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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hays, Pamela A.
Title: Addressing cultural complexities in practice : assessment,
diagnosis, and therapy / Pamela A. Hays.
Description: Third Edition. | Washington, DC : American
Psychological Association, 2016. | Revised edition of the author’s
Addressing cultural complexities in practice, 2008. | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015025462| ISBN 9781433821448 | ISBN
1433821443
Subjects: LCSH: Cross-cultural counseling. | Psychotherapy.
Classification: LCC BF636.7.C76 H39 2016 | DDC 158.3--dc23 LC
record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015025462

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A CIP record is available from the British Library.

Third Edition

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14801-000
Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
Becoming A Culturally Responsive Therapist
1. The New Reality: Diversity and Complexity
2. Essential Therapist Knowledge and Qualities
3. Doing Your Own Cultural Self-Assessment

II
Making Meaningful Connections
4. Let’s Talk: Finding the Right Words
5. Understanding Clients’ Identities and Contexts
6. Creating a Positive Therapeutic Alliance

III
Sorting Things Out
7. Conducting a Culturally Responsive Assessment
8. Using Standardized Tests in a Culturally
Responsive Way
9. Making a Culturally Responsive Diagnosis
IV
Beyond The Treatment Manuals
10. Culturally Responsive Therapy: An Integrative
Approach
11. Indigenous, Traditional, and Other Diverse
Interventions
12. Pulling It All Together: A Complex Case Example
13. Conclusion: Looking to the Future
REFERENCES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Acknowledgments

The first person I must thank is Margery Ginsberg, who

pulled the word ADDRESSING out of the earlier and easily
forgettable acronym I had been using. Next, I thank Peg
LeVine for her suggestion of the capital letter I, specifically
in reference to Indigenous people. With each new edition
of this book, the list of people I want to thank grows longer,
so in addition to those named in previous editions, I would
like to add the friends and colleagues who gave me
suggestions specifically for this edition, namely, Maryam
Bassir, Karen Ferguson, Deborah Gideon, Tedd Judd, and
Skip Shewell. I am also deeply grateful to my husband,
Bob McCard, for his loving support.
In her work at a community mental health center, a recently
graduated, young European American woman named
Sarah1 received a referral from the Office of Children’s
Services (OCS) for a severely abused, biracial 4-year-old
named Maya. Following removal from her biological
parents, Maya was brought to the initial appointment by her
new foster mom, Carmen, an assertive, self-described
Latina/African American Jehovah’s Witness. Carmen
agreed to meet with Sarah because OCS required it. During
sessions that alternated between individual and family
meetings, Carmen interacted defensively with Sarah but
was warm and caring with Maya.
After 6 weeks, Maya appeared very comfortable with
her foster mom, and many of her posttraumatic stress
disorder symptoms had improved. However, in a
subsequent meeting alone with Sarah, Maya asked her if
she believed in Jesus. Sarah said that she wasn’t a
Christian but that she believed in God—a response that
clearly distressed Maya, who brought up the topic again in
their next individual session, adding that she was afraid
Sarah would die and go to the “bad place.” Sarah began to
worry that Carmen might be sharing religious beliefs that
were reactivating Maya’s fears. She also wondered whether
Carmen knew that Sarah was gay and, if so, whether this
might be a factor, along with their cultural, age, and religious
differences, in Carmen’s defensiveness toward her.
Considering Carmen’s disinterest in Sarah’s help, Maya’s
overall improvement while in Carmen’s care, and the severe
shortage of caring foster homes, Sarah was unsure whether
she should address her concerns with Carmen, with OCS,
or with both or neither.
When I began teaching a multicultural counseling class
at Antioch University in Seattle in 1989, the field of
multicultural counseling was just beginning, and like most
new fields, its focus was relatively narrow. Relevant
textbooks focused primarily on the ethnicity and race of the
client, with little attention to the therapist’s identity or to the
interaction of ethnicity and race with the client’s (or
therapist’s) religion, class, age, disability, gender, sexual
orientation, or nationality. There were some population-
specific fields regarding women, older adults, and people
who identified as gay or as having a disability, but the
available books and articles in these fields also
conceptualized identity in unidimensional terms. Feminist
therapy initially focused on women (presumably White,
Christian or secular, nondisabled, and middle class); the
lesbian, gay, and bisexual literature on lesbian, gay, and
bisexual people (presumably White, Christian or secular,
nondisabled, and middle class); geropsychology on older
men (presumably White, Christian or secular, nondisabled,
and middle class); and so on. A field known as transcultural
psychiatry overlapped with one called cross-cultural
psychology, both of which focused on work with populations
outside North America and Europe but were conducted
primarily by European and U.S. (White) researchers.
 Since 1989, the world’s awareness of and approach to
diversity have changed significantly. Increasing numbers of
people have been displaced both within and across national
borders because of war, poverty, and violence.
Environmental degradation and extreme climate changes
have magnified the impact of natural disasters on human
communities. With economic globalization and technology
accelerating the pace of change, social connections have
increased dramatically across borders, with a wide range of
effects including a growing number of people who marry
across cultural groups and who identify as multiracial and
multicultural and changing attitudes toward minority groups
such as lesbian, gay, and transgender people and people
who have disabilities. And around the world, as Indigenous
people become increasingly empowered and unified, the
value of Indigenous traditions is being increasingly
acknowledged.
In the face of such changes, therapists are now
expected to work effectively with people of diverse ages,
ethnic cultures, religions, disabilities, gender identities,
sexual orientations, nationalities, and classes. At the same
time, the effects of violence, abuse, trauma, chemical
dependency, disability, chronic physical and mental illness
—that is, poverty-correlated problems—are now commonly
encountered in clinical practice, even in many wealthier
countries. Counselors and clinicians are expected to “fix”
the mental health problems stemming from these persistent
social causes even as economic pressures have resulted in
higher caseloads, less supervision, and fewer mental health
resources. Cases as complex as Maya’s are now
commonplace.
Recognizing the need for clear guidance on what works,
an American Psychological Association (APA) task force
took on the project of determining what constitutes practical,
research-based, and highly relevant psychotherapy
practice. The result was their definition of evidence-based
 practice in psychology (EBPP) as “the integration of the
best available research with clinical expertise in the context
of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences” (APA
Presidential Task Force on EBPP, 2006). This definition
does not prioritize any one theoretical orientation but rather
tends to support a more integrative approach. In addition,
by emphasizing “best available research,” the definition
acknowledges the reality that for many minority groups,
controlled studies of psychotherapy effectiveness do not
exist. The definition also gives equal weight to clinical
expertise, with an emphasis on using one’s expertise to
adapt therapy to the particular individual and their cultural
context.

Developing Multicultural
Competence

At a national psychology conference in the United States

several years ago, I started a conversation with a young
European American psychologist who had recently joined
the faculty of a prestigious university. In response to my
questions about the diversity of the psychology department,
she told me that it consisted of 36 full-time members, one of
whom was a person of color. She stressed that they’d made
significant progress in the hiring of women, but all of the
women were White except the one person of color, and
none were tenured. I asked her opinion about why this was
the case, and she replied, “Well, I think the core faculty put
their priority on developing a high-quality research program
rather than on hiring for diversity.”
This psychologist’s statement reflects the commonly
held belief that quality and diversity involve competing
agendas. However, I would argue, as many others have,
that the exact opposite is true. A high-quality program by
 definition includes faculty of diverse perspectives who bring
ideas that move a department beyond those of the
mainstream. It consists of diverse teachers and supervisors
who serve as role models for a culturally diverse student
body and clinical faculty who have firsthand knowledge of
the cultures of the clients being seen by their students. It
includes faculty who speak more than one language, read
the psychological literature of more than one culture, and
are connected to minority groups whom they consider and
consult in their development of research projects.
Given the relatively monocultural origins of the field, this
is a tall order. However, significant strides have been made.
Throughout the fields of psychology, counseling, mental
health, and social work, professional organizations have
made a clear commitment to increasing the multicultural
competence of their members; in North America, this effort
has included the APA (2000a, 2000b), the American
Counseling Association (Roysircar, Arredondo, Fuertes,
Ponterotto, & Toporek, 2003), and the National Association
of Social Workers (2007). As researchers, teachers,
supervisors, and practitioners in these professions become
more diverse, they are experiencing and demonstrating the
advantages of a diverse learning environment. And the idea
that diversity can be addressed in one multicultural
counseling course has been replaced by the view that
cross-cultural information, experiences, and questions must
be integrated throughout the training curriculum, including
practica and internships (Magyar-Moe et al., 2005).

