PSYCHOLOGY CORNER

COUNSELING IN THE PHILIPPINE CULTURAL CONTEXT

(Based from the book, COUNSELING AND VALUES EDUCATION:

STEPS TO PEACE IN THE ASEAN SETTING

by Rose Marie Salazar-Clemena)

 AMY L. CHAVES

Dec. 2, 1999

CONTEXT:

            The history of counseling psychology has been fashioned after the American model although there have been several attempts since the 1970’s to evolve indigenous psychological concepts and methods.  This is to posit that the purely Western concepts and techniques may not be entirely suitable to Filipinos.  It is therefore imperative that if Filipino counselors would work with the Filipino clients, the former must be “culturally aware."  It is just like buying imported clothes that do not fit the climate here.  So counselors must become more culturally sensitive.

            Results of a survey conducted by the author (Salazar) has revealed the following elements of the Filipino worldview: 

v      It is both optimistic (“If you’re down now, you’ll soon be up.”) and fatalistic (“What will be, will be”.)

v      It is theocentric  (People are created in the image of God.”), egocentric (“People are selfish, never contented”.), and also other-centered (“People are loving”.).

v      It is proactive and purposive (“People are the ones who run the world”.) and at the same time receptive and passive (“People should follow the turning of the world to avoid trouble”.).

v      It is person-centered (“People create their own problems”.) but also situation-centered (“People have problems because they are jobless”.).

v      Filipinos put importance on the affective (“People lack true understanding and sympathy”.) and the cognitive ((“Each person is created with unique talents and abilities”.).

v      Filipinos value the material (“People have problems because of money”.), the spiritual (“People lack faith in God”.), and transpersonal (“People are capable of accepting reality as ordained by God”.).

            Individuals with an internal locus of control consider reinforcements or rewards as contingent on one’s actions while those with an external locus of control see consequences as independent of people’s actions.  An internal locus of responsibility attributes success to a person’s skills (“person-centered” orientation) while an external locus of responsibility sees the sociocultural environment as more potent than the individual.

Conceptions of Self:

            It is very important for counselors to know how the Filipinos view themselves.  The following are the survey results of Church (1998) concerning the Filipinos’ conception of self (the valued characteristics of the Filipino ego ideal):

            < an emphasis on family ties, respect for authority (pagkamagalang)

            < emotional- and self-control (pagtitimpi)

            < courteous and friendly (pakikisama)

            < warm concern and sharing with others (pakikipagkapwa)

            < industry (kasipagan)

            < courage and endurance (katapangan/ lakas ng loob at pagtitiis)

            < a desire for economic progress

Mental Health Concepts:

            Mental health is the general goal of counseling.  It is therefore necessary to establish some distinctions of what constitutes desirable mental health for Filipinos.  Studies conducted by Arcoff et. al. (1966), Sechrest et. al. (1973) and Valencia and Palo (1979) reveal the following conceptions of Filipino mental health:

Ø      will power

Ø      preoccupation with pleasant thoughts

Ø      importance of environmental stress

            The above results yielded the following initial dimensions: self-assurance, affective well being, proper behavior, emotional control, responsible student, broad/independent mind, concern for others, and valuing friends.

Expectations about Counseling/Counselors:

            The following are the Filipinos’ expectations about counseling:

ü      Help desired. (money, material things, job, advice, understanding, acceptance, respect/listening, empathy, spiritual support, enlightenment)

ü      Characteristics of effective counselors: powerful, knowledgeable, available, having appealing personal attributes, and showing concern of others (students and faculty favor appealing personal attributes over knowledgeable; administrators and counselors preferring knowledgeable over other categories).  The highest percentage of responses was in the area of knowledgeable, followed by appealing personal attributes, powerful, concern for others and availability.

Towards a Culture-Sensitive Counseling Model:

            The IC-IR worldview (Internal Control-Internal Responsibility) would respond more enthusiastically to Western counseling approaches which Filipino counselor value—those that emphasize uniqueness, independence, self-reliance and personal resources for solving problems.  The humanistic and behavioral approaches are examples of these.

