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Tarabi, Said Aris (2016) The experiences of second generation Pakistani Muslim men receiving individual cognitive behavioural therapy : an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
Background/Aims:
According to the United Kingdom (UK) census statistics (ONS, 2011), Islam represents the second largest religion after Christianity, and the largest group of Muslims in the UK has a Pakistani heritage. Analysis of the existing research suggests that Pakistani Muslim men with psychological difficulties under-utilise mental health services in the UK. Several studies (mainly quantitative in nature) have reported that CBT can be an appropriate treatment for Pakistani Muslims, but some authors argue that there are fundamental philosophical conflicts between Islam and CBT. However, there has been no research to date on how CBT is actually experienced by Pakistani Muslim men, and the needs of this under-represented group remain unexplored. In response to this dearth of research, particularly in Counselling Psychology, this study investigated the experiences of Pakistani men who had completed CBT treatment within the last 18 months.
Design/Method:
Verbatim accounts of semi-structured interviews were analysed employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants were six Second-Generation Pakistani Muslim men (SGPMM) aged between 20 and 43 who had received individual CBT.
Findings:
In the process of analysis three superordinate themes were generated: ‘Pre-CBT difficulties’ (which refers to the thoughts, feelings and challenges that the participants had encountered prior to CBT), ‘the process of CBT for Muslim men’ (which discusses what CBT means and how helpful and/or unhelpful the participants found CBT), ‘the interaction between CBT and Islam (which explores the significance of religion, and how CBT and Islam complement and/or clash with each other).
Conclusions:
The participants emphasised the difficulties and concerns that SGPMM can encounter in therapy as a result of religious and cultural pressures: namely in adhering to collectivist and individualist values, in meeting family and community expectations, and in reconciling differing aspects of Islam and CBT. It is therefore suggested that training programmes and practitioners should consider developing more targeted interventions to better address this group of clients’ religious and cultural needs.
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