Addressing Both Diversity and

Complexity

When I teach multicultural awareness workshops, I start by

asking participants to do the following: “Take a minute to
share with a partner everything you feel comfortable sharing
about yourself that explains who you are and your identity,
including past and current cultural influences on you.” If
you’re reading this by yourself, try doing this in the box
before reading further.

Once people have finished sharing, I ask how many

mentioned ethnicity or race in their self-description;
depending on the makeup of the group, a varying number of
people raise their hand. I then ask how many mentioned
religion, and a different number raise their hand. I also ask
about age and generational influences, disability, sexual
orientation, social class, nationality, language, and gender.
Then I ask if anyone thought of influences I did not mention,
and participants often add being from a particular
geographic region, growing up in the military, working in the
business world, and others.
This exercise illustrates how, when we think of culture,
so many different influences come into play. All of these
influences shape who we are, but as I found when I began
teaching, the dilemma is how, whom, and what to focus on.
For the purposes of psychological practice, I have chosen to
focus on the influences and related minority groups that the
major helping professions target for special attention
because these influences and groups have been neglected
in the field and dominant culture. These influences can be
organized in an easy-to-remember acronym that spells the
word ADDRESSING (see Table 1.1).
TA B L E 1 . 1
ADDRESSING Cultural Influences

As you read through the list of ADDRESSING

influences and dominant and minority groups, you will
recognize that for many of the influences, the groups listed
as minority groups are minorities only in the United States
(e.g., people of Asian heritage are not a minority in China
or, for that matter, in the world). So think of this list as only
 an example: If you are practicing in a different region or
country, the dominant and minority groups will be specific to
that particular context.

ADDRESSING Influences

A stands for Age and generational influences and includes

not just chronological age, but also generational roles that
are important in a person’s culture. For example, the role of
eldest son in many cultures carries specific responsibilities,
just as being a parent, grandparent, or auntie brings with it
culturally based meanings and purpose.
Age and generational influences also include
experiences specific to age cohorts, particularly
experiences that occurred during the cohort’s childhood and
early adulthood (i.e., the formative years). For example, for
many elders, the Great Depression, World War II, and racial
segregation were generation-related influences that
profoundly affected their lives. For baby boomers, important
early influences were post-World War II economic
prosperity, the civil rights movement, the women’s
movement, Vietnam War protests, and the widespread use
of drugs. For people in their 20s, economic pressures,
college debt, technology and social media, and
environmental degradation are common influences—all of
these also affect older people, but people in their 20s have
never lived without them.
Obviously, age and generational influences vary across
ethnic and other cultural groups, just as dominant and
minority groups vary in different countries and contexts. In
North America, the minority groups associated with age and
generational influences are children and older adults,
because elders and children do not have the same
privileges that young and middle-aged adults have.
However, in some countries, elder status carries a great
deal of privilege and power. I will provide examples of
contextual specifics of these definitions in Chapter 2.
The next letters, DD, stand for Developmental or other
Disability. The broad category of disability includes disability
that may occur at any time during a person’s lifetime, for
example, as a result of illness, accident, or stroke.
Developmental disabilities are specifically those that affect a
person’s development from birth or childhood, such as fetal
alcohol spectrum disorder or Down syndrome. (Note that
the term intellectual disability has replaced the pejorative
term mental retardation; more on this in Chapter 4.) Related
minority groups include people who have cognitive,
intellectual, sensory, physical, and psychiatric disabilities.
Some individuals with disabilities identify as members of
a Disability culture (signified by a capital D). However, many
individuals who have disabilities do not consider themselves
members of a culture, particularly people who acquire a
disability later in life (e.g., an older woman whose cognitive
functioning is impaired following a stroke). Similarly, many
people who identify as members of Deaf culture do not
identify as disabled because they have no impairments
when in the Deaf culture; it is the hearing world’s inability to
sign that is the problem.
The distinction between people who grow up with a
disability and those whose disability is acquired later in life
has important implications for therapeutic work. Many
people who grow up with a disability learn coping skills that
enable them to function well in the dominant non-disabled
world; when these individuals come to counseling, it is often
for a problem that is unrelated to the disability. In contrast,
individuals who become impaired later in life (e.g., following
an accident or physical illness) often come to therapy for
help with learning how to cope and live with the disability.
The next letter, R, stands for Religion and spiritual
orientation. In North America, the largest religious minority
groups are Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist, and there
are many smaller groups (e.g., Baha’i, Shinto, Confucian,
Zoroastrian). Although some members of particular
Christian religions (e.g., Mormon, Seventh-Day Adventist,
Jehovah’s Witness, and fundamentalist Christian) think of
themselves as minority groups, they are still Christian
groups and as such have privileges that non-Christian
groups do not have. Similarly, some individuals with
atheistic beliefs consider themselves part of a minority
group; however, atheists still benefit from privileges related
to the dominant secular culture.
E stands for Ethnic and racial identity. In the United
States, the largest groupings of ethnic and racial minority
cultures are Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander, Latino,
and African American. Also included are people who identify
as biracial or multiracial and people of Middle Eastern
heritage who are experiencing racism and other oppressive
attitudes and behaviors from the dominant culture. Within
each of these large cultural groupings, there are many
specific groups. For example, South Asian includes people
whose heritage originates in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh,
Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives
(and, depending on the definition, some additional countries
such as Tibet). Here again, the definition of these cultures
as minority groups is specific to the United States; what
constitutes a minority group depends on the country and its
dominant culture.
S stands for Socioeconomic status, which is usually
defined by education, occupation, and income. Related
minority groups include people who have lower status
because of limited formal education and the occupations
and lower income that usually go along with less education.
The focus is on people who are living in poverty, often in
rural and inner-city areas.
The second S stands for Sexual orientation, and the
related minority groups include people who identify as
lesbian, gay, and bisexual. In the United States, sexual
minority groups often use an acronym that includes
additional groups, such as LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer, intersex, ally or asexual), but because
some of these groups are related more to gender, I group
them under the influence of gender identity (see discussion
of G that follows).
The I stands for Indigenous heritage, and related
minority groups are people of Indigenous, Aboriginal, and
Native heritage. These terms are similar in meaning but are
used differently in different countries and contexts (more on
this in Chapter 4 on finding the right words). Within the
cultural grouping of Indigenous people, there are many
smaller and specific cultures. For example, I work with
members of the Kenaitze Tribe, which is the local
Indigenous culture where I live in Alaska. Members of the
Kenaitze Tribe belong to the larger culture of Dena’ina
people, who belong to the larger Athabascan culture, which
is one of many Alaska Native cultures. The ADDRESSING
acronym lists Indigenous heritage as a separate influence
from ethnic and racial identity because many Indigenous
people identify as part of a worldwide culture of Indigenous
people who have concerns and issues separate from those
of ethnic and racial minority groups (e.g., land, water, and
fishing rights related to subsistence and cultural traditions)
and who, in some cases, constitute sovereign nations.
The N stands for National origin, and related minority
groups including immigrants, refugees, and international
students. Language is often a strong cultural influence
related to national origin, but it may also be related to the
ADDRESSING domains of ethnic and racial identity,
Indigenous heritage, and disability (e.g., sign language).
Finally, G stands for Gender identity, and minority
groups include women and people of transgender,
transsexual, intersex, gender questioning, androgyne, and
other gender-nonconforming identities. I’ll talk more about
 the complexities of gender identity in Chapter 4 on language
and terminology.
As mentioned earlier, the ADDRESSING acronym
summarizes nine key cultural influences that shape the
beliefs and behaviors of dominant and minority group
members. It calls attention to the overlapping,
multidimensional nature of identity (also referred to as
intersectionality; Ecklund, 2012). The acronym serves as a
reminder of minority groups related to each of the nine
influences, and it can be used to highlight the within-culture
diversity of any given culture (whether minority or
dominant). In addition, the ADDRESSING acronym is the
foundation for what I call the ADDRESSING framework.

The ADDRESSING Framework

The ADDRESSING framework is a practitioner-oriented

approach to therapy that conceptualizes multicultural work
in two broad categories. The first category of personal work
involves introspection, self-exploration, and understanding
of cultural influences on one’s own belief system and
worldview. The second category of interpersonal work
focuses on learning from and about other cultures, which
usually involves interaction with people. The importance of
both the personal and interpersonal aspects of learning has
been emphasized throughout the multicultural literature
(Arredondo & Perez, 2006).

