In this article, you will find some advices about a particular topic. A specificity that is mainly experienced with a migrant public, generally from the African continent.
Imagine yourself, in an interview with a Cameroonian patient. During this interview, he speaks about his ancestors who tell him what to do in his dreams. He talks about a possession by a Djin, or he tells you that anybody can remove the curse except the marabou of Muyuka (his village). How would you react ? A backward movement ? A silence ? The famous “Mmmmh” of the psychologist ?
Don’t hold back your curiosity ! It’s an open door to explore the patient’s origins ! This unknown and different world than yours is at your fingertips ! Let your curiosity guide you during this interview, the patient will appreciate your interest in him, his culture and his origins. I discover that in my internship in a transcultural consultation.
In everyday life, the society asks him to conform to the European and occidental model. With the psychologist, he can speak about his origins without any judgments.
What may seem “strange” to us, occidentals, is not necessarily for him, in his country. It’s important to submit the patient’s words in the cultural context. Before categorizing him like a psychotic, immerse yourself in his cultural universe and his beliefs. We all have patterns and ours are influenced by our European culture.
René Kaës also considers culture such as the third difference after gender difference and generation difference. Henry Murphy and Jacques Moreau are among the first to introduce transcultural concept in psychiatry and psychology. Marie Rose Moro initiate and develop the term of transcultural clinic, related to the clinical ethnopsychiatry system of Tobie Nathan.
So, during your career, if you have a patient in whom there is a manifest or a latent emergence of cultural elements that you can’t work, you can get advice. It’s the same if you meet a cultural otherness that seems insurmountable to you, or cultural representations that embarrassed you. Don’t hesitate to rely on another professional such as a resource consultation in transcultural clinic.
The transcultural consultation is one of the possibilities, but only in addition to a psychological counselling. You can contact the transcultural team to expose your perceptions, your feelings, your difficulties. They are a “resource” so they can guide you, like a supervision.
If I can give you some advice : feel free to explore ! And feel free to tell your patient that you don’t know his culture at all. He will be grateful to you for your honesty.
Now, put yourself in their shoes, you are in a totally foreign country with a language you only know “hello”. You have experienced many traumatic events and now you need help to feel better. Do you prefer a psychologist who tries to understand your history and the culture of your home country? Or a psychologist who ignores this part of your life ? I prefer to tell him my history and what we do in my home country, such as traditions, cultural events. I would be grateful if he would take an interest in all of this. So why we refrain from taking an interest in him? Isn’t it the basis of the psychologist’s work?
I think that mediation device that is the transcultural consultation seems especially relevant in a multicultural society. Indeed, migration is a reality, and it tends to increase. Problems with migrants can be often complex with several traumatic layers. So, we have to be prepared to work with this public. Preserve your curiosity even in your work !