asian philosophies, mindfulness and acceptance‐based psychotherapies appear to constitute promising ways to provide culturally responsive mental health care to Asian Americans. However, in practice, these approaches often reflect conceptions of mental health that are more consistent with Western worldviews. We review points of intersection and divergence between Western‐based mindfulness and acceptance psychotherapies and Asian American cultural values. We then propose a culturally syntonic approach that accentuates certain components of mindfulness and acceptance psychotherapies and adapts other components of these approaches to be more consistent with Asian American cultural values.