Cultural diversity and the cultural and epistemological structure of psychoanalysis - Implications for psychotherapy with Latinos and other minorities

This article offers a critique of assumptions made by both the majority psychoanalytic culture and minority groups regarding the suitability of psychoanalysis for Latinos and other underserved ethnic groups. Both sides of the aforementioned controversy are rooted in the larger conflict between modern and traditional paradigms as well as in the epistemological and political contradictions of the "master's discourse" prevailing within educational institutions. The proposed theory articulates intrapsychic and extrapsychic dimensions into a single theoretical framework. The proposed reconceptualization includes a redefinition of the psychoanalytic concept of insight more in keeping both with the concept of the unconscious and with the conception of knowledge found in traditional cultures.