PERSONAL WORK
The ADDRESSING approach begins with an emphasis on
understanding the effects of diverse cultural influences on
your own beliefs, thinking, behavior, and worldview. These
effects stem from age-related generational experiences,
experience or inexperience with disability, religious or
spiritual upbringing, ethnic and racial identity, and so on
(i.e., the ADDRESSING influences). In particular,
recognizing the areas in which you are a member of a
dominant group can help you become more aware of the
ways in which such identities limit your knowledge and
experience regarding minority members who differ from
you.
For example, as a result of her membership in a sexual
minority group, a middle-class European American lesbian
therapist may hold an exceptional awareness of the sexist
and heterosexist biases against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender clients and the challenges these clients face.
However, this awareness and expertise do not automatically
translate into greater awareness of the issues faced by
people of color, people who have disabilities, or people
living in poverty.
The privileges this therapist holds in relation to her
ethnicity, education, mental and physical abilities, and
professional status are likely to separate her from people
who do not hold such privileges. And if her friends and
family are similar with regard to ethnicity, religion, and social
class, she will not have easy access to information that
would help her understand, for example, a client of African
American Muslim heritage. In contrast, an African American
Muslim therapist working with the same client would be
more likely to know relevant cultural information or would
have easier access to it. Because of the way privilege
separates dominant-culture members from knowledge
about minority groups, this European American therapist
would need to put extra effort into finding and learning the
knowledge and skills to understand this client and work
effectively with him.
INTERPERSONAL WORK
Although we human beings like to think of ourselves as
complex, we often regard others as one dimensional,
relying on their visible characteristics as the explanation for
everything they say, believe, and do. The more we
recognize the complexity of human experience and identity,
the more able we are to understand and build a positive
therapeutic alliance. And by calling attention to multiple
identities and contexts, the ADDRESSING framework helps
therapists avoid inaccurate generalizations on the basis of
characteristics such as the person’s physical appearance,
name, or language.
For example, by using the ADDRESSING acronym as a
reminder of influences that may not be immediately
apparent, a therapist attempting to understand an older man
of East Indian heritage could begin to think about a more
relevant and broader range of questions and hypotheses,
such as the following:
What are the issues related to Age and
generational influences on this man, given his
status as a second-generation immigrant?
Might he have a Developmental or other Disability
that is not apparent, for example, a learning
disability, difficulty hearing, or chronic back pain?
Could he have had experience with a temporary
disability in the past, or might he be a caregiver for
a child or parent with a disability?
Does he have an identity related to his Religion or
spirituality? Was he brought up in a particular
religion? (Hindu, or possibly Muslim or Sikh, would
be reasonable hypotheses, but at this point, one is
simply hypothesizing.) Is he a member of a religious
minority that was forcibly ejected from his country of
birth or his parents’ residence? (Many Indian
people immigrated to African countries but then
were forced to leave because of political changes
and racism in the host country.)
Does he identify himself as having an Ethnic or
racial identity? Is he often mistaken for another
identity (e.g., Pakistani or Arab)? How does his
physical appearance (e.g., skin color) relate to his
ethnic or racial identity and experiences within his
own ethnic group and in the dominant culture? (For
examples, see Inman, Tummala-Narra,
Kaduvettoor-Davidson, Alvarez, & Yeh, 2015).
What was his Socioeconomic status (SES) growing
up, and what is it now—within his own ethnic
community, and in relation to the dominant culture?
How might his within-culture status be affected by
factors not commonly associated with SES in the
dominant culture—for example, his family name,
geographic origins, or marital status?
What is his Sexual orientation, not assuming
heterosexuality simply because he is or has been
married? How would he perceive a question about
his sexual orientation?
Might Indigenous heritage be part of his ethnic
identity, for example, related to his premigration
geographic, family, or community origin?
 What is his National origin? Was he born in his
country of residence? What is his national identity
(e.g., Indian, the nation of his residence, both, or
neither)? What is his primary language—Hindi,
English, Bengali, or some other language?
Finally, considering his cultural heritage and identity
as a whole, what important influences related to
Gender has he experienced—for example, gender
roles, expectations, and accepted types of
relationships in his culture?
The ADDRESSING acronym does not provide the
answers to these questions; rather, it is a tool for developing
hypotheses and questions. In some cases, it may be
appropriate to ask a question directly. However, in many
cases such questions will be perceived as irrelevant or
offensive, with a resulting diminishment of the therapist’s
credibility. The way I use the acronym is to facilitate my
consideration of questions and hypotheses that I might
otherwise overlook. Once I know how a client identifies, I
can then seek out the culture-specific information that will
help me better understand the client.
Regarding this point about gathering cultural
information, I have heard some therapists say that it is best
to let the client educate you about their culture, but I think
this point needs clarification. As a therapist, I believe it is my
responsibility to learn as much as I can about the broad
cultural influences related to the client’s identity. This broad
cultural information can then help me understand the
client’s individual experience within that culture. The
broader cultural information serves as a sort of template
that helps me generate hypotheses and questions that are
closer to the client’s reality, increasing my efficiency and
decreasing the likelihood of offensive questions. I will talk
more about the use of the ADDRESSING acronym to
 facilitate hypothesis generation and culturally responsive
assessment in Chapters 5 and 7.

What’s New in This Edition?

Since publication of the previous edition, a number of

significant developments have occurred in clinical and
counseling psychology, including the growing integration of
behavioral health with medical practice. Along with society’s
increasing diversity (ethnic minority cultures now make up
over one-third of the U.S. population), the move toward
integrated care has raised awareness of the need for
evidence-based practices that work with a greater diversity
of clients and patients. The American Psychiatric
Association (2013) recently published the fifth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM–5), and the 10th edition of the International
Classification of Diseases (ICD–10; World Health
Organization, 1992) is being adopted in the United States
as the 11th edition nears completion. The field of positive
psychology has contributed to a new perspective on health
aimed at building well-being (i.e., beyond simply eliminating
symptoms). And broader social changes affecting
professional practice include continuing poverty-related
problems, increased social awareness of diversity, and
changing expectations regarding therapists and
psychological services.
To address these changes, in the third edition of this
volume I have included
a new chapter on continually changing multicultural
terminology and language, including offensive
terms and preferable alternatives;
 up-to-date information on the DSM–5, ICD–10, and
upcoming ICD–11;
new sections on poverty, children, transgender
people, and trauma-informed care;
new information on intellectual and
neuropsychological assessment across cultures;
a chapter on the integrative approach to
psychotherapy, with a focus on culturally responsive
cognitive–behavioral therapy;
research from the new field of positive psychology,
including mindfulness practices; and
practice exercises at the end of each chapter that
can be used individually or as class assignments.

Organization

With the intention of conveying cultural information in the

way therapists typically experience it, this edition continues
to be organized according to the flow of clinical work (rather
than the one-chapter-per-group organization of most
multicultural texts). This more integrated approach allows
for consideration of the specifics and complexities of
psychotherapy practice.
The book begins with suggestions for facilitating
therapists’ personal process of becoming more culturally
aware and knowledgeable, followed by information on
building a positive alliance, conducting assessments,
testing, making diagnoses, and providing psychotherapy.
Throughout these sections, I use case examples of people
who hold complex identities. For example, the case of an
older African American woman does not focus solely on her
ethnic and racial identity; it also considers disability, gender,
generational experiences, religion, and socioeconomic
status. In addition, I include cases in which therapists have
diverse identities, too.
Recognizing the heavy emphasis on U.S. ethnic
minorities within the multicultural counseling literature, I
include information on and case examples of cultures and
minority groups not commonly found in U.S. texts (e.g.,
Indonesian, Tunisian Arab, French Canadian, Mauritanian,
Filipino, Haitian, East Indian, Costa Rican, Korean, and
Greek cultures). To increase awareness of U.S.-centric
assumptions, some of these cases are set in Canada.
Cases involving international identities are also included,
although setting cases in a variety of national contexts
proved difficult because what constitutes a minority culture
in one country is often a dominant culture in another.
One of the biggest challenges in multicultural
competence training is providing information that translates
academic learning into actual therapeutic practice (Sehgal
et al., 2011). To help with this process, I’ve included practice
exercises at the end of each chapter that provide an
opportunity to take this learning beyond book reading.
In Part I, Becoming a Culturally Responsive Therapist,
Chapters 2 and 3 describe specific steps and exercises for
facilitating your own cultural self-assessment. Chapter 2
focuses on the exploration of personal experiences, values,
and biases. Strategies are described for developing
compassion and critical thinking skills and for preventing
defensive interactions with clients. Chapter 3 provides an
extended case example of the self-assessment process
with a particular therapist who discusses the complexity of
his identity, including generational experiences, ethnicity,
sexual orientation, and the other ADDRESSING influences.
This chapter provides exercises for understanding your own
cultural identity and the role of privilege in the context of
your work.
Consistent with the premise that you are engaged in
and committed to the self-assessment process, in Part II,
 Making Meaningful Connections, Chapter 4 addresses
language, with a focus on terms that unintentionally convey
bias along with an explanation of preferable alternatives.
Chapter 5 explains how to use the ADDRESSING
framework to facilitate greater understanding of clients’
identities through the formulation of hypotheses and
questions that are closer to clients’ experiences. Chapter 6
outlines considerations in establishing rapport and
demonstrating respect with people of diverse identities.
In Part III, Sorting Things Out, Chapter 7 provides
specific suggestions for conducting culturally responsive
assessments, including guidelines for working with
interpreters. Chapter 8 focuses on standardized testing in
mental status, intellectual, neuropsychological, and
personality assessments. Chapter 9 addresses cross-
cultural issues in the diagnostic process using the new
DSM–5, along with information regarding the ICD–10–CM
(World Health Organization, 1992a) and the upcoming ICD–
11.
Part IV, Beyond the Treatment Manuals, focuses on the
use of diverse approaches to psychotherapy, with an
integrative orientation to culturally responsive work. Chapter
10 illustrates the application of this orientation in the form of
culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy. Chapter 11
provides examples of Indigenous, traditional, and other
approaches to healing, including expressive modalities
(e.g., art and play therapies) and family, couple, and group
approaches. Finally, Chapter 12 pulls together suggestions
from the preceding chapters in the case example of an older
African American woman and her family who see a young
African American male psychologist.

