The dual influence of culturally sensitive therapies (CSTs) and empirically supported
treatments (ESTs) on clinical practitioners has grown quickly in the United States.
While CST advocates have been driven by the need to provide culturally diverse
populations with services that are consistent with their cultural characteristics,
practitioners of ESTs have striven to empirically demonstrate the benefits of
psychotherapy. However, as EST's influence grows, it may increasingly threaten CST's
advances. Some assumptions underlying the development of ESTs are not culturally
sensitive and can be detrimental to the well-being of culturally diverse patients.
This article highlights these assumptions in four interrelated areas and provides
suggestions to overcome these shortcomings. Cultural assumptions and methodological
implications of ESTs are presented, as well as some suggestions on how to broaden
their cultural understandings. To conclude, some general recommendations on how to
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