Counselling the dead!

The paper discusses the author's meeting and a counselling encounter in Varanasi (formerly known as Banaras) with a former High Court Judge, who has renounced the material world, excised all his attachments, abandoned his wife, his children, his grandchildren and a luxurious and prestigious life-style, and taken on the mantle of a sanyasi in search of enlightenment and nirvana. He has left his hometown and for the past two to three years has been living on the banks of the river Ganges in Varanasi, the holiest of holy cities in India, leading the life of a mendicant, living off the charity of the hordes of pilgrims who come to Varanasi all around the year.     

Cross-cultural investigations of stress: Conceptual and methodological considerations

Cross-cultural studios on stress are confounded by conceptual, methodological and applied problems. Although several comprehensive definitions of stress have been offered, the conceptual schema from which the definitions emerge reflect a Western perspective and are not always relevant when transposed into other cultures. The word stress itself is not easily translated into other languages which creates a problem for research workers in non-Western cultures. While studies in India of Westernized executives in organizations using Western models have offered valuable insights into problems related to organizational structures, executive stress, etc., they do not tell us a great deal about the nature and experience of stress in the rest of the population. A brief history of stress research is offered with a concentration on stress research in India. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed leading to an assessment of the difficulties of stress research in India.     

Replacing client-centred counselling with culture-centred counselling

Models of psychotherapies and counselling do not develop in a social vacuum. They arise out of and rest on several fundamental assumptions-social, linguistic and cultural-most which are understood and shared by the client group and the therapists andor counsellors. The extent to which there is a congruence of shared assumptions facilitates the process of counselling and/or therapy. It does not, however, guarantee its successful outcome. This paper examines the fundamental assumptions underlying client-centred counselling and argues that there is at present a lack of correspondence between the assumptions of the counsellors and those of their client groups-even within their own culture. But among the client groups comprising the ethnic minorities originating from the Indian subcontinent, there is a wide chasm. The clients do not understand or share the fundamental assumptions of their counsellors. As a result, client-centred counselling is irrelevant and does not serve the needs of the clients groups comprising the ethnic minorities. It is in urgent need of a paradigm shaft. It is argued that client-centred therapy needs to be replaced by culture-centred counselling, in which counsellors can be trained. The paper presents the main features of a model of counselling that is applicable not only to the white indigenous population in Britain but to the above ethnic minorities living in Britain.     

Cultural variations in the understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders: India and England

Although much has been made of the nation of cultural specificity of mental illness, this paper argues that mental illness is a universal human experience. However, the types of disorders, the incidence and the severity of disorders may vary markedly across cultures. To understand mental illness and identify it across cultures, it is necessary to examine the problem against the backdrop of the dominant value systems which prevail in any culture at a given point in time. There are salient value systems to which most cultures subscribe, which in turn influence our understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and consequently the allocation of resources and the provision of care within the community. The different valueorientations between Western and Eastern cultures have a strong bearing on the problems of diagnosis and on the treatment of mental disorders, which in many instances are the outgrowth of the available resources and the acceptance of traditional arrangements unique to each culture.     

Danger! Psychotherapists at work

The rapid growth of psychotherapeutic movements in recent years has led to a free market. Vast numbers of psychotherapists of different theoretical persuasions are now on offer. While such a choice has its obvious advantages, it creates bewildering confusions in the minds of potential clients. How can the clients tell which psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic entepise to opt for? How can they know whether they have made an appropriate choice? How do they know which therapy works best under which conditions? Are there a set of criteria laid down which might guide the client in making a judicious choice? Can they be assured that after a senes of agreed sessions, they will get better? These are extremely serious issues. The paper discusses the practical and ethical implications underlying these issues and offers specific suggestions and guidelines as to how the clients might safeguard their own interests when it comes to choosing an appropriate psychotherapist.     