            For the clients with the EC-ER view (External Control-External Responsibility), whose self-concept may be influenced by years of colonization by foreign governments, counseling could focus on reeducation, to make them aware of the wider socio-political forces at the basis of their plight.  Clients are therefore made to “distinguish between positive attempts to acculturate and a negative rejection of one’s own cultural value”.

            The EC-ER worldview approach in counseling must focus on the client’s need to be taught new coping strategies and be helped to experience success, aimed at the reeducative process to expand their awareness.

            Thus, certain worldviews call for particular counseling approaches.  However, “the formulation of culturally consistent tactics do not magically lead to effective therapy, but probably result in an intermediate process like therapist credibility.  It is therefore important for the counselor to re-examine his approach and techniques in counseling and try indigenous and creative approaches similar to the participative research methods such as the pakikisama (“mixing”), pakikilahok (“participating”), and pakikisangkot (“getting involved”).  The counselor must therefore be seen as sakop--"one of us"--enabling potential clients to open up to them more easily. 

            The Filipino counselor has to be a “functional integrator” who is able to combine and connect aspects of each worldview into a harmonious union.  Such integration will maximize the client’s “effectiveness and psychological well-being”.

EXPERIENCE:

            I had the chance of counseling a college freshman in the school where I taught in Canada some ten years ago.  Because I was new, I had to do a lot of cultural observing and learning.  A few months after my arrival, a student who was really weird looking and who was different from others in terms of behavior, approached me and showed me his paintings.  Since I am a sensitive person, I knew right away that he is not the boy-next-door-type.  So I tried to take an interest in his drawings and paintings which were equally weird.  What I did was to ask him questions about himself--his hobbies aside from painting, some preferences in life, and his family.  I had the gut feeling that I had to be careful in relating to him not only because of his weirdness but also because he is a Canadian and I am a Filipino.

            I found out later, when he would begin calling me in my boarding house, that he is taking drugs.  What I did was out of the blue--I  spent one afternoon in the cafeteria listening to his miseries. Since Canadians are trained to be independent thinkers, I could not guide him but I could only present to him options for furthering his growth.  Incidentally, since I am in the area of Philosophy, I simply used the Socratic approach, coupled with the Existential approach and it worked!  Gradually, he changed! I am not sure if he stopped taking drugs.  If he did, he did it without effort and without much withdrawal symptoms.  But I let go of him gradually, like letting go of a bird which has learned to fly.  It was such an enriching experience for me.

REFLECTION:

            My experience of “a little counseling in Canada” has been a learning experience for me as a teacher.  I found out two important truths: First, there are universal human conditions that enable all human beings to empathize with others, regardless of color, religion, sex, or creed.  Feelings of emptiness, meaninglessness, struggle for direction, irrational passions and others are universal dimensions of the human experience.  So I believe that counselors can work on universal human experiences as basis for understanding and empathizing with clients in any situation.  However, the second truth I learned is that the understanding of certain human experiences must be contextualized in the cultural dimension.  There are some facts of the human experience that can be understood only in one’s socio-cultural dimension.   Divorce, polygamy or monogamy, capital punishment, euthanasia or mercy killing and other diversities can best be understood and tackled in the socio-cultural level.

            I therefore agree with Ms. Salazar-Clemena that there is a need for the counselor to be culturally sensitive towards his client. 

ACTION:

            I think it is to the advantage of the client that the counselor must be familiar with the socio-cultural dimension.  It is in this respect that I propose the following recommendations for counselors:

            One, the counselor must enlarge his horizon of understanding human beings in terms of the pluralistic socio-economic background of clients.  He should know “where” his clients are coming from, his beliefs, his religion, his society, his cultural norms and practices.  This can be done either by formal training such as taking up sociology subjects or by reading various writings on cultural differentiation.

            Second, the counselor must make the effort of studying other cultures.  This can be done again by either formal means such as studying Hinduism or Judaism, or by informal means such as observing a Taoist ritual or making friends with a Muslim.

            Third, the Psychology Department must consider offering a free elective which gives the student the chance to learn more about other cultures.

            Fourth, the counselor could do some traveling in some parts of the world during conferences.  This would give him the possibility of meeting other people from other parts of the world, thus enhancing his cultural awareness and sensitivity.

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http://amychaves.bizland.com/articles/cultural.htm