Indigenous Psychology - Real Life Application

Real Life Application

Cultural views, theories and assumptions within social institutions influence cultures around the world through the application of psychological practices on indigenous populations. The historic, cultural and religious beliefs specific to each population directly affect the application of such psychologies. The specific beliefs of indigenous people must be considered in order to bridge the barrier between psychological ideas and the real world application of these ideas on indigenous people. An excerpt from an article on the American Psychological Associations web site explains this idea and shows how connecting psychology with cultural beliefs can strengthen a doctor patient relationship.

"Delhi psychologist Aruna Broota, PhD, doesn't let her doctoral training at an American university stand in the way of using Indian folk beliefs in her work. The importance of such beliefs were evident in a recent case in which one of Broota's patients beat his wife. Broota's probing revealed that the husband was angry at his wife for disobeying her mother-in-law by having her child immunized on a day the mother-in-law considered inauspicious. Broota's analysis? The women should have placed a small black mark behind the child's ear to protect him from evil."Pardon my saying so, but if there was a white therapist, he would try to be 'rational,'" says Broota, a psychology professor at the University of Delhi and editor of the Journal of Research and Applications in Clinical Psychology. "Whereas in India, we try to look into the belief system of the client. I was being ancient as well as modern to create peace in the house" (Clay, 2002)."

This article and many more are available on the APA web site http://www.apa.org/monitor/may02/india.aspx.