A client’s culture encompasses all intersectional identities which are meaningful to them. Culture includes the norms, beliefs, values, art, expression, and religion or rituals with which they identify. Positive cultural identity has long been correlated with healthy emotional states such as strong self-esteem, sense of continuity and belonging, and increased resilience.
How to clarify identity is not something emphasized in the developmental life of most clients. Insurers don’t view it as a therapeutic goal. Yet the topic commonly arises in therapy when a client feels fragmented, threatened, or in crisis about their identity. Perhaps they feel torn between their social and home identities, have had to mask their true selves at work, or are experiencing conflict between immigrant and later generations within the family. A positive, well-defined identity is foundational to a grounded sense of self.
How does a therapist facilitate this process?
Provide basic psychoeducation on what defines identity and culture.
Normalize that clients may struggle to feel whole and define themselves due to social demands, role pressures, and projections they experience.
There are free online worksheets, such as the personal identity wheel and the social identity wheel (which explores social contextual impacts on identity). Completing these in session provides rich ground for exploration.
Guide the client to modulate areas of identity where they may feel torn by messages of “all or nothing thinking” (e.g., they can’t be American and Malaysian, or a mother and also career-driven, or Queer and Latino).
Identify places or situations where they feel most unfettered, authentic, seen, and whole.
Identity and values go hand in hand to ensure that your client is building skills and choosing actions from a place that is grounded and meaningful.
Helen H. Hsu, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist at Stanford University. She is past president of the Asian American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association, Division 45: Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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