Hindu and Buddhist children, adolescents, and families

The language of psychotherapy that focuses on the individual may be problematic for Hindu and Buddhist families. The focus on child and adolescent development as a separation-individuation process that moves the child into an independent life with individual goals may run contrary to family cultural values and to the Hindu and Buddhist views of interconnectedness. For the Hindu family, however, when therapy can be seen as being compatible with an evolution toward the higher self and is consistent with the shared sense of family belonging, the goals can be complementary. With the fundamental views in Buddhism that suffering derives from emotional and conceptual misunderstandings and from the resultant actions, and that change is necessary to relieve that suffering, therapy and practice may share goals. The spiritual teachings can work alongside the therapeutic work, and the improved functioning is also spiritual growth.