Racial Identity Development Models, Essay Example

Effects of Racial and Cultural Development on an Individual’s Psychological Health

Racial and cultural identities have a strong impact on an individual’s emotional and psychological state.  The way an individual feels about their race or culture can be an important factor in their therapy. The Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model illustrates a progression of stages a minority experiences when dealing with issues concerning race or culture. A culturally competent therapist will be able to combine the R/CID model with their empathy, knowledge, and skills in an objective manner to better assist their clients.

The R/CID model can help a therapist better assess the impact of their client’s race or culture on their psychological health.  There are five stages in the R/CID model and each stage effects how an individual may respond to their therapeutic treatments.  The five states of racial and cultural identity development are conformity, dissonance, resistance and immersion, introspection, and integrative awareness.

In the initial conformity stage of the R/CID model, minorities show a preference for the dominant majority and may even have a negative impression of their own culture and race.  These individuals are in a state of denial and may experience feelings of shame and embarrassment.  By trying to identify and assimilate to the dominant culture or race, feelings of self-hatred can result.  Therapists must be gentle with these clients, as they may not be ready to confront all of their issues regarding their race and culture.  Therapy should focus on helping these clients find acceptance of themselves on a personal level.  When the clients are ready, the therapist can help them to work through these difficult emotions and develop better self-esteem.

In dissonance, the second stage of development, individuals may begin to acquire information which challenges their beliefs and ideas about themselves and the dominant race or culture.  For the first time, these individuals may be directly dealing with their emotions about how being a minority has affected their lives.  They may start to identify with positive aspects from their own race or culture and question the dominant majority.  Therapists must be aware that these clients may have many questions and are struggling with their identity as to how they fit in with their race or culture.  They may prefer a therapist with a strong knowledge of their cultural group, even if there is still a preference for the dominant majority.  The goal of dealing with racial and cultural identity in therapy is to encourage the individual to engage in self-exploration, answer questions, and allow the client to know that it is not negative to be a part of a minority race or culture.

Resistance and immersion are the third stage of the R/CID model and the individual may become obsessed with their own race or culture, and reject the values and ideals of the dominant group.  Individuals in this stage are experiencing a lot of anger and intense emotions.  In therapy, this stage is critical because these individuals may attribute all of their problems to racism and oppression. These clients may even perceive all therapists and mental health services to be a threatening control mechanism of the dominant culture.  The therapist may be viewed as a symbol of an oppressive society.  White therapists may be perceived as an enemy and a therapist of their own race or culture may be viewed as a traitor.  Clients may become angry with the therapist, who must take care not to become defensive or personalize the attacks (Sue & Sue, 2013).

In the fourth stageof introspection, individuals may be taxed psychologically and emotionally by the opposition they feel towards the dominant race or culture and may question the negative aspects of their own minority group.  They begin to realize that not all aspects of the dominant culture are evil and that their own culture is not without fault.  Clients may feel physically drained from their internal struggles and this fatigue can impact their psychological state.  On a positive note, these individuals may begin to feel more secure in themselves and their own beliefs.  The therapist needs to be supportive of the delicate balance that their clients are experiencing.  Therapists can encourage their clients to have greater faith in their own beliefs and begin to help their clients develop compassion and forgiveness with individuals who have intentionally or unintentionally wronged them due to their different race or culture.

In the fifth stage of integrative awareness, the individual has a more balanced appreciation of their own and other’s races and cultures.  At this stage, the client may have a better grasp on their racial identity.   Therapists should not ignore that being a part of a minority culture or race has shaped their client’s experiences; rather they should continue to encourage their client to remain open and share their feelings.  The client may really be able to finally work through some of the issues of being either a racial or cultural minority, which will help them to better manage their emotional and psychological problems.

The level of racial and cultural development is important for therapists to be aware of because stressful situations or conditions related to their client’s culture and race may contribute to psychological distress.  By being aware and sensitive to the individual needs of their clients, a therapist should be able to assist them in managing their struggles withracial or cultural identity and assess how this may affect their psychological state.

Counsellors should be familiar with racial identity models for both dominant and non-dominant groups, and the influence of racial identity on the counselling relationship and the counselling process.  In addition, counsellors are expected to develop skills for tailoring their relationship-building strategies, assessment, interventions, and referral considerations to the client’s racial identity while taking into account their own racial identity. (MacDoougall & Arthur, 2001)

Cultural competence is a necessary trait which counselors must possess in order to be effective in helping clients with their racial and cultural identities.It is important for therapists to be culturally competent, not only with their clients, but also with themselves.  Counselors mustbe aware of their own biases and not allow them affect their views and treatment of their clients. Therapists should be knowledgeable about their client’s race or culture, or if they are not, then the therapists should educate themselves in order to better serve their client.Therapists should also be aware that different delivery methods affect how their clients may respond to the therapy in relation to the stage which they are at in the R/CID model.  For example, a woman of Iranian descent in the conformity stage may respond differently to a treatment plan than a Mexican male in the integration stage. It may even be helpful if the therapist is able to speak the same language as the client.

Minorities may not be as likely to seek help for mental health services.  A major challenge with treating minorities is that mental health services may clash with their own culture or race’s ideals and values.  Therapists must recognize the struggle that their client may be facing by actively choosing to participate in therapy.

Understanding that all clients, regardless of their race or culture should be treated with empathy and concern will help therapists to be both culturally competent and effective.  A study by Sue, Zane, Hall,and Berger (2009) found that minorities associate therapeutic alliance and empathy with cultural competence in therapists.  Though the R/CID model can be a powerful tool in understanding an individual’s feelings regarding their race or culture, the most effective tools a therapist has is to be empathetic and continuously strive to increase their knowledge.   True cultural competence is simply caring for and understanding a person for who they are, while being aware of how factors such as race and culture impact an individual’s psychological health.

References

MacDoougall, C., & Arthur, N. (2001). Applying racial identity models in multicultural counselling. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 35(2), 122-136.

Stith-Williams, V., & Haynes, P. (2007). A resource manual for developing cultural competence. Virginia Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/54529359/17/Sue-Sue’s-Racial-Cultural-Identity-Development-Stages

Sue, D., & Sue, D. (2013). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. (6th ed., pp. 307-308). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sue, S., Zane, N., Hall, GCN., & Berger, LK. (2009). The case for cultural competency in psychotherapeutic interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 525-548. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163651