The clinical experience of a Euro-American female counselor-in-training providing bilingual family therapy services to Mexican immigrants is described. Cultural themes encountered when applying academic discourse to clinical work are raised in the context of case studies in which the student therapist works from a postmodern client-as-expert…

The view that behavior therapists are ethical relativists is challenged. Behavior therapists hold no philosophical positions that preclude justification of ethical principles, but they must be "ethical skeptics." In response, it is argued that there is no basis for ethical skepticism or for this philosophical defense of behavior therapy.…

Outlines the contextualist perspective upon career research, theory, and practice and explores the possibility of its adoption in the mainstream of the career field. Examines conceptualizations of the environment in mainstream career theories, underlying assumptions, the contextualist work hypothesis, and metaphors illustrating the contrast…

Discussion in multicultural counseling has focused on whether the culture specific or universal position is more useful. Provides a critical analysis of each of these positions and introduces the principles of change approach as a way of unifying multicultural counseling and moving the conversation to a more applied level. (Contains 49…

This paper reflects on the need to re-examine cultural and cross-cultural psychology with a view to re-invigorating them and placing them at the center of discourse in career psychology. One perspective that can be employed to achieve these goals is social constructionism in that it questions the centrality of post-positivism in cultural and…

Career theory and practice have long emphasized person variables (e.g., abilities, needs, interests) and have only recently begun focusing on environmental variables in addressing cultural context issues. Argues that examining the cultural dimensions of social roles and values can enrich theory and enhance practice regarding life-career…

Proposes a model for examining the challenges of providing career counseling in Asia in terms of prevailing and countervailing forces. The model also suggests a need to avoid a simple importation of Western models of career counseling, which may not be an optimal fit for the Asian cultural context. Instead, the cultural accommodation approach is…

Examined both instructional effectiveness in attribution processes and practices in empathic perspective taking, in deconstructing the dispositional bias of counselor trainees. Results show that counselors receiving either of two interventions, exhibited significantly lower dispositional bias in responding to videotaped clinical cases than did…

Generates a framework for considering the influence of cultural values and assumptions on counseling theory and practice by combining philosophical hermeneutics with interpretive social science perspectives. Suggests that moral visions operate as disguised ideology in counseling, shaping case conceptualization, diagnosis, and treatment decisions.…

Theorists have all but ignored the career development of ethnic and cultural minorities. The purpose of this article is to rectify this oversight by presenting a values-based theory of occupational choice, satisfaction, and success. Values were chosen as the cornerstone of the theory because work values have been identified as critical variables…

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of cross-cultural counseling and advocates a "culture-using" counseling perspective as an alternative to the "etic-emic" approach. The author argues that, currently, counseling is taken as the "given"; culture is treated as a variable in counseling effectiveness; and counseling is never evaluated as a…

Presents an overview of fatherhood, providing a general schema for mental health counselors who work with male clients for whom issues pertaining to fatherhood are a factor in counseling. Claims that fatherhood exists along a continuum from traditional to involved, creating various intrapsychic, interpersonal, familial, and cultural conflicts and…

Identifies limitations of culturalist perspective often advocated by Latino mental health workers outlines folk healing practices they favor. Notes that culturalist perspective suffers from ahistorical/asocial/static conceptualization, and lacks analysis of class/sex/structural dimensions of so-called cultural expressions. Calls for recognition of…

Considers a person-environment approach as central to a metatheory of counseling and psychotherapy. Suggests counselors remain aware of the social and political frames of their work and the verbal and nonverbal communication between counselor and client. (JAC)

Constructivist approaches to therapy that view the therapist and patient as equal participants in co-creating a new dialogue render aspects of experience invisible. What is missing is an awareness of the dominant structures in society and the dominant ways of thinking and speaking. Three key factors need to be understood: first, the way meanings…