Source: Wikipedia

Counseling Is Not Just An American Phenomenon

It has been my good fortune to have lived in Morocco, Czech Republic, Mexico and I thought it would be interesting to think of counseling from those perspectives.  In addition to living in these cultures, my friends have been from many different countries. I have had career opportunities in Middle Eastern countries that included Saudi Arabia and Dubai. During my early twenties, I was in a dating relationship with a young woman from Iran who was the daughter of a political person who immigrated from Iran to America. As a result of that relationship, I was introduced to her family and participated in many of their family customs and religious traditions. So, having this multicultural background and considering the present sociopolitical situation in the Middle East regarding Iran, the article by (Mirsalimi, 2010) concerning his experiences as a psychologist from Iran immediately attracted my attention. In addition to giving an explanation of his multicultural experiences from the 1970s to the present, he introduced me to the perspectives of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory which offers a framing of cultural influences to understand client history and cultural predisposition(Brofenbrenner, 1979). Selecting this article not only gave me insight into the impact of culture on couples and family counseling, but lended itself well to providing an understanding of the challenges of a practicing psychologist from another culture that does not enjoy a great deal of support in this country.

Counseling from Hamid Mirsalimi’s Perspective

Hamid Mirsalimi is a psychologist practicing in Atlanta, GA with a good deal of his practice in couples and family counseling. He begins by explaining Bronfenbrenner’s system theory which includes the dimensions of a microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. These systems influence the individual and interact with each other in meaningful ways producing an enculturation of values, behaviors, and attitudes toward the world. For this work, Mirsalimi is concerned with how the microsystem or one’s internal world is impacted by the chronosystem or the culture in which one is born. Mirsalimi discusses growing up in a highly, religiously structured Muslim family environment where the patriarch of the family ruled. He discussed the oppression of women and his unwillingness to accept the notion that women functioned as submissive to men. He further discusses his move to America and the marginalization and discrimination he experienced as a young scholar at two of our universities. Still further, he relates how starting a practice in Atlanta, GA was difficult as he had to overcome bigotry, hatred, and pessimism about his motives for being in this country. The dynamics that happen between him and his clientele are fascinating. The transference and countertransference that happens is very interesting. The women who come to him for counseling are interested in assessing his level of sensitivity to women’s issues. Many Caucasian clients will ask him how long he has been in this country. He pays particular attention to the level and degree of acculturation of his Muslim clients. He typically asks how long they have been in America and the age of their immigration. He wants to know who came with them or were they alone. He concludes his article by discoursing on what he finds important to watch in regard to his assessment of clients. He posits that clients must find meaning in their existence, a happy marriage between enculturation and acculturation, and a healthy expression of themselves to the world.

Counseling Dynamics

This article gave a keen insight into the dynamics that happen between a counselor from another culture and individuals from America. It also gave insight in regard to the dynamics that happen between a counselor from another culture and clients from another culture. The understanding of how an Iranian person may view the practice of counseling, the use of counseling services, and its limits in the Iranian culture were enlightening. Counseling, in Iran is known in general society as going to see a “neurologist.” The general public is not willing to admit any personal pathology or need for counseling, but are willing to say they may have an organic, biological issue that needs servicing. In addition, oftentimes counseling is seen in the Iranian culture as a method of enhancing the systems of the family and not the individual. If asked, an Iranian person using counseling services might agree they were seeing a mental health counselor, but only because it could support the cohesiveness of the immediate family.

This article provides an insight into the multicultural impact of Muslim culture on the relationship of the counselor to client. Gender is represented in this article as well as spirituality and culture. These three “umbrellas” under which we are prompted to view our beginning ideas regarding marriage and family therapy are all discussed in the article providing a very practical picture of their influences(Hecker, Wetchler, 2003). Counseling can be seen as a therapeutic intervention from the family systems theory perspective.

References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Mirsalimi, H. (2010). Perspectives of an Iranian psychologist practicing in America. Psychotherapy theory: Research, practice, training. Vol. 47 (2), 151-161.

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