TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 2 118 noted the correlation between the rise in eating disorders in Japan with the growing social changes brought on by industrialization in post-World War II times. While the authors questioned the impact of the Western ideals of beauty on women in Japan, they also considered the explanation to be more complex than Japanese women wholly internalizing Western ideals. The authors assumed Japanese women have their own internal conflicts and tensions, which are only complicated by the West’s influence. Laungani (2004) noted that through globalization, the West’s value systems spread to diverse cultures, creating a more homogenized world. Not only do these Western ideas of diagnosis have the potential to create altered expression of symptoms in a local community, the very presence of the Western values in the economic and social spheres can create new tensions for individuals to resolve. For example, several scholars have noted how the value of individualism has been introduced into some aspects of the Japanese and Chinese, creating dual roles of individuality and community for people in those cultures and internal conflict in how to resolve the dual roles (Duan & Wang, 2000; Iwasaki, 2005). Iwasaki stated: “Today’s Japanese mental health problems reflect the confusion among Japanese individuals who live in an unstable period between enduring interdependent cultural values and emerging Western values of independence” (p. 129). Chen (2009) developed a counseling theory to address these interpersonal and psychological disturbances that occur in individuals in Taiwan. As individuals struggle to resolve the traditional versus the modern, Chen suggested that counselors could help clients to adjust how they resolve the conflict based on the type of situation they are in at the moment. He also suggested that incorporating the culture’s value on family can be helpful to resolve marital conflict by asking the most authoritative member in the family to serve the role of mediator to resolve the discord. Finally, there are certain aspects involved in the globalization process itself, such as increased mobility, which also can affect the types of problems individuals in the local community may present in counseling. As economic forces shift the demand of labor to different global environments, the rate of adult migration continues to grow in countries with limited local employment options (Pottinger, Stair, & Brown, 2008). This migration of one or both parents can affect both those members who migrate and those family members who are left behind, creating special needs. Pottinger et al. (2008) noted that this migratory separation is common in the Caribbean, and children often need attention from counselors to help adjust to the loss of their parents. They also recommended counselors take a psycho-educational role when helping Caribbean families affected by this situation. The global transmission of Western ideas of mental health can change the way international communities conceptualize and experience their own mental health, and the transmission of Western values into a culture can create internal psychological conflict. The economic forces of globalization can require families to be separated across continents, creating shifts in roles and adjustment issues for children. Understanding how the specific ways in which globalization impacts mental health conceptualizations and those individuals and families receiving these services is vitally important in order to better create international models of mental health counseling services. Commoditization of a Relationship The value of individualism is not the only Western concept spreading throughout the globe that will have an impact on the counseling field. Capitalism also is the driving economic force of globalization, which creates an inherent dichotomy of public and private spheres (Acker, 2004). Feminist scholars have criticized how the global economy devalues this private and informal sector and overvalues production and profit (Acker, 2004; Mies, 1994). It is important to consider how this factor influences the counseling field and individuals receiving counseling internationally. Counseling at its very nature is an intimate exchange—sharing “secrets” behind closed doors, helping with problems of life’s most private topics of love, sex, loss and death. It is a core philosophical counseling value that the “relationship” is the vital aspect of the process. Through this relationship counselors hope to help clients grow, heal, fulfill potential, learn to cope or make other positive changes. For many cultures the idea of discussing these topics outside of the family is counterintuitive since these intimate exchanges are traditionally addressed in the relationships of the family and the private sphere of their lives. However, counselors do not only suggest people should bring these problems out of the bedroom and other private spaces, they also ask that clients pay to do so. In the U.S. this inherently private connection has been transformed into a public commodity. Sue and Sue (2003) noted that “mental health practice has been described