CREATING A CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ENVIRONMENT FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN YOUTHS - A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Psychotherapy has been used by psychiatric nurses in advanced practice since the 1950s. The majority of research and clinical literature on the processes and outcomes of psychotherapy as an intervention in trea ting mental health difficulties have involved primarily Euro-American populations with little emphasis on ethnic, cultural, or class distinc tions. If the epistemic origins of psychotherapy and its emphasis on t he ''interior self' of emotions, thoughts, and perceptions are a holdo ver from 19th-century individualism, where does this leave African Ame ricans, whose social and cultural experience is more embedded in commu nal activities of church, neighborhood, and family than that of Euro-A mericans? This article critically examines the role of psychotherapeut ic mental health care as an emancipatory action, seeking to create a m ore culturally responsive psychotherapeutic environment for African Am erican youths.