Jerrold Lee Shapiro
BACK TO ROOTS: AN INTERVENTION FOR ELICITING GREATER EMOTIONAL DEPTH
I have, for years, worked in a multicultural, multiethnic practice. In such environments, it is common for English (at least standard Eng- lish) to be a second language. As an existential therapist, it is always my process to join with my clients where they are emotionally, intel- lectually, and interpersonally. Personally, I am a monolingual Eng- lish-speaking therapist.
Many authors (Santiago-Rivera, 1995; Santiago-Rivera & Altar- riba, 2002 ) have argued that emotion may be language specific and that emotional depth is most tied to the primary language of individu- als. In short, people do not feel something in one language and trans- late it to another easily. In fact, some emotions are tied to and locked into a personal cultural context.
DESCRIPTION OF POPULATION
I work almost exclusively with time-limited, closed, clinical, and growth groups. However, this technique should work equally well in an ongoing open-ended group. It is definitely a technique that lends itself best to adults.
I have used the technique with individuals who spoke Japanese, Hebrew, Farsi, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Thai, Urdu, French, several
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Chinese dialects, and pidgin English. In their lovely video demon- stration, Gerald and Marianne Schneider Corey (2006) demonstrate this technique with a second generation Vietnamese woman.
A FIVE-STEP INTERVENTION
There are five steps to the intervention of this technique. Using standard descriptions of a four-phase group trajectory: Preparation, Transition, Working, Termination (Corey, 2008; Shapiro, Peltz, & Bernadett-Shapiro, 1998), this procedure is one that is best suited to the third or Working (also known as Treatment or Therapy) phase. It is designed for an increase in intrapsychic depth, once the group trust is sufficiently strong to support such an increase in affect.
Step 1
Working in English with an individual at a level of emotional depth that becomes truncated or limited by language
Step 2
Asking the individual if English is a secondary language (often this is very obvious) and if not what is the language of his or her child- hood.
Step 3
Asking the individual if he or she would be willing to continue in his or her primary language. In my experience, this has never been re- fused. Provide the emotional space and time for them to shift into that language-related state of being (it often shows a marked change in de- meanor or facial expression) and supportively allow them to continue with the issue, this time in whatever the language may be. It is impor- tant to tell the individual that it is okay if the group does not under- stand the language, only that he or she does.
Using Primary Language to Access Primary Affect 13
Step 4
After the person does the work in his or her native tongue, ask him or her to debrief with the group in English.
Step 5
Asking the group members to describe what it felt like to be pres- ent while the individual was speaking another language.
In a recent growth-oriented, eight-hour marathon session with a population of mental health practitioners, one woman was struggling with two simultaneous issues: Feeling like an outsider in California, she was unable to communicate effectively her deeper feelings to her clients and her colleagues; being here with her husband and two chil- dren she was also quite homesick for her friends and extended family in Russia. She began to weep, but words were coming slowly and with difficulty.
I asked her (actually in Russian, but that is not mandatory) to re- peat what she had said, only this time in Russian. Her countenance slowly became much more open and childlike. As she began talking about her pains of loneliness and fears that she would never make it in this country, she was able to also access a deep pool around issues of rejection and abandonment from her childhood. Although only one other group member understood what she was saying as she spoke in Russian, many of the other group members also had tears flowing.
During the debrief, she explained how she had been separated from her family for almost two years when she was a little girl and how she felt very alone during her medical training in the former So- viet Union. When she was done, the group topic shifted as several other members talked about their feelings as a minority and of loneliness.
CONCLUSION
This is a technique that extends another level of respect to clients, by telling them that their capacities are appreciated, albeit in a differ- ent form (language). It also reinforces the notion that cultural dif- ferences may be cherished in a group, rather than be reasons for exclusion.
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There are at least two contraindications. First, the group must be suf- ficiently in the treatment phase to handle the level of affect the tech- nique usually elicits. Second, the leader must be able to tolerate the ambiguity of not knowing what the person is saying for some time and rely on her or his ability to read culturally different tone and non- verbal cues.
REFERENCES
Corey, G. (2008). Theory and Practice of Group Counseling (Seventh edition). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Corey, G. & Corey, M. (2006). Groups in Action: Evolution and Challenges DVD
1st Edition. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Santiago-Rivera, A. L. (1995). Developing a culturally sensitive treatment modality for bilingual Spanish-speaking clients: Incorporating language and culture in counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 74, 12-17.
Santiago-Rivera, A. L., & Altarriba, J. (2002). The role of language in therapy with Spanish-English bilingual client. Professional Psychology: Research and Prac-
tice, 33, 30-38.
Shapiro, J.L., Peltz, L.S. & Bernadett-Shapiro, S.T. (1998). Brief Group Treatment: