Culture and Reflexivity in Systemic Psychotherapy

The therapeutic relationship is increasingly becoming a central topic in systemic psychotherapy and cross-cultural thinking. Here, experienced systemic psychotherapists offer their reflections and thoughts on the issues of race, culture, and ethnicity in the therapeutic relationship.

The aim is to develop this area of systemic practice, to place culture squarely at the centre of all systemic psychotherapy practice as a model for all psychotherapy practice. It is intended to encourage both trainees and experienced systemic psychotherapists to pay attention to race, culture, and ethnicity as central issues in their own and their clients' identities, and to inform researchers who use qualitative research techniques such as ethnography.

Culture and Reflexivity in Systemic Psychotherapy moves the issues of culture, race and equity into the centre of psychotherapeutic practice, including that which involves therapeutic encounters across cultural, racial and ethnic divides. It develops an approach to cultural transference and demonstrates that thinking about culture, race and ethnicity does not belong at the margin.