Introduction

Abstract

This book is the result of a several-year effort by a selected cadre of professionals with both the breadth of knowledge and the depth of experience in mental issues involving ethnic and minority groups. The book is born out of the recognition of the need in the mental health professions of facts and information pertaining to the disparate life styles, attitudes, and behavior of persons of common ethnic backgrounds and how they are perceived and/or misperceived by others. When care for emotional difficulties is sought, this misperception often results in patients and caregivers being at odds in the mutual establishment of the alliance necessary to provide relief of these problems. So as to shed some light on this frequently encountered dilemma, the authors have attempted to interpret many of the forces that can lead to this kind of patient-therapist impasse and to offer recommendations for the surmounting of these difficulties.