ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on psychotherapy and the psychological counseling side of the cultural differences that are frequently encountered outside the West, and suggests some applications and interventions. Culture-sensitive approaches to psychotherapy would seem to be a necessity in our digitalized global world. Psychology and mental illness are becoming better understood and less taboo for some Middle Eastern people, though a distinction between rural and urban people must be made, even if they have relations who live elsewhere. The weight of the cultural dimensions of learned values, beliefs, and attitudes that shape cognitions, perceptions, emotions, and behavior cannot be stressed enough. The ‘Self’ has been taken as a social-cognitive framework and a constellation of cognitive schemas. The practice of psychotherapy and psychiatric treatments has historically been provided by Western clinicians.
