Culturally Adapting Psychotherapy for Asian Heritage Populations

An Evidence-Based Approach

Current census reports indicate that over half of the United States will be of ethnic minority background by 2050. Yet few published studies have examined or demonstrated the efficacy of currently established psychological treatments for ethnic minorities. Culturally Adapting Psychotherapy for Asian Heritage Populations: An Evidence-Based Approach identifies the need for culturally adapted psychotherapy and helps support the cultural competency movement by helping providers develop specific skillsets, rather than merely focusing on cultural self-awareness and knowledge of other groups. The book provides a top-down and bottom-up community-participatory framework for developing culturally adapted interventions that can be readily applied to many other groups. Areas targeted for adaptation are broken down into domains, principles, and the justifying rationales. This is one of the first books that provides concrete, practical, and specific advice for researchers and practitioners alike. It is also the first book that provides an actual culturally adapted treatment manual so that the reader can see cultural adaptations in action.

• Summarizes psychotherapy research indicating underrepresentation of ethnic minorities
• Describes the first evidence-based culturally adapted treatment for Asian heritage populations
• Provides concrete examples of adapted psychotherapy in practice
• Clarifies how this framework can be further used to adapt interventions for other ethnic groups
• Highlights how principles used to develop this depression-specific treatment can be applied to other disorders
• Includes the full treatment manual Improving Your Mood: A Culturally Responsive and Holistic Approach to Treating Depression in Chinese Americans