Alma's Bedside Ghost: Or the Importance of Cultural Similarity

Abstract

Cultural similarity between client and therapist is a significant variable in the successful outcome of therapy. People from different cultures do not only speak different languages, but also have different (sometimes opposing) perceptions of reality. Values, moral and social codes, and the meaning of pathology can often only be understood within the parameters of the patient's culture. This article describes the case of a severely depressed Hispanic patient who started improving only after she was able to reframe her depression within the context of her Latino spiritist beliefs. During therapy, her belief in the supernatural was not labeled pathological. The therapist, also a Hispanic, accepted the client's references to "intranquil spirits" as a way of dealing with painful issues within some Latino cultures. This is an example of how cultural affinity between client and therapist is often a necessary tool in therapy.