Cultural Aspects of Ethics in Psychotherapy

Changes such as globalization and migration, which have been widespread at international level in recent years, have led to increased cultural interactions and the transformation of existing communities into multi-cultural communities. In such a situation, awareness of the cultures governing the various communities, the role of culture in diagnosis, treatment, and symptoms of mental disorders, as well as awareness of the impact of therapist's and client's culture on the therapeutic process is necessary. The purpose of the present article is to study the cultural aspects of ethics in different countries such as East Asia, India, Middle Eastern countries, European countries, the United States of America and Africa. In the present narrative review paper, a systematic study was conducted for full-accessible English papers at 2005 to 2015 years time period using "culture", "ethics", "psychotherapy", "cutularal differences" keywords on PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar databases. Of total 116 obtained papers, 24 related papers were studied and analyzed. The cultural differences between different communities are such that ignoring them could lead to a decline in therapeutic performance of therapist and poor treating outcome. Literature review showed that the APA's ethics code forces psychologists to have knowledge and awareness of cultural, individual, and Mutual respect for the fundamental rights, dignity and authority of all human beings. Integrity and honesty in reporting, documenting and citing of resources were observed, The results show that although the therapist may not be familiar with all cultures, the therapist's awareness of his own cultural context, as well as the understanding and acceptance of his cultural differences with the clients, could have contribution in effective advancement of the therapeutic process and improving the quality of the treatment. In addition, there is an extensive need to determine ethical codes proportional to culture of various communities.