Early Cultural Dialogues in Cross-Cultural Clinical Practice

This article examines the quality of cultural dialogues between clients and therapists when they initiate and integrate verbal references to culture in the beginning process of therapy. Six cross-cultural dyads in short-term-oriented community mental health services participated in the study. The initial three sessions of actual clinical encounters were taped, and conversation analysis was used for an intensive analysis of the treatment sessions. Despite the presence of a wide range of affectively charged cultural content raised by the clients, the therapists showed only minimal responses to these topics. The potential of therapeutically germane cultural dialogue was lost, and the discussion of material involving cultural differences regressed to monologues expressed by clients. In this sample, there was little talk that focused on cultural differences or similarities between clients and therapists. Implications and limitations of the study in cross-cultural clinical practice are discussed.