Your Journey
The year I began teaching multicultural psychology,
Stephen R. López (López et al., 1989) published a study
with a group of graduate students that chronicled the
students’ development of awareness, knowledge, and skills
during a multicultural training course. The subsequent
analysis of their writings showed four stages in the
development of multicultural competence. In the first stage,
the students had little awareness of cultural influences and
believed themselves to be bias free. In the second stage, as
they learned about the influence of culture, they began to
see their own biases, but their attempts to understand
clients were often characterized by stereotypical
explanations. In the third stage, the students experienced
mounting confusion, frustration, and defensiveness as they
recognized their limited knowledge and skills and perceived
the consideration of cultural influences to be more of a
burden than a help. However, by the fourth stage, the
students were able to use cultural information flexibly,
adapting it to clients’ particular needs and preferences, and
they were aware of their biases but also more accepting of
their limitations and the need for lifelong learning. These
stages did not always occur in linear fashion; an individual
could have a high level of competence with members of one
group and very little with another and move in and out of
different stages not necessarily in this order.
As you read this book, possibly along with a related
course or internship, and learn more about whatever
cultures are new to you, I hope that you will keep these
stages in mind. If you find yourself thinking that you have no
biases regarding a group with which you have little
experience, dig a little deeper, because as the next chapter
explains, we all have biases. If you begin to feel frustrated
or confused because of the complexity of applying your
learning with real people, be gentle with yourself and
remember that this is a normal part of the process. Keep in
mind that the development of multicultural competence is a
 lifelong process with unlimited domains for new learning. It
is my hope that this book conveys to you how exciting, life
enriching, and positive this process can be.

Practice: Starting From Where You

Are

Choose a minority or dominant cultural group that you

belong to, and think about your multicultural competence
with members of this group. Write a paragraph describing
how your multicultural competence with this group fits or
doesn’t fit one of the stages described by López et al.
(1989). Then choose a minority group with which you have
little or no experience, and write a paragraph describing
how your multicultural competence with this group fits or
doesn’t fit one of the stages. (Note: Save your writing,
because at the end of this book I will ask you to look back at
it.)

KEY IDEAS
1. Evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP) is defined by
the American Psychological Association (APA) as “the
integration of the best available research with clinical
expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and
preferences.”
2. The APA definition of EBPP supports an integrative approach
to psychotherapy, acknowledges the reality that controlled
studies of psychotherapy effectiveness with many minority
groups do not exist, and emphasizes the importance of
clinical expertise in adapting therapy to the particular
individual and his or her cultural context.
 3. The ADDRESSING acronym stands for Age and generational
influences, Developmental or other Disability, Religion and
spirituality, Ethnic and racial identity, Socioeconomic status,
Sexual orientation, Indigenous heritage, National origin, and
Gender.
4. The ADDRESSING acronym is a tool for developing
hypotheses and questions about cultural influences that
therapists may be inclined to overlook; some of these
questions may be appropriate to ask clients directly, and some
may not.
5. The ADDRESSING framework makes use of the
ADDRESSING acronym through two categories of work: (a)
the personal work of introspection, self-exploration, and
understanding the cultural influences on one’s own belief
system and worldview; and (b) the interpersonal work of
learning from, about, and with diverse people.
6. Recognizing the areas in which you are a member of a
dominant group can help you become more aware of the
ways in which privilege limits your knowledge and experience
regarding minority members who differ from you.
7. Age and generational influences include not just chronological
age but also generational roles that are important in a
person’s culture and experiences specific to age cohorts.
8. Many people who grow up with a disability learn coping skills
that enable them to function well in the dominant nondisabled
world, and when these individuals come to counseling, it is
often for a problem that is unrelated to the disability.
9. The definition of a group as a minority group is contextual; that
is, it depends on the context and its dominant cultures.
10. The idea that diversity can be addressed in one multicultural
counseling course has been replaced by the view that
multicultural learning is lifelong and that cross-cultural
information, experiences, and questions must be integrated
throughout the training curriculum, including practica and
internships.
1All cases are composites with pseudonyms and do not represent a specific individual.
One day, a young Iñupiaq1 therapist told me his supervisor
(a middle-aged White woman) asked him to develop a set of
policies and procedures for a new program. He said that
during a feedback meeting to discuss the document, the
supervisor focused solely on what needed to be changed,
with no comments on anything positive about the document.
The therapist agreed to make the changes, but afterward he
told me how frustrated he felt because the supervisor did
not say anything positive about the outline, which took him
hours to develop. He added that he later overheard the
supervisor telling someone what a great relationship they
had and how well they worked together.
This example illustrates the vastly different perceptions
that minority and dominant-culture members often report
regarding the same event. Because privilege insulates the
dominant culture from minority perspectives that might
challenge the dominant view, it’s easy for dominant-culture
members to remain unaware of these alternative views. And
 because the dominant culture is so dominant, its members
may begin to believe that their view is the right one.
If you belong to a dominant group, your views have
more power, and this power can negatively affect your work
because it limits your understanding of clients who do not
have the same power. It is not enough to simply be open
minded. Truly understanding and connecting with people
who have minority perspectives that differ from yours
requires knowledge regarding individual and social biases
and power structures. I consider this knowledge to be
essential for multicultural work.

