Acculturation and illness

In the present paper an attempt is made to study the dynamics of culture change from ethnic to American in relation to illness. Acculturation takes place when a person changes from ethnic to American, from military to civilian life, from one region of the country to another, from rural to urban living, or from one social class to another. This study is concerned primarily with acculturation of immigrants or their children and grandchildren. Observation was made that various nationalities presented different problems of acculturation. Psychotherapy has to work out the problems of motivation for culture change, and touch upon early childhood identifications. Eventually a belated identification can be accomplished through successful identification with the psychotherapist, which in turn will make it possible for the individual to accept the majority of the new values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)