The socio-cultural model looks at how society and culture affect a person’s behavior and mental health. It has two main perspectives. One is the family-social perspective, and the other is the multicultural perspective.

FAMILY-SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

Supporters of the family-social perspective believe that clinical theorists should focus on forces that directly impact an individual’s life, such as family relations, social interactions, and community experiences. These forces influence both normal and abnormal behavior.

They focus on three main factors. First, social labels and roles play an important role. Abnormal behavior and functioning can be influenced greatly by the labels and roles assigned to a person. For example, society calls people deviant and mentally ill when they do not act according to social norms.

Second, social connections and supports are important. There are ties between deficiencies in social networks and a person’s functioning. A lack of social support can negatively affect how well a person copes and functions in daily life.

Third, family structures and communication are also significant. Certain family systems are particularly likely to produce abnormal functioning in individual members.

Treatments

The family-social perspective has different treatment approaches. One approach is group therapy. In this therapy format, a group of people with similar problems meet together with a therapist to work on those problems. Together, the group develops important insights, builds social skills, and shares information and advice.

Another approach is family therapy. In this therapy format, the therapist meets with all members of a family and helps them to change in a therapeutic way. Therapists try to change family power structure, roles, and relationships. There are two types of family therapies: structural family therapy and conjoint family therapy.

Couple Therapy: In couple therapy, therapists work with two individuals who are in a long-term relationship. It often focuses on the structure and communication patterns in the relationship. It is also called marital therapy.

Community Treatment: In this treatment method, therapists go into communities to prevent problems and provide care.

 

THE MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Culture refers to the set of values, attitudes, beliefs, history, and behaviors shared by a group of people and communicated from one generation to the next. The multicultural or culturally diverse perspective shows how culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and other social identities influence how people think and behave. It uses intersectionality, looking at how someone’s different identities, such as race and gender, combine to shape their experience and mental health. Research shows that prejudice and discrimination can lead to mental health problems.

In terms of treatment, some clinicians develop culture-sensitive therapies and gender-sensitive therapies to address these issues.


ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

The social-cultural model has several advantages. This model helps us to understand how family, culture, and society affect mental health. Some treatments based on this model work well when other traditional treatments have failed.

However, the model also has disadvantages. Research is hard to interpret. For example, family conflict is linked to schizophrenia, but it is unclear whether conflict causes schizophrenia or if schizophrenia creates family conflict. In addition, it cannot predict who will develop problems. For example, not everyone facing prejudice or discrimination gets anxiety or depression.