Assessing and Treating Culturally Diverse Clients : A Practical Guide (Multicultural Aspects of Counseling)

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Book!
Review: I was required to read this text for a class and it was totally useless. The book is constantly overgeneralizing and making blanket statements about cultural groups. The focus is not on assessment appropriate for the individual, but assessment based on over generalized cultural assumptions. The book holds the basic idea that if you are white you are racist and have no cultural understanding. It also lumps varying ethnic groups together as if they are all the same. (For example, in the book, all Asian cultures are the same and summed up in one small chapter. There is also a Hispanic chapter that is meant to include all South American countries, Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, etc. as if all these countries have the same culture.) I found that all this book did was focus on differences and worked to divide cultural groups more than they are already divided. If you buy this book you are wasting your money. If it is required for school, then that is really too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Worthy of a second reading
Review: Insightful and thought provoking. Will very likely read it again. Though I am not a psychologist, I found this book to be a helpful learning tool. As a student service administrator, I serve numerous individuals from various backgrounds. It is very important for me to recognize "the cultural, individual, and role differences" of the people I serve in order to successfully fulfill my duties. This requires continuous education on my part, and Dr. Paniagua's book has provided an integral part of that learning process.

Rating:
Summary: A Terrible Book...If You don't Read it Carefully!!
Review: [some think] that this "book is constantly overgeneralizing and making blanket statements about cultural groups." In the Preface, however, the author precisely alerted readers that this type of generalization should be avoided when reading this book and then proposed that the main feature of this book is to provide a summary of cultural variables shared by members of these culturally diverse groups (what is known as "cultural commonalities"), as well as a description of variables which appear specific to each group. This book has not only been considered a bestseller among current crosscultural texts, but it has also received many positive reviews. For example, a reviewer in the "Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology" wrote that "this book can be read many times and should be part of every culturally competent clinician's library." The review magazine "Choice" concluded that this book...will be useful for anyone...who delivers sevices to people of varying cultural groups." In addition, this book is in its second edition, meaning that a significant number of readers interested in the understanding and applications of cultural variables in the assessment and treatment of mental disorders among culturally diverse groups discussed in this book have found it extremely valuable to them.