Working with Intercultural Couples

I n this time of increasing cultural diversity, therapists often find themselves working with couples who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A number of articles have been published (Baptiste, 1984; Carter and McGoldrick, 1989; Ho, 1990; Ibrahim and Schroeder, 1990; Falicov, 1995; Biever, Bobele, and North, 1998; Crohn, 1998; Perel, 2000; Hsu, 2001; Tseng and Streltzer, 2001) on working therapeutically with these couples, but paradoxically, little has been said about the role of culture and the experience of culture in influencing the individual and couple psychodynamics in these marriages. The literature correctly emphasizes the importance of sensitivity to cultural differences but is lacking in an explication of how the experience of growing up within a culture structures the unconscious ways in which individuals will experience and respond to each other. This article integrates contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives with interpretive anthropology to offer a coherent approach to working with intercultural couples. Expanding on the work by Ringstrom (1994), Trop (1994), and Shaddock (2000), the authors use intersubjectivity theory and self psychology to illuminate the unconscious organizing principles, specifically those organizing principles grounded in culture, that shape the individual subjective experiences of the marital partners and the therapist. Awareness of the unconscious cultural organizing principles facilitates the therapist's ability to help the individuals to understand their differences and co-construct their own distinct marital subculture.