Essential Knowledge

Elaine, a European American therapist in her early 30s,

received a call from a local physician who wished to obtain
counseling for his patient, Mrs. Sok, a Cambodian (Khmer)
woman in her 50s who had been crying, sleeping poorly,
and losing weight since learning 3 weeks earlier that her
apartment building was scheduled to be demolished. The
physician gave Elaine the name and phone number of Mrs.
Sok’s case manager, who would bring Mrs. Sok to the
mental health center.
Elaine called the case manager and made
arrangements for an initial assessment session to be
attended by Mrs. Sok, Elaine, and an interpreter named
Han. During this initial meeting, Mrs. Sok spoke in a soft
voice and made little eye contact with Elaine. Mrs. Sok
could not provide her age, the date, or the name of the
building in which they were meeting. The interpreter, Han,
explained that Mrs. Sok had never learned to read or write
in her own language and that she did not keep track of
dates by the “Western” calendar. Elaine quickly realized that
it would be meaningless to ask the other mental status
questions she would normally ask in an assessment of this
sort (e.g., to spell a word backward, recall three objects, or
draw geometric designs). Instead, she chose to focus on
obtaining more information about Mrs. Sok’s medical and
social histories.
With Han interpreting her questions, Elaine learned that
Mrs. Sok had been widowed when her husband was killed
in the war in Cambodia and that three of her four children at
the time also died or were killed. During the years she lived
in a refugee camp in Thailand, Mrs. Sok had two more
children by a man whose whereabouts she no longer knew.
Subsequently, Mrs. Sok and her two youngest children (now
young adults) immigrated to the United States, where they
had been living in an apartment building next door to two
other Cambodian families. The family managed to live on
public assistance and the money her children earned from
jobs in a restaurant.
As Elaine obtained this information, she began to notice
that Mrs. Sok’s responses in Khmer were much shorter than
Han’s subsequent interpretations in English. Elaine asked
Han if she was adding information, and Han said yes, she
was adding information that she thought would help Elaine
understand Mrs. Sok’s answers. When Elaine asked Han in
a firm tone to interpret exactly what was said with no
additions or deletions and explained that this would allow
her to gain a more accurate assessment of Mrs. Sok, Han
agreed but appeared uncomfortable. Although Mrs. Sok
showed little emotional response to questions about her
history, she became tearful when Elaine asked about the
impending loss of her apartment. She said that her friends
were there and that she didn’t know where else she would
go. Elaine made an empathic comment in response but did
not ask any additional questions about the housing
situation. Instead, she focused on obtaining more
information about Mrs. Sok’s experiences during the war.
 As their time was ending, Elaine told Mrs. Sok that she
believed she could be of help and wanted her to return the
next week. She added that she would like Mrs. Sok to also
see a psychiatrist, who might recommend some medicine to
help her sleep. Mrs. Sok nodded her head in agreement. At
this point, the session had already taken 2 hours and
another client was waiting outside, so Elaine scheduled
their second meeting, and they all said goodbye. The next
week, Mrs. Sok did not appear for the appointment, and
when Elaine telephoned the case manager to find out why,
the case manager told her that Mrs. Sok did not want to
return.
This case describes a situation that is not at all unusual
in mental health practice. A compassionate and well-
meaning therapist tries to understand a new client’s needs
and explain how she might be of help. At the same time, the
new client is assessing the trustworthiness and competence
of a relative stranger (the therapist) to determine whether
the benefits of counseling will outweigh the time, effort, and
embarrassment involved. For one or more reasons, the
client decides that therapy will not be helpful and so does
not return.
From Mrs. Sok’s perspective, Elaine seemed young to
be in her position of authority and not especially sensitive to
those around her; Elaine’s pressing questions about Mrs.
Sok’s past and Han’s apparent discomfort at something
Elaine said (the request to interpret verbatim—an
impossible task) made Mrs. Sok feel cautious about trusting
Elaine. Mrs. Sok had had no prior experience with a
counselor or psychotherapist, and when her physician and
case manager had told her that “counseling can help you,”
she assumed that such help would address her most
pressing problem, namely, the destruction of her home.
Although Elaine was at least minimally aware that Mrs.
Sok’s and Han’s Cambodian heritage influenced how they
perceived and presented Mrs. Sok’s needs, she did not
think carefully about how these influences were relevant to
the assessment. Had Elaine systematically considered the
role of culture in Mrs. Sok’s situation, she might have
recognized her own lack of experience and knowledge
regarding Cambodian culture, refugees, and older
Cambodian women. This realization could have led her to
treat Han less as an assistant and more as a peer in the
recognition that Han’s knowledge of Cambodian people was
as extensive as Elaine’s knowledge of the mental health
field. She might then have seen the need to consult with
Han before and after the assessment, an action that would
have helped her gain the trust and respect of Han and thus,
indirectly, of Mrs. Sok. (See Bradford & Munoz, 1993,
regarding the importance of pre- and postassessment
meetings with interpreters; Struwe, 1994, regarding clinical
interviewing with refugees; and Criddle, 1992, for accounts
of Khmer people’s resettlement experiences.)
Additionally, Elaine could have facilitated rapport if she
had systematically considered the ways in which her own
personal and professional experiences might be influencing
her conceptualization of Mrs. Sok’s situation. For example,
Elaine’s theoretical orientation and training led her to
assume that Mrs. Sok’s current symptoms were attributable
to past trauma. As a result, she focused on eliciting
information about Mrs. Sok’s war-related experiences,
despite the fact that Mrs. Sok was asking for help with
something else. If Elaine had recognized the legitimacy of
Mrs. Sok’s conceptualization, she might then have focused
on what Mrs. Sok considered central—that is, the
threatened loss of her home—and Mrs. Sok might have felt
more understood.
In turn, if Mrs. Sok had felt understood, she would have
been more likely to return. With further assessment, it might
have become apparent that past trauma indeed was
contributing to Mrs. Sok’s distress, and in this case Elaine
would understandably have wanted to consider it. But
 because Elaine did not establish rapport and trust first, Mrs.
Sok did not return, and the therapist lost the opportunity to
help her in this and any other way.

Understanding Bias

One way to think about the mistakes Elaine made is in

terms of bias, however positive her intentions were.
Although Elaine could have conceptualized Mrs. Sok’s case
in a variety of ways, her experiences and training biased her
toward a particular view that then inclined her to take certain
actions and not others. Although Elaine would have been
open to considering these biases if someone had pointed
them out, she did not see them on her own. Largely
because she thought of bias in dichotomous terms (i.e., that
one is either biased or not), the possibility that she might be
biased did not occur to her.
A more helpful way to think about bias is simply as a
tendency to think, act, or feel in a particular way. In some
cases, these tendencies may guide individuals toward more
accurate hypotheses and a quicker understanding of
someone. In other situations, they may lead individuals to
embarrassingly wrong assumptions. For example, I once
visited a small Unitarian discussion group in a rural area.
The circle was talkative and cheery with the exception of
one man. Dressed in a plaid shirt, jeans, and hiking boots,
he appeared to be European American and had a long,
untrimmed beard. His facial expression was somber, and he
didn’t say a word as he listened intently. I interpreted his
affect and silence as hostility and his untrimmed beard (in
the context of the larger conservative rural community) as
connected to some extremist White militant group. During
the coffee hour afterward, I avoided eye contact with him.
 As I was driving home with a friend, I asked her about
this man. She said, “Oh, he’s an interesting guy. He’s a
biologist and a professional musician. He gets up at 4:00
every morning to practice his music before he goes to work.
He’s also a Quaker, so he doesn’t say much in the service,
but when he does, it’s always interesting.” Ouch.
It is clear that my biases did not facilitate helpful
hypotheses about this man. On the contrary, they sent me
in the opposite direction—toward inaccurate assumptions
that then led me to behave in a way that reinforced these
assumptions. By avoiding eye contact with him, I was
denying myself the opportunity to learn anything from him
that might have contradicted my misunderstanding.
At the individual level, biases emerge in tandem with
two other cognitive processes, those of categorization and
generalization. Categorizing information and then
generalizing this data to new situations are universal
processes that help us organize the vast amounts of
information we encounter on a daily basis (Tropp & Mallett,
2011). Usually, these cognitive processes facilitate learning
and social interactions, but they can also contribute to the
formation of inaccurate assumptions, as in my example.
When these assumptions become rigid, they become
stereotypes—that is, knowledge, beliefs, and expectations
associated with a particular group—that in turn feed
prejudice or prejudgment—that is, “positive or negative
evaluations of social groups and their members” (Sherman,
Stroessner, Conrey, & Azam, 2005, p. 607).
To avoid making inaccurate assumptions about their
clients, therapists may decide that the best approach is to
assume nothing about a client’s culture and allow the client
to share whatever he or she believes is important. Although
such an approach is well motivated, it contains a
problematic assumption—namely, that therapists are able to
assume nothing about their clients if they choose. The idea
that one can “turn off” preconceptions about groups of
people is appealing. However, given the subtle and
pervasive nature of assumptions, such control is extremely
difficult, if not impossible. What is more likely to occur when
one attempts to ignore the presence of assumptions is
decreased awareness that one is making them (Pedersen,
1987).
It may be helpful to think of a lack of experience with a
particular group as creating a hole or vacuum inside of
yourself (Hays, 2007). As with any vacuum, there is a
tendency for all surrounding material to be sucked in. When
it comes to minority groups, this material often consists of
dominant cultural messages that cause people to assume
that differences are deficits, sometimes so subtly that they
do not perceive the assumption. People then use this
information to make generalizations and draw conclusions
about individual members of a group despite a lack of direct
experience. It is humbling to recognize that we all carry
around our own little vacuum packs of ignorance. Our
challenge as therapists and human beings is to recognize
these vacuum packs and commit ourselves to opening them
up and replacing inaccurate information with real
experience and direct learning.
In an initial assessment, if a therapist has already
established rapport and trust, clients will often give the
therapist the benefit of the doubt and overlook or forgive
inaccurate assumptions. However, in most initial
assessments, therapists do not yet have the benefit of a
solid working relationship with the client. Upon meeting an
individual or family for the first time, therapists must
establish rapport and trust in a relatively short period or risk
losing the opportunity to help. Knowledge of a client’s
culture can facilitate this early work, because it enables the
therapist to formulate hypotheses and ask questions that
more closely connect to the client’s real experience. The
deeper and broader a therapist’s knowledge of and
experience with a client’s culture, the more accurate and
 relevant these hypotheses and questions will be (S. Sue,
1998). In turn, well-informed hypotheses and questions
often increase clients’ trust and confidence in the therapist.

