Counseling and psychotherapy in india: Professionalism amidst changing times
India is a melting pot of diversity in castes, communities, geographical regions, languages, religions, and practices, within a geographical area of 32,87,263 kilometers, with 28 states and seven union territories. Although the notions of counseling and psychotherapy are Western, the process of mentoring and assisting individuals through their developmental issues was already present in ancient models of care in India, such as the Guru Shishya System,1 the Joint Family Network,2 and traditional healing. Counseling and psychotherapy do not exist as completely distinct disciplines in India. Although counseling grew out of a strong guidance format and led to a proliferation of trained and lay counselors and psychotherapy arose from a strong theoretical clinical psychology background, these differences are blurred in society. As Arulmani (2007) points out: all that is termed as counseling today was embedded within a complex support system of social relationships (p. 70). Although these fields progressed, difficulties with accreditation exist. The Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists (IACP), along with other bodies such as the Counseling Association of India, offer discussions of matters related to psychotherapy counseling and clinical psychology, and provide the code of conduct in India (IACP, 1993). Varma (1982) highlighted seven distinct features of the Indian population that strongly infiuence how counseling and psychotherapy are practiced and received by clients: Mutual interdependence, lack of psychological sophistication involving introspective and verbal abilities, social distance between the doctor and the patient due to class hierarchies, religious belief in rebirth and fatalism and related accountability, guilt attributed to misdeeds in past life and social approval-related shame, and lower emphasis on confidentiality as society can be therapeutic allies. India is a collectivistic society wherein the self is relational (Roland, 2005), though recent socio-economic changes have resulted in a contradictory mix of traditional and modern elements in families (Murthy, 2003). Shah and Isaac (2005) note that relationship problems dominate themes in clinical interviews and in the process of individual, couple and family therapy sessions in India. 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Handbook of Counseling and Psychotherapy in an International Context, pp. 193-203.
Sam George T., The Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore, India; Pothan P., The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences NIMHANS, Bangalore, India