Reconciling Rules with Context

Abstract

In psychotherapy practice, a complex relationship exists between clients, culture and values. By drawing on psychology, philosophy and anthropology, we developed an interdisciplinary ethical framework for cultural psychotherapy. The framework, which reflects a hermeneutic approach, avoids the excesses of both an ‘objective’ view of ethics (and its relation to selfhood) and the social constructionist view, which tends towards relativism. To take this middle path, therapists need to do more than familiarize themselves with the professional codes of ethics set out for this practice. These ethical codes and the rules that constitute them are important, but they should not replace the difficult work of ethical thinking and judgment. These processes require psychotherapists to engage in the (often) difficult task of gaining a better understanding of a client’s culture or context, including their conceptions of good, and critiquing or correcting instances where the therapists’ own moral or cultural prejudices distort or compromise the therapist-client relationship. We also present a case example in which we illustrate the strength and relevance of our approach.