Examining Social Bias and Power

The case example of Mrs. Sok illustrates bias at the level of

cognitive structures that predispose all human beings to the
development of prejudice and stereotypes. However, we
cannot fully understand bias at the individual level without
knowledge of sociocultural influences (S. O. Gaines &
Reed, 1995). Perhaps the concept most central to an
understanding of the influence of sociocultural biases on
individuals is that of power (Kivel, 2002).
Because high-status groups hold more power, they can
exert more control over their own situations and the
situations of lower status groups (Lott, 2002). One way in
which powerful groups exert control is through stereotypes
(Fiske, 1993). Stereotypes can be described in terms of two
key functions: descriptive and prescriptive. Descriptive
stereotypes define how most people in a particular group
behave, what they prefer, and where their competence lies.
Descriptive stereotypes exert control because they create a
starting point for people’s expectations. That is, the
stereotyped person must choose to either stay within the
boundaries of these expectations or go outside of them; in
either case, the stereotype places a burden on the person
being judged and on his or her interactions with others
(Fiske, 1993).
Adding to the effect of descriptive stereotypes,
prescriptive stereotypes define how certain groups should
think, feel, and behave (Fiske, 1993, p. 623). For example,
prescriptive stereotypes shape the dominant culture’s
expectations regarding people with disabilities. People with
disabilities are frequently expected to make daily
adjustments to the nondisabled world without complaint and
to work hard to “overcome” or “transcend” their disability
despite inaccessible physical environments and social
barriers caused by others’ fears and hostilities. Moreover,
they are expected to do all of this cheerfully (Olkin, 2002).
Many stereotypes are overt or explicit, meaning that
people are aware they hold them; for example, many White
people consciously believe the stereotype of African
Americans as exceptionally athletic. However, studies have
shown that people also hold implicit bias and stereotypes
without any conscious awareness (Greenwald & Banaji,
1995). Furthermore, these unconscious biases and
stereotypes can influence people to behave in
discriminatory ways (Kirwan Institute, 2014). And implicit
biases and stereotypes are particularly difficult to change
because if one doesn’t perceive that one is biased, then one
sees nothing to change. (To take a test of your own implicit
biases, see http://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.)
Stereotypes, prejudice, and bias, when combined with
power, form systems of privilege known as the “-isms” (e.g.,
racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism,
colonialism; Hays, 2013). Society socializes less privileged
members of these systems to be acutely aware of the lines
separating those who have privilege from those who do not.
Unprivileged people need to pay more attention to
differences and rules, because the outcomes of their lives
are more dependent on those who hold power (Fiske,
1993).
In contrast, society does not socialize powerful groups
to perceive the rules and barriers separating them from the
unprivileged because those with power do not need to do
so; oppressed groups have little impact on their daily lives.
For example,
 There are many things that an African American child can
do that will get him or her characterized as “acting Black”
or “acting White,” but there is very little that a European
American child can do that will prompt such labeling. . . .
Living in a White-dominated society, the average African
American child is made aware implicitly and explicitly of
these categorizations on a daily basis . . . [whereas] the
average European American child rarely is made aware
of anything having to do with these categories. (S. O.
Gaines & Reed, 1995, p. 98)
In the United States, systems of privilege and
oppression are intimately tied to capitalism. Sexism and
racism support the view of women and people of color as “a
surplus labor force” that “can be pushed in and out of
employment in keeping with current needs of the economy
(depression, expansion, wartime, or a period of union-
busting)” (Blood, Tuttle, & Lakey, 1995, p. 156). Corporate
capitalism also pressures men, who, if they are too
demanding, can be easily replaced by women or people of
color who cost less. Gender and racial stereotypes—often
aided by the media, educational institutions, and the legal
system—reinforce the belief that this arrangement is fair
and natural (Blood et al., 1995).
Members of dominant groups often find it painful to
acknowledge the existence of systems of privilege, because
the idea goes against fundamental Western beliefs in
meritocracy (e.g., “If you work hard enough, you’ll succeed”)
and democracy (e.g., “Majority rule is fair”; Robinson, 1999).
It is easier for people to believe that instances of prejudice
and discrimination are primarily the fault of individual “bad
apples.” From his perspective as a European American
man, Croteau (1999) explained,
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Vom Aschberg zum Kiel
Von Paul Apitzsch, Oelsnitz i. V.
Mit sieben photographischen Aufnahmen von Curt Sippel, Plauen

Ein klarer Wintertag liegt über den Waldbergen des südöstlichen

Vogtlandes. Ich steige mutterseelenallein von Klingenthal auf steilen,
eisbekrusteten Pfaden zum Ortsteil Körnerberg empor. Im Schnee
vergraben, hocken am Hange die letzten Hütten. Tief unten das
engbebaute Zwotatal. Gegenüber ein blendendweißes,
dunkelgesäumtes Wiesenband zu beiden Seiten des Markhausener
Baches mit dem bewaldeten Nebelberg (758,9 Meter) und dem
kahlen Falkenberg (744,3 Meter). Südostwärts weiterwandernd,
ändert sich urplötzlich die Szenerie. Von den gewundenen Wegen
der »Quittenbachalpen« aus wird ein wahrhaft alpiner Tief- und
Fernblick gegen Süden frei. Kurz hinter Kamerun wird zum ersten
Male die Schneekuppe des Aschberges sichtbar. Rechts, gegen
Süden, erscheinen die Graslitzer Berge: Hausberg, Eibenberg und
Grünberg; dahinter breitgelagert Glasberg und Muckenbühl sowie
die prachtvolle Silhouette des Königs im Grenzgebirge, des
Silberbacher Spitzberges (994,3 Meter). Jenseits des Waldgutes
Untersachsenberg nimmt die sächsisch-böhmische Grenzstraße den
Charakter eines ausgesprochenen Kammweges an. Schneidender
Höhenwind peitscht und biegt die Vogelbeerebereschen am Wege.
Brennendrote Fruchtbündel hängen noch immer im Geäst, und
schillernde Krammetsvögel streichen lautlos von dannen beim
Nahen menschlicher Tritte. Allmählich erschließt sich nordwärts der
Blick in die Täler des Brunndöbra- und Steindöbrabaches, während
anderseits immer noch das böhmische Gipfeltriumvirat Glasberg-
Muckenbühl-Spitzberg das Landschaftsbild beherrscht. Ein alter,
siebzigjähriger Schwaderbacher Einwohner, der mit schwerer Bürde
am Gestänge des Wegrandes ausruht, bezeichnet mir die
Grenzstraße als »evangelische Strassen«. Tatsächlich ist hier die
politische Grenze identisch mit der konfessionellen.
 Abb. 1 Aus Schwaderbach

Der nun folgende Ortsteil »Grenzstraße« schneidet genau das

sächsische Untersachsenberg von dem böhmischen Schwaderbach
(Abb. 1), dessen graues katholisches Gotteshaus inmitten
verstreuter Holzhütten aufragt. Der Weg erreicht bei Grenzstein 600
den Ort Obersachsenberg. Beim Waldgut Obersachsenberg weder
links, noch rechts abbiegen, sondern den steilansteigenden
Grenzweg geradeaus. Oberhalb der zweiten, struppigen jungen
Buche, unweit der letzten, höchsten Hütten von Schwaderbach und
Aschberg, da, wo die im Schnee verschütteten Steingeröllmauern
des Gipfelplateaus beginnen, steht in etwa neunhundert Meter
Seehöhe der Grenzstein 606. Hier stoße den Wanderstab in die
kristallene Kruste des Hartschnees; hier halte inne und schaue
rückwärts. Denn hier bei Grenzstein 606 am Westhange des
Aschberges, nicht auf dem Gipfel des Aschberges, ist, meiner
persönlichen Auffassung nach, der bedeutendste Aussichtspunkt
des gesamten Vogtlandes.
 Abb. 2 Blick gegen Böhmen

