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Finding Common Ground in the Context of Difference: A South African Case Study
Ockert Coetzee1, Colleen Adnams2, Leslie Swartz3
1Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Ockert.Coetzee@westerncape.gov.za.
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
|January 5, 2019
Summary
Shared marginalization can bridge cultural divides in therapy. This case study highlights how common ground, not just differences, strengthens therapeutic relationships and trust between diverse clients and therapists.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Cultural Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Cultural assimilation and hybridity are increasingly recognized in therapeutic settings.
- Universalist and relativist perspectives in Cultural Psychiatry offer frameworks for understanding client-therapist dynamics.
- Critical reflection on the derivation of cultural norms is essential.
Observation:
- A clinical case study involved a Muslim South African woman and an Afrikaner South African man.
- The client and therapist shared an experience of marginalization.
- Despite apparent cultural differences, common ground was identified.
Findings:
- A shared experience of marginalization fostered unexpected similarities and strengthened the therapeutic alliance.
- Transgressing overt cultural differences was facilitated by focusing on 'shared marginalization'.
- The therapeutic relationship benefited from the consolidation of trust.
Implications:
- Focusing on shared marginalization can serve as a bridge across cultural differences in clinical encounters.
- Emphasizing shared humanity within perceived differences moves beyond dichotomous 'sameness' vs. 'otherness' discourses.
- This approach has relevance for diverse clinical settings where identity is dynamically presented.
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