Nondirective counseling in Islamic culture in the Middle East explored through the work of one Muslim person-centered counselor in the State of Qatar

摘要

Between 2006 and 2010 Aisha Al-Thani, under the academic supervision of Judy Moore, studied the effects of introducing a form of nondirective counseling with a selection of depressed clients at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in the Islamic State of Qatar. The Middle Eastern perspective on counseling and the need for cultural sensitivity to Islamic teaching in introducing nondirective counseling in this society is discussed. Counseling sessions were recorded and transcribed in Arabic and then translated into English; clients were also scored onthe Beck Depression Inventory. The outcomes of nine cases are given here and issues around directivityondirectivity briefly discussed; a fuller discussion is made of one case example, Faimah, a devout Muslim woman, who responded particularly well to nondirective counseling. It is clear that a shared Islamic framework is critical to the success of the counseling and that nondirective counseling can work in Islamic culture when it is introduced with "insider" sensitivity.