The differences in self-development and the differences in norms, values and ideals within these two cultural spheres are extensive and must be considerable.

In exploring this question, Dr Yusuf draws on a wealth of research from numerous psychoanalytic concepts and theories, thereby presenting a new approach to better understanding the self and its development – or, more specifically, the development of personality in collectivist cultures and, consequently, mental disorders in such cultures.

This new approach not only addresses the specific personality development of people in collectivist cultures, but also seeks to present a culturally sensitive psychodynamic approach to educate people from these cultures and, in particular, professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists.

This approach helps professionals and experts (psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, social workers, etc.) working in the field of mental health to better support their patients during therapy and to help them alleviate or overcome their suffering.

Curriculum Vitae:

Education and career of Dr paed. Adel Yusuf:
After initially studying art therapy at the University of Cologne in Germany, Dr paed. Adel Yusuf went on to complete his PhD on the topic of ‘Personality and Culture and their Manifestations in Children’s Drawings’.
This comprehensive doctoral thesis drew on a wide range of studies and research from the field of intercultural psychology, comparing cultural characteristics, personality and behaviour in individualistic (Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand) and collectivist cultures (Asia, Africa, South America), and provided important culturally sensitive insights.

After completing his PhD, he trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist at one of the leading institutes for psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy and has since been working in his own practice under a contract with the North Rhine-Westphalia Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians.

Professional experience:

During his 13 years working in Arab cultures following the completion of his first degree, he realised that most Western psychotherapy approaches are unsuitable for people in collectivist cultures and exhibit many shortcomings and deficiencies. This is because these approaches are tailored to people in the cultures in which they were developed, namely individualistic cultures.

Extensive intercultural studies (doctoral thesis) clearly show that the ideal and ‘normal’ development of people in collectivist cultures involves individuals remaining dependent on their family and other significant attachment figures throughout their lives and having to accept this dependence.

In these cultures, processes of separation, individuation, distancing from parents and the development of an independent personality are not at the forefront of the conflicts that must be resolved in the relationship between children and their parents as representatives of their respective cultures.

In such cultures, people live in a society that has the right to judge its members and their behaviour, as well as the behaviour of those associated with them . The primary task of children in such cultures is to preserve or strengthen the reputation, respect, honour, esteem and ‘value of their parents/family’ within the social community.

Dr Yusuf was very interested in understanding such processes and exploring how the self copes with them. His training as a psychodynamic psychotherapist enabled him to gain deep insights into people’s personalities and their development.

Psychoanalytic theories provide access to the unconscious and make it possible to uncover the processes by which a child adapts to their environment, as well as the defence and compensation mechanisms they use to cope with conflicts.
They also offer numerous techniques and methods for understanding the dynamics underlying the development of mental disorders and their treatment.

The connections between the knowledge he acquired during his PhD, his psychoanalytic and intercultural expertise, and his extensive experience of working with people from different cultures enable him to gain new insights into the self of people in collectivist cultures, into the culture-specific challenges that children and their parents there must overcome, and into the psychodynamics of internal, unconscious processes, which have a significant influence on behaviour and the psyche.

These findings also mean that the treatment of people from collectivist cultures requires different techniques, frameworks, prerequisites and objectives than the treatment of people from individualistic cultures.
Mental disorders and the way in which traumatic experiences are dealt with, for example, also differ greatly between cultures.
In collectivist cultures, the social community assesses the behaviour of its members, but also offers them comprehensive measures to stabilise and restore their sense of self, as well as support in the event of a decline in their self-esteem or sense of self-worth.

He therefore considers the application of Western psychoanalytic approaches to people from collectivist cultures to be dangerous, limited, inappropriate and flawed if they are not ‘modified’ and, above all, if one fails to recognise that there is a different ‘healthy and normal’ development of people in the world.

Nevertheless, it is Western psychoanalytic approaches that Dr Yusuf uses as a basis for understanding people in collectivist cultures, albeit in a heavily modified form. There are many psychoanalytic approaches, stemming primarily from self-psychology (Kohut, Stern, Lichtenberg) and ‘infant observation’, which offer valuable support in understanding the self and the psyche of people from collectivist cultures.

In his new approach, Dr Yusuf does not seek to devalue Western psychoanalytic approaches, but rather acknowledges with great admiration their contribution to our understanding of human beings in general. The use of these approaches as a basis for understanding people from other cultures is the main focus of the new theory and its application.