Cultural Adaptations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Devon E Hinton; Anushka Patel

doi:10.1016/j.psc.2017.08.006

Cultural Adaptations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2017 Dec;40(4):701-714. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2017.08.006. Epub 2017 Sep 19.

Authors

Devon E Hinton¹, Anushka Patel²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 15 Parkman Street, WACC 812, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address: devon_hinton@hms.harvard.edu.
² Department of Psychology, The University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA.

PMID: 29080595
DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2017.08.006

Abstract

In increasingly multicultural societies, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) must be made appropriate for diverse groups. This article examines cultural adaptations of CBT, focusing on anxiety and depressive disorders. The article presents a culturally informed, transdiagnostic model of how anxious-depressive distress is generated and culturally shaped. Guided by this model, it discusses how interventions can be designed to decrease anxiety-type and depressive-type psychopathology in a culturally sensitive way. It describes such concepts as explanatory model bridging, cultural grounding, and contextual sensitivity.

Keywords: CBT; Cultural adaptation; Culture; Minority populations; Refugees.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Anxiety Disorders / ethnology*
Anxiety Disorders / therapy*
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / methods*
Culturally Competent Care / methods*
Depressive Disorder / ethnology*
Depressive Disorder / therapy*
Humans