Discuss the role of culture in the treatment of one or more disorders.

Refer to the paper 2 assessment criteria when awarding marks. These can be found under the “Your tests” tab > supplemental materials.

The command term “discuss” requires candidates to offer a considered review of the role of culture in the treatment of one or more disorders.

The disorder(s) chosen are likely to be from those presented in the guide:

• anxiety disorders
• depressive disorders
• obsessive compulsive disorders
• trauma and stress-related disorders
• eating disorders.

Relevant studies may include but are not limited to:

• Castillo’s (1997) study on a client centred approach in treatment
• Sue and Zane’s (2009) study on the role of culture and cultural techniques in psychotherapy
• Marsala’s (2012) study on cultural conceptions of mental health and therapy
• Nicholl and Thompson’s (2004) study on psychological treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adult refugees
• Sharen and Sundar’s (2015) study on eating disorders in women.

Discussion points related to culture and treatment may include but are not limited to:

• culture-bound disorders
• accessibility of treatment
• interpretation of the symptoms
• cultural norms
• different approaches to treatment
• cultural acceptance of treatment.

If the candidate addresses disorders in general, rather than specific disorder(s), award up to a maximum of [4] for criterion B: knowledge and understanding.

This was the least popular question within the option and the quality of responses tended to range greatly. Candidates had problems staying focused on the idea of “treatment”. Unfortunately, in many cases candidates ignored the part of the question that required them to discuss the role of culture in treatment and instead discussed the role of culture in diagnosis or discussed cultural differences in symptoms of a disorder. Occasionally candidates showed great insight, incorporating newer treatment techniques emerging to deal with cultural specificity.