Bear spends time in our dreams now: Magical thinking and cultural empathy in multicultural counselling theory and practice

Abstract

Traditional lifeways and thoughtways of ethnocultural clients can impede the success of psychosocial interventions. Frequently hidden from the view of outsiders, traditional belief systems and practices are a source for explanations of various experiences ranging from occurrences of natural phenomena to the cause and treatment of physical and psychological conditions. Magical thinking as it's referred to in the psychiatric literature often is a source of many of the explanations. However, conventional mental health counsellors may view magical thinking as unrealistic and thus an obstruction to intervention. Given this consideration, magical thinking and its relevance for promoting cultural empathy form the major theme of this article. Challenges to the genuineness of an ethnocultural client's magical thinking calls into question a counsellor's cultural sensitivity and competence. Conversely, counsellors who establish a culturally resonant relationship with ethnocultural clients come to realize that magical thinking can dominate their clients’ worldviews. Depending on the counsellor's values and willingness to suspend judgment, in time, respect and rapport can promote cultural empathy and advance the counselling relationship.

Keywords:

• culture
• clinical diagnosis
• magical thinking
• American Indian
• cultural measurement equivalence

Acknowledgements

Several colleagues and friends reviewed the manuscript in whole or part. I am truly indebted to Molly E. Trimble, Jeffrey King, Dana Crowley Jack, and Deborah Forgays for their assistance and advice; Molly provided her usual skillfully worded editorial comments and suggestions through several draft versions and for that I’m extremely grateful in more ways than I can express.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

Notes

1. The article is an expanded version of an invited keynote lecture with a similar title presented at the 5th Critical Multicultural and Diversity Counselling and Psychotherapy Conference sponsored by the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, August 2009.

2. Diane is a pseudonym. The content of the case story is based on a reconstruction of field notes taken by the author during the time of the discussions with Diane.