Counseling Approaches and Perspectives With Muslims, Term Paper Example

Marwam Adeeb Dwairy’s Counseling and Psychotherapy with Arabs and Muslims: A Culturally Sensitive Approach seeks to provide a psycho-cultural framework to assist counsellors in working with Muslim clients in a manner which supports their unique cultural needs.  Dwairy has spent twenty-five years working in clinical, educational, developmental, psychological, and medical practices with Arabs, Muslims, Jews, and Americans.  Although his theoretical and practical training was based on Western theories, he’s come to realize that different modalities are required when working with Muslim populations.  This is due, in part, to the fact that Muslim clients “tended to focus on their external circumstances, and were unable to address internal and personal issues” (Dwairy, 2006, ix).  Within Muslim communities, the group took precedence over the individual, and family took precedence over self, leading Dwairy to conclude that ego-based non-directive therapeutic practices would not necessarily be effective.  Realizing that the family and community unit was almost indistinguishable from the Muslim conception of self,  Dwairy concluded that he would have to take different approaches in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions (2006).  Because Western psychological practices are unlikely to meet the specific needs of this population, counsellors must alter their approach to their Muslim clients rather than expecting the client to bend to the will of the counselor and Western practices (Dwairy, 2006).  He also emphasizes, however, the need to refrain from generalizing about any cultural group, as many of the needs of the Muslim population are the same as those you would encounter with any other group of diverse people.  The presence of specific psycho-cultural features in Muslim communities does not mean that these features aren’t present in other cultures, and does not suggest that many of these features aren’t universal to all cultures given that “cultural features are always relative and not absolute” (Dwairy, 2006, p. xii).  Thus, the fact that Muslims live in a culture that values the group and tends towards authoritarianism doesn’t mean that other nations don’t share this trait.  However, all people are not the same, and when examining Muslim culture counselors must remember that “similarities should not make us blind to diversity, and vice versa” (Dwairy, 2006, p. xii)

Dwairy aims to facilitate cultural sensitivity and better relationships between Muslims and counselors, especially after September 11th, which led to many Muslims and Arabs becoming victims of stereotyping, bias, and antipathy within the United States.  To this end, he looks at a variety of topics which are relevant to counseling techniques and practice.  Dwairy’s book is divided into three parts:  Understanding the Psycho-cultural Heritage; Revising Western Theories of Development and Personality; and Working with Arab and Muslim Clients in the United States and Abroad.  While the entire book provides a unique perspective on the psycho-cultural needs of this diverse group of people, for the purposes of this critique, Section Three is an incredibly valuable resource.  This section provides the bulk of information relevant to the five foundational skills of intentional interviewing and counseling as it evaluates the limitations of therapeutic approaches, provides a detailed overview of the specific needs of Muslim women and families, and discusses how counselors can best provide a culturally sensitive environment in which to work with their Muslim clients.

Throughout Counseling and Psychotherapy with Arabs and Muslims, Dwairy underlines the importance of respecting the Arab culture through understanding.  He suggests that Western counselors may encounter difficulties in understanding Muslim family dynamics, which so emphasize the group over the individual and tend towards strict authoritarianism which may be utterly foreign to counselors raised in a Western context (2006).  It is all too easy, he suggests, for the counselor to “find themselves opposing the authority of the Arab/Muslim families and employing therapeutic and legal means to create liberal egalitarian order in the family” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 28).  Such an approach is both “unethical and counterproductive” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 28), and will only set up roadblocks to successful therapeutic interventions.  Instead, Dwairy directs counselors to “listen to the stresses and anxieties that the authoritarian parents experience, e express empathy for their conflicts, and to encourage and empower those progressive components in the parents’ value system that may facilitate therapeutic changes” (2006, p. 28).  Active listening plays a crucial role in working with Muslim families because it allows for the counselor to listen, understand, and interpret the client’s narrative without imposing his or her own belief or value system upon said client.  By allowing the client to dictate the terms of the discussion by taking a lead in the direction of the session, the client is given an active and empowering role in the conversation.  Active listening allows for the counselor to focus their attention wholly on the client and suspend judgement in order to facilitate a productive relationship between counselor and client while avoiding the risk of overt challenging of the authoritarian social structures that remain so important to Muslim and Arab families (Dwairy, 2006).  In Dwairy’s estimation, the counsellor’s ability to remain neutral is key to a successful counseling relationship as an aggressive approach to changing the Muslim family system could result in a termination of the counseling process.  It’s worth noting, additionally, that counselors should proceed carefully when using humanistic therapies like Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach which employ techniques such as active listening.  The freedom provided to the client by such therapies can be overwhelming and intimidating for Muslim clients, especially in the beginnings of the therapeutic process where guidelines have not yet been wholly established.  Dwairy writes that Muslim clients often find that nondirective and nonjudgmental therapies do not “meet their expectations; they do not know how to use the free space; they become disappointed and dissatisfied with the therapist; and therefore they may quit therapy” (2006, p. 103).  Dwairy’s clinical experience has suggested to him that such techniques work best with educated Muslims and Arabs who have achieved a level of psychological independence.