Im zweiten Jahrgange seiner Monatszeitschrift »Das Vogtland und

seine Nachbargebiete« warf Kurt Arnold Findeisen die Preisfrage
auf: Welches ist der hervorragendste Aussichtspunkt des
Vogtlandes? Ich beteiligte mich an dem Preisausschreiben, sprach
dem Silberbacher Spitzberg die Siegespalme zu und heimste einen
Preis ein. Heute, zehn Jahre später, bin ich andrer Ansicht. Ich habe
seitdem auf meinen Wanderfahrten kreuz und quer durchs Vogtland
mancherlei Neues geschaut, aber nirgends einen Fernblick
gefunden, der sich messen könnte mit dem vom Grenzstein 606 aus.
Nach Einheitlichkeit, Geschlossenheit, Großzügigkeit und Eigenart
steht für mich auch heute noch der Silberbacher Spitzberg an erster
Stelle. Aber die allseitig geschlossenen, starren Waldkonturen und
der Blick auf ein beinahe unbebautes Gelände verleihen der
Rundschau vom Granitgipfel des Spitzberges etwas unsagbar Totes,
Einsames, Gedrücktes. Es fehlt das Belebende menschlicher
Wohnstätten, das Abwechselnde in Form und Farbe, das Frohe und
Freudige. Und gerade das bietet der Blick vom Grenzstein 606 aus
in überreichem Maße. Die zahllosen, verstreuten Häuschen und
Hüttchen von Schwaderbach und Quittenbach, von Ober- und
Untersachsenberg, von Brunndöbra, Steindöbra und Georgenthal,
die stattlichen Gotteshäuser und Schulgebäude im Tal, die
schmucken Stätten der Industrie und anheimelnde Landhäuser im
Heimatstil geben dem Bilde etwas ungemein Liebliches. Graue
Sträßchen und schmale Fußsteige ziehen im Sommer von Haus zu
Haus durchs grüne Gelände. Wedelnde Wäsche auf schwanken
Leinen in den Farben der nahen Tschechoslowakei, weiß, blau und
rot, flattert im Bergwind vor den Hütten. Überall wird das Grün der
Hänge und Hügel unterbrochen und belebt von bunten Farbflecken.
Heut’ freilich ist alles in einfache Formen und einheitliche Farben
gegossen. Wuchtig hebt sich Terrasse über Terrasse, reiht sich
Kuppe an Kuppe (Abb. 2). Alle Einzelheiten verwischt, alles
Kleinliche getilgt, die ganze weite Winterwelt in blendender Größe
als Einheit vor uns hingestellt.

Abb. 3 Neuschnee am Aschberg

 Im Westen glutet blutigrot der Feuerball der scheidenden Sonne.
Rasch senkt sich Dämmerung über das Waldland. Wie mit
krallenden Fingern kriecht und klettert die Dunkelheit aus den Tälern
herauf zu meinem sonnigen Hochsitz. Und dann kommt das
Schönste. Wie ein Lichtlein nach dem anderen in tausend
Fensterchen aufglimmt, wie mählich die Linien der Ferne und die
Umrisse der Nähe zergehen, wie aus der stärker einsetzenden
Nacht immer zahlreicher und deutlicher die stillen Lichter
aufflammen und wie schließlich ein irdisches Sternenheer in schier
überirdischer Schönheit uns entgegenleuchtet. In den Tälern die
Lichtflecken gehäuft, an den Hängen die Lichtfünklein weiter
voneinander entfernt, auf den Höhen hier und da ein einsames
Leuchten. Und ganz in der Weite der fleckenlose, fahle Schein
fernabgelegener größerer Ortschaften. Das Bellen eines Hundes,
das Rattern eines Eisenbahnzuges, sonst kaum ein Geräusch in
weiter Runde.
Kurz vor der Schlafenszeit der Waldbewohner erreicht die
Schönheit des Lichterglanzes ihren Höhepunkt. Und dann verlöscht
ein Fünklein nach dem anderen. Nur einigen wenigen fleißigen
Arbeitsbienen oder wohl auch fröhlich-faulen Zechern leuchten die
letzten Lichter, bis auch diese verlöschen und rabenschwarz die
Bergnacht über dem Grenzgebirge liegt.
 Abb. 4 Waldwand
So stehe ich lange, lange mit schmauchendem Pfeiflein am
Grenzstein 606, sehe den Wintertag schwinden und die Winternacht
heraufziehen, sehe das Lichtermeer des südvogtländischen
Musikwinkels kommen und gehen und steige in später Stunde hinab
zu den Wohnstätten der schlafenden Waldbewohner. –

Abb. 5 Straße Klingenthal–Auerbach (Steindöbra)

Am anderen Morgen, in aller Herrgottsfrühe, geht’s empor zum

Gipfel des Aschberges. (Abb. 3.) Winterpracht! Rauhreif liegt über
den Höhen. Jede junge Fichte eine Kristallkrone, jede Kiefer ein
Gespenst, jedes Wacholderbäumchen eine duftigzarte Filigranarbeit.
Alle Formen einseitig verzerrt. Die dünnen Stangen des Wildgatters
sind zu breiten Brettern, die Bretter zu Balken geworden. Am Boden
ragen die starren Stengel des Wegerichs, die buschigen Schäfte der
Schafgarbe und zierlich mit Eisnadeln besetzte Dolden über die
Schnee-Ebene. An der unbewaldeten Seite des Gipfels ziehen
zahllose parallele Skifahrerfährten geradlinig dahin. Die glatten
Felsen des Kulminationspunktes mit der Triangulierungssäule (939,5
Meter) sind an der Wetterseite mit gewellten Eisplatten bekrustet.
Von Böhmen herüber schieben sich Nebelschwaden vor und
geistern zwischen einseitig bereiften Fichtenstangen. (Abb. 4.) Und
nun steuere ich weglos nach der Senke zwischen Aschberg und
Großem Rammelsberg, um bei Grenzstein 624 die von
Obersachsenberg nach Morgenröthe führende Waldstraße zu
erreichen. Die Nebelfetzen wachsen an zu Wolkenbalken, und da
die von Schneemassen überwuchteten Grenzsteine kaum erkennbar
sind, ist größte Aufmerksamkeit erforderlich. Trotz der frühen
Morgenstunde ist die Waldstraße belebt von Skifahrern, die auf
leichten Brettern nach der rechts des Weges gelegenen Kurt-Seydel-
Sprungschanze gleiten. Der mächtige Holzbau, heute überzuckert
mit Rauhreif und Neuschnee, wurde 1923 vom Wintersportverein
»Aschberg« errichtet und bietet prächtige Blicke hinab ins Tal und
empor zu den Waldhängen des 962,7 Meter hohen Rammelsberges.
Ich aber biege links ab und folge den blauen Zackenzeichen des
Erzgebirgskammweges bis zur Staatsstraße »Klingenthal–
Auerbach« (Abb. 5). Im »Buschhaus« zu Mühlleithen halte ich
Mittagsrast und breche, um vor Anbruch der Dämmerung den
Abendzug in Muldenberg zu erreichen, zeitig auf. Mein
Nachmittagsziel ist der 941,3 Meter hohe Kiel. Es ist dies kein
eigentlicher Berg, sondern ein Gebirgsstock, der sich in einer
Gesamtflächenausdehnung von fünfundzwanzig Quadratkilometern
stufenförmig aus den Tälern des Steinbaches, der kleinen Pyra, der
Boda, des Sau- und Silberbaches, also im Wasserscheidengebiet
Mulde–Eger, aufbaut und von einem Vasallenkranz von zwölf
Vorbergen umgürtet wird. Das Aschberggebiet mit seiner dichten
Besiedelung, mit seinen Skihütten und Sprungschanzen tritt von
Jahr zu Jahr mehr aus seiner Wintereinsamkeit heraus. An klaren
Wintersonntagen wimmeln seine Hänge von skifahrenden
Naturgenießern. Am Kiel, bei Winselburg und um den
Schneckenstein, steht schweigend der weite Winterwald. Der
Massensportbetrieb konnte hier noch nicht festen Fuß fassen. Es
fehlen die waldlosen, geneigten Flächen, und wenn auch hier und da
zwischen weitständigem Hochwald eine Blöße lagert, so gibt es am
Kiel doch zu viele Fichtendickungen, die dem Sportsmanne das
Fortkommen erschweren. Und doch lockt mehr als eine breite
Schneise den Fahrer zu Tal. (Abb. 6.) Weite Fernsichten lassen die
Höhenwanderer nicht los, obwohl schon dämmerig lange
Baumschatten über den Weg huschen.
 Abb. 6 Am Kiel

Außer den sieben Häuschen von Winselburg gibt es am Kiel keine

Siedlung. Die blinkenden Fenster der allerobersten Hütte schauen
weit hinaus nach Norden und Osten, hinüber zu den Waldbergen
des westlichen Erzgebirges, auf Kuhberg und Auersberg (Abb. 7),
die von hier aus bei starkem Schneebehang des Hochwinters nicht
als graue Waldrücken erscheinen, sondern als leuchtendweiße
Schneewände über tieferliegende dunkle Vorberge und Talgründe
emporragen.
 Abb. 7 Blick nach dem Auersberg