National differences in personality: India and England

This study reports comparisons between results on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) obtained from 558 male and 636 female Indian Ss; the comparison group of the original standardized English Sample (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975). Factor analysis of item correlations showed close correspondence between the factors extracted in the two samples, with indices of factor comparisons being well in excess of 0.97. The reliabilities in the Indian sample were only marginally lower than in the original English standardization group. Some items from the original EPQ did not load on the hypothesized factors; they were substituted by the extra items contained in the 101-item version of the EPQ used in India. The Indian data showed no sex differences with respect to extraversion; females were found to score higher on the Neuroticism and also slightly higher on the Lie scale than the males. The Lie scores for both males and females being quite high suggests a consistent trait of conformity in operation. It was concluded that the organization of personality in India is sufficiently similar to that in England to make national comparisons feasible since identical dimensions underlie the personalities of Indian and English Ss.     

Some unresolved issues in philosophy and psychology: their implications for therapy

This paper is divided into two interrelated sections: the first section examines the scientific status of mainstream Western psychology. It will also consider the major arguments concerning the relationship of mainstream Western psychology to philosophy—in particular to metaphysics and the philosophy of science. It will be argued that psychology has turned away from its past philosophical heritage and has thus, short-changed itself by avoiding the very issues, which form an integral part of one's subjective and existential world and of the therapeutic process. The second section argues that, to a large measure the contemporary approaches to counselling and psychotherapy have moved away from the scientific ideologies, which guide research within mainstream Western psychology. Over the last 30 years or more, counselling and psychotherapy as ‘disciplines’ have proliferated into several sub-disciplines. This has made it difficult, if not impossible, to determine their pedigree and parentage. Although a great deal of ingenuity has gone into the construction of such new therapies, very little effort has gone into testing their validity. Unless serious attempts are made to bring about a rapprochement, it is likely to lead to a state of ‘epistemological anarchy’, or, anything goes.     

Caste,class and culture: A case study

This case study is concerned with the deteriorating relationship between an Indian doctor who comes from a wealthy, high-caste Brahmin family from Calcutta, and an English girl from a middle-upper-middle class family from Dorset. She is a graduate in English and is a “budding” novelist. They have known each other for several years and have often lived together. Despite the fact that they have decided to become engaged, and are planning to get married shortly, their relationship has turned sour, and she has walked out on him. The study examines the nature of their relationship, the irreconcilable cultural differences that separate them. The case is viewed almost entirely from the doctor's perspective because of her unwillingness to meet with him.     

Cross-cultural psychology: A handmaiden to mainstream Western psychology

This paper argues that mainstream Western psychology, in adopting a natural science model, has abandoned its past philosophical legacies. Metaphysical concepts, such as will, purpose, consciousness, awareness, mind, etc., which give meaning to our lives have been jettisoned. Attention has been focused on overt, observable, measurable behaviours, which are investigated by sophisticated experimental methods aided by the use of complex statistical and mathematical models. Research appears to be guided more by its methodology than by its conceptual frameworks. Science has been replaced by scientism. The ecological validity of the findings of such studies has also been vigorously questioned. Cross-cultural research, which is concerned with investigating variant and invariant behaviours across cultures, has also fallen victim to the 'scientific' methods used in mainstream psychology, which become particularly evident in the use of psychometric testing and experimentation across cultures. It is argued that cross-cultural psychology needs to be indigenized if one is to arrive at a deeper understanding of culture and the manner in which it affects individuals, their lives and their behaviours.     

Counselling in Action: Sexual abuse in an Asian family

This case study concerns a family of three generations of Asians living in London. It involves three children (two boys and a girl) who were sexually abused by one of the members of the extended family, for a period exceeding 5 years. Attempts to deal with the problem within the secrecy of the family conspiracy failed. It led to a breakdown of communications within the family network. Subsequently, the problem came under police investigation. The perpetrator was found guilty and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Of the three young victims, the girl was extremely traumatized. Initially, she refused to meet with the therapist, but gradually, at the gentle persuasion of her parents, she relented. The case study is an account of the therapist's culturally relevant use of indigenous techniques to successfully deal with the trauma, thus helping in the rehabilitation of the victim.