Mental Health and Language

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer examines how the under-utilization of mental health services by Hispanics has been a growing concern in research and clinical practice. The writer notes that language differences may be perhaps the most important stumbling block to the effective counseling and assessment of this population. The writer looks carefully at this issue and determines how much treatment is affected and whether there is anything that can to done to help Hispanics get better mental health treatment, even if they cannot speak English, or cannot speak it well. The writer points out that when clients and their therapists cannot communicate in the same language, they can often misunderstand each other, and this makes it very difficult to interact and provide what is needed by the therapeutic relationship. Further the writer highlights that since this is the case, mental health services are very under-utilized by the Hispanic population, and this issue must be addressed if this population is to be helped.

From the Paper:

"The interaction between therapists and their patients has long been a subject of study. Usually, these studies relate to Caucasian therapists and how their Caucasian clients respond to them. It seems as though there is the greater amount of Caucasian people in the therapy profession, and therefore the relationship between Caucasian therapists and Caucasian patients is easier to study. While it is true that there are many Caucasian therapists, there are also many therapists out there with a different ethnic background. Some are African-American, as well as Native American, Asian, Hispanic, and other nationalities. There are also many patients with a different ethnic background, and many of these individuals do not speak English, or do not speak it well enough to really communicate their thoughts and feelings in a therapeutic setting. While Hispanics are the main focus here, others will also be mentioned briefly, to shed some light on how large the actual problem is."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alleman, J. R. (2002). Online counseling: The Internet and mental health treatment. Psychotherapy, 39, 199-209.
• Bouchard, S., Payeur, R., Rivard, V., Allard, M., Paquin, B., Renaud, P. et al. (2000). Cognitive behavior therapy for panic disorder with agoraphobia in videoconference: preliminary results. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 3, 999-1007.
• Busseri, M. A., & Tyler, J. D. (2003). Interchangeability of the working alliance inventory and working alliance inventory, short form. Psychological Assessment, 15, 193-197.
• Cook, J. E., & Doyle, C. (2002). Working alliance in online therapy as compared to face-to-face therapy: Preliminary results. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5, 95-105.
• Erdur, O., Rude, S. & Baron, A. (2003). Symptom improvements and length of treatment in ethically similar and dissimilar client-therapist pairings. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(1), 52-58.

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