Lebe wohl, mein Wintersonnenland! Wenn des Vorfrühlings Föhn

wieder über grüne Waldwipfel fegt, dann: Auf Wiedersehen am
Aschberg und Kiel!
Für die Schriftleitung des Textes verantwortlich: Werner Schmidt – Druck:
Lehmannsche Buchdruckerei
Klischees von Römmler & Jonas, sämtlich in Dresden
 Der Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz bietet seinen
Mitgliedern und Freunden eine

Weihnachtsgabe von unvergänglichem Werte

in dem »Jahresring deutscher Festspiele« von

Valerie Friedrich-Thiergen:
Vom Bornkindel über den Maienbaum
zum Knecht Rupprecht
Die Dichterin, eine der begabtesten, die dem sächsischen
Stamme erblüht sind, umspannt in zehn Dramen alle Festzeiten des
Jahres: Weihnachten, Ostern, Pfingsten, Totensonntag, aber auch
die alten deutschen Volksfeste des Dreikönigabends, der Fastnacht,
des Maienbaums. Sie hat sich für ihr Werk in gedrungenem Aufbau
und echt volkstümlicher, kernhafter Sprache einen »eigenwüchsigen
Stil« geschaffen, der die Seele im Innersten packt und ergreift und in
der Erfassung der Ewigkeitswerte fördert. Mit ihrer Mischung von
tiefgründigem Ernst und schalkhaftem Humor eignen sich diese
Festspiele ebensogut zu beschaulicher Lektüre, wie zum Vorlesen
am Familientische, wie zu dramatischer Aufführung in kleineren und
größeren Volkskreisen. Valerie Friedrich-Thiergens Werk ist etwas
ganz Besonderes und kann auch durch keinen zweiten Band
vermehrt werden, da die Dichterin am 19. November 1924 von allen,
die sie kannten, aufs tiefste betrauert, eines frühen Todes verstorben
ist.

Der künstlerisch sehr gelungene Einband ist vom Professor Georg

Erler gezeichnet, die Geleitsworte sind von Otto Eduard Schmidt und
Karl Reuschel geschrieben worden. Der Preis des in Halbleinen
gebundenen Buches ist 3 M., bei direkter Übersendung vom
Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz, Dresden-A., Schießgasse
24, ausschließlich 30 Pfg. Postgeld und Verpackung.
Außerdem vermittelt auch jede Buchhandlung die Bestellung.
 »Aus grauen Mauern und grünen Weiten«
Schauen und Sinnen auf Heimatwegen
von Gustav Rieß
5. Band der Heimatbücherei des Landesvereins Sächsischer
Heimatschutz, Dresden-A.

»Endlich!« rief ich frohgelaunt aus, als ich in der Vereinsleitung die
Neuerscheinungen mir ansah – »endlich ein Buch von Gustav
Rieß!« Und gleich nahm ich es unter den Arm und machte mich
daheim drüber her. Daß es etwas Gediegenes sein würde, dafür
bürgte mir ja der Name des Verfassers, daß er mir aber Augenblicke
so hohen Genusses bereiten würde, das hätte ich selbst bei meiner
hochgespannten Erwartung nicht zu hoffen gewagt.
»Wer ist Gustav Rieß?« höre ich aus dem Leserkreis fragen? Nun,
lieber Vereinsbruder, du stehst sicher noch nicht lange in unseren
Reihen, sonst müßtest du’s wissen. Zu deiner Entschuldigung sei
immerhin zugegeben, daß der Träger dieses Namens in letzter Zeit
seinen Mund in unseren Vereinsberichten lange nicht aufgetan hat,
aber wir Älteren und Alten aus der Heimschutzarbeit, wir wissen, wer
Gustav Rieß ist! Wir wissen, welche Fülle von Liebe, von Treue und
Aufopferung für den Heimatschutz in diesem Manne sich einet.
Haben wir nicht oft schon in den Vereinsabenden zu seinen Füßen
gesessen und seinen Vorträgen gelauscht, haben wir nicht so oft
seine Beiträge in den grünen Heften gelesen, und war es uns nicht
dabei immer, als müßten wir dem Manne, der solches zu sagen und
zu schreiben wußte, die Hand drücken in Verehrung und
Dankbarkeit, ihn, den die Liebe zur Heimat zum Dichter macht, aber
auch zum berufenen, klug wägenden Berater in allem, was der
Heimat frommt; zum Vorkämpfer und Führer in den Reihen unseres
Vereins?
Wie es nicht mehr gut angängig ist, den Namen Kursachsen
auszusprechen oder zu lesen, ohne dabei an den Kursächsischen
Wandersmann Otto Eduard Schmidt zu denken, so wird es nach
Erscheinen dieses Buches und seinem hoffentlich recht tiefen
Eindringen in die Bevölkerung nicht mehr möglich sein, den Namen
der alten Bergstadt Freiberg zu nennen, ohne dabei sich an Gustav
Rieß zu erinnern.
Denn dieser altersgrauen Stadt droben im Erzgebirge gehört
Dienst, Lebe und Leben unseres Verfassers. Als technischer
wissenschaftlicher Beamter, als Stadtbaurat, wirkt er in Freiberg.
Und fürwahr, in keine treuere Hand, an kein wärmeres Herz hätte
der Rat wohl das bauliche Geschick seiner Stadt legen können.
Denn der Posten eines Stadtbaurates ist gerade in unserer Zeit, die
zu erwachen begonnen hat aus dem bleiernen Schlafe, des
Stumpfsinns in Kunst- und Bausachen, im Rate wohl jeder
deutschen Stadt einer der wichtigsten. Auf wie viele Spuren am
segensreichen Wirken unseres Freundes trifft der aufmerksame
Beobachter, der Kenner von Freiberg, bei seinen Gängen durch die
alte Stadt! Und hätte Rieß weiter nichts getan, als das in der Mitte
des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, in spießbürgerlichem Sinne so arg
verschandelte Rathaus wieder herauszureißen aus Kleinlichkeit und
Kümmerlichkeit, sein Name würde allein dieserhalb in der
Stadtgeschichte leben. Mit seinem Buch aber tritt Gustav Rieß weit
hinaus aus dem Mauerring von Altfreiberg.
Wohl singt und klingt’s von altem sächsischen Bergmannsgeist,
von Freiberger Bürgertreue und Freiberger Gelehrsamkeit in den
Blättern des Buches, aber die Seele des Werkes ist so deutsch
schlechthin, daß dieses ganz gewiß ein Freund in den Häusern
jeden deutschen Stammes werden kann. Neben gründlichen
wissenschaftlichen Hinweisen, besonders baukünstlerischem und
geschichtlichem Inhaltes enthüllt sich in dem Werk ein so schönes,
geläutertes Menschentum, eine so reine Naturnähe, eine so
wohltuend belebende Wärme ohne alle falsche, so oft als »poetisch«
mißverstandene Sentimentalität, daß das Buch ganz besonders
unsrer heranwachsenden Jugend in die Hand gegeben werden
sollte, um so mehr, als es doch auch an Romantik, aber an echter,
kernhafter, in den Blättern beileibe nicht mangelt.
Ich will nichts näheres aus dem Inhalt dieses neuen, des fünften
Bandes unserer Vereinsbücherei berichten, so sehr mich’s dazu
auch treibt. Es ist alles gut, rein und echt. Ein Heimatbuch, wie es
nicht gleich wieder erscheinen dürfte. Darum – nehmt und genießt,
was der Verfasser Euch bringt, der Mann, der in unseren
Vereinsheften einmal das Wort fand von der Heimatliebe, die mit der
Abendröte zieht übers Land – freut Euch seines Schaffens und dankt
es ihm dadurch, daß Ihr sein Werk eindringen lasset in die weitesten
Schichten unseres Volkes – denn dieses Buch, es verdient’s!
Gerhard Platz.

Preis M. 4.— geschmackvoll gebunden, Großoktav, 380 Seiten

Bestellkarte in diesem Heft!

Lehmannsche Buchdruckerei
Dresden-N.–Obergraben.
 Weitere Anmerkungen zur Transkription
Offensichtliche Fehler wurden stillschweigend korrigiert. Ansonsten wurden
unterschiedliche Schreibweisen insbesondere bei Namen wie im Original
bebehalten. Die Darstellung der Ellipsen wurde vereinheitlicht.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
LANDESVEREIN SÄCHSISCHER HEIMATSCHUTZ —
MITTEILUNGEN BAND XIII, HEFT 9-10 ***

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