Evolution of Psychotherapy - Personal Reflections

By Mary A. Fukuyama, PhD

My work as a counseling psychologist began in the 1980s, when mental health Professionals of Color in the United States were introducing race consciousness and multiculturalism into the helping professions. Over the past thirty-plus years psychotherapy has continued to be shaped by sociocultural forces both domestically and globally. I appreciate this opportunity to offer some personal reflections on this dynamic process from my lifelong career position at the University of Florida Counseling & Wellness Center.

My personal story begins with tracing my ancestral roots from Japan and Great Britain. My father was Nisei, born in Seattle of immigrant parents from Japan. My mother was of Anglo descent by several generations via the Oregon Trail to the west coast. My parents met during World War II at Minidoka, a War Relocation Center where my father’s family was imprisoned and my mother was on a young adult mission trip. They married at the end of the war and started a family in the Midwest.

My father was a Protestant minister and my mother was a writer/poet; my life began under this multicultural umbrella in the context of living in a rural (mostly white) town. It was not until I went to Japan in an undergraduate college study abroad program, and later graduate school, that I began to appreciate my mixed cultural heritage, and the risks that my parents took in the face of racism in their interracial relationship post-WWII.

It seems fitting to reflect upon my parents’ story as a form of “East meets West,” and as a daughter of these cultural differences, I have devoted much of my career to understanding intercultural relations, multiculturalism, and spirituality as it has impacted psychotherapy.

The founding fathers of psychology and psychotherapy represented the dominant worldview of Western Europe (white male). Now psychology training includes a broader worldview with attention to cross-cultural competencies, awareness of the impact of privilege and oppression, and valuing personal empowerment.

When I began my career in the 1980s, I could not have imagined the world that we live in today: Smart phones, home computers, the Internet, mass communications, global consciousness, climate change, and the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, all in one lifetime!

I am grateful that I can look back on my life and see social changes which have shaped the person that I am today: feminism, the civil rights and gay rights movements, and see them interwoven into my profession. The fact that my professional associations were leaders for social change is significant. I am still amazed that my partner of 24 years and I could finally get married! (However, it took a detour to Guatemala for volunteer work at a NGO clinic to teach me about my economic privilege, but that is another story!)

I did not consider exploring spirituality in the context of counseling until I went through a midlife crisis,. My father died of cancer when I turned 40 years old, and I felt a need to find an anchor for myself spiritually with his absence. The result was co-authoring a book on the topic of integrating spirituality into multicultural counseling: Integrating-Spirituality-Multicultural-Counseling-Psychotherapy.

How have these rapid social changes affected the evolution of psychotherapy?

Trends towards holistic health and healing and the integration of spirituality into psychotherapy can be attributed to Asian influences and the mix of these healing traditions with Western science, including meditation, yoga and Qi Gong.

My personal favorite is leading a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) therapy group (based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn) that teaches students how to do mindfulness meditation. We call the group “Taming the Anxious Mind,” and of course, I personally benefit from the practice as well!

Today I believe I am seeing a form of “West meets East” in the integration of traditional Western therapies and traditional Eastern practices to form a dynamic new mix of old and new approaches to healing and wholeness, for example, see a professional conference titled “Freud Meets Buddha: Mindfulness, Trauma, and Process Addictions.” conferences/2015-atlanta-freud-meets-buddha

I believe that multiculturalism and the incorporation of spirituality and religion into mental health training has also led to the inclusion of social justice initiatives within the field. Addressing social inequities and oppressions such as racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other “–isms” has changed the dialogue throughout psychotherapy. It is no longer focused only on the individual psyche, but also on family, community, and socio-political systems that impact everyone. (See National Multicultural Summit and Conference - click here.)

This most recent conference featured a theme of “Psychology without Borders: Reflecting Within, Reaching Out.” I would say that this theme captures the changes within psychology and psychotherapy quite succinctly.
 

Mary A. Fukuyama received her undergraduate degree from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and her PhD in counseling psychology from Washington State University in 1981. She has worked at the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center for 33 years as a psychologist, supervisor, and trainer. She has co-authored numerous publications and conference presentations on multicultural counseling and spiritual themes in counseling. She is a Fellow and Elder in Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. To learn more about Mary, click here.