The use of intentional questions to draw a client into discussion and a deeper understanding of self can also be threatening to the Muslim client, who is used to an “indirect and ‘getting along’ (mosayara) way of communication” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 103).  Any attempt to question the client in an active and confrontational way may result in misunderstandings on the part of the client, who can experience such questions as criticisms meant to reject his/her culture, family, and self.  The use of open questions allows the counselor to let the client become the expert on their own culture and experiences by “using the client’s key words and constructs, and then ask: ‘How does that sound?'” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 103).  Closed questions can also be useful in providing specific, concrete information to aid the counselor in better understanding his or her client’s culture.  The counsellor’s decision to let the client use his or her own expertise to guide the session in terms of culture and experience does not mean that the session would become unfocussed.  Instead, Dwairy suggests that intentional questioning within this therapeutic environment should employ a focus that validates the client’s cultural experiences while engaging in reflective practices and paraphrasing that ensure the counselor is correctly understanding the client’s culture, issues, and motivations (2006).

Dwairy makes it clear that a counseling session is not the appropriate place in which to change a client’s culture or oppress said client with the counsellor’s own belief and value system (2006).  The use of unconditional positive regard is useful in such an encounter to demonstrate the counsellor’s understanding of and empathy towards the client’s cultural experiences.  This requires the counselor to show empathy, as well, towards not just the individual client but their collective culture.  This will help the client to develop a trusting relationship with the counselor  that is based on acceptance and tolerance.  It is not enough, Dwairy stresses, to limit empathy to the individual while disregarding the importance of the family and culture.  Indeed, “empathizing with the client while at the same time pushing her to cope assertively with her family may place her prematurely in an irresolvable conflict” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 23).  In order to utilize empathy in a therapeutic encounter, the counselor must work to resolve any countertransference issues toward Arab clients and families.  In the wake of September 11th, with negative stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims abounding in Western society, counselors must strive to bring empathy and compassion to their sessions.  This includes remaining “open to listening and learning about clients and their families and [stripping] themselves of any stereotypical notions and prejudices that they may have absorbed from the Western media” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 23).

As noted previously, one of the barriers a counselor may encounter while working with Muslim clients is an ingrained resistance to non-directive therapy.  While such techniques are meant to “help the client feel unconditionally accepted” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 103) and assist in the client’s inner-growth and awareness, the lack of structure and emphasis on personal feelings can be very off-putting to Muslim clients.  As such, the use of reflection in sessions will be most helpful once the client has begun to understand the parameters of counseling and feels more comfortable talking about his/her feelings, family, and culture.  Dwairy states that “since psychotherapy is not a common experience for Arabs/Muslims, orientation to therapy in the initial stages is recommended in order to modify expectations and to help the client take her own share of responsibility during therapy” (2006, p. 105).  He recommends engaging in outreach at the client’s home or Mosque for those traditional individuals who would otherwise not engage in counseling due to their fear or distrust of the counseling environment.

According to Dwairy, it is impossible for counsellors to effectively challenge their Muslim clients without a comprehensive awareness of Muslim culture that includes an understanding of how the individual tends to put his or her own needs as secondary to the family and greater community (2006).  Before engaging in contradiction, confrontation, or the discussion of discrepancies, a counselor must be aware that diversity of opinions and behaviors is not highly valued within a collective culture.  Communication is guided by respect and traditionalism, and can be derailed by conversational directions which attempt to challenge conservative statements.   As Dwairy writes, “authentic self-expression of feelings is not welcomed; instead, one is expected to express what others anticipate” (2006, p. 24).  Thus, any challenges presented by counselor can be interpreted a rejection of and an insult to the client.  This places the counselor in a position where he or she must be careful to deal with the client’s culture sensitively while refraining from merely parroting back what the client expects to hear, which would not lead to growth in the client-counsellor relationship.

The tendency of Muslims and Arabs to value the collective over the individual presents a variety of issues for therapeutic practice.  Primary among these is the reluctance that many clients, especially those from more traditional backgrounds, will encounter in non-directive, non-judgemental therapeutic counselling.  Dwairy suggests that rather than evaluating a client’s age, gender, education, and social role in order to determine the best therapy for the client, one must take into account the “level of individuation, ego strength, and strictness of the family” (2006, p. 147.  This will enable the counsellor to decide which therapeutic approach to adopt with the client, and will set both the client and counsellor on the road to a successful clinical relationship.  However, Dwairy also stresses the need to avoid painting all Muslims with the same stereotypical brush and refrain from generalizing the individual by virtue of the group’s overall behavior (2006).  Instead, he suggests that the “shared/collective characteristics of Arabs/Muslims described in [his] book are best considered as a cognitive framework or background against which counselors and therapists can interpret the results of their examination  or understanding of a specific client” (Dwairy, 2006, p. 148).  Counseling and psychotherapy with Arabs and Muslims provides a comprehensive overview of the primary issues a counsellor may encounter when working with Muslim clients.  Dwairy offers valuable insight into how best to employ the five foundational skills of intentional interviewing and counseling in a manner which respects and validates the Muslim client.  By addressing the concerns and limitations of various counselling methods with this population, Dwairy prepares counsellors to deal with both their own biases and those they may encounter from Muslim clients, providing a psycho-cultural framework that will allow for the building of successful relationships between client and counsellor.

References

Dwairy, M. (2006). Counseling and psychotherapy with Arabs and Muslims: A culturally sensitive approach. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.