Common mental disorders in India are on the rise and are adding to the national burden of mental health care on a day-to-day basis. The demand for treatment of mental illnesses has risen considerably, though there is a shortage of mental health professionals who can deliver counseling services. The Indian government has made efforts to improve the scalability of services by training lay health counselors to diagnose and conduct brief counseling with the mentally ill and those involved with their care. Despite efforts to scale up services, the treatment gap still exists, as mental health services are not uniformly distributed. Considering that psychotherapy is based on Euro-American concepts of mental health care, but India is a complex amalgamation of cultures, there is a need for a culturally sensitive model of counseling. Thus, this clinical research project was geared toward creating a culturally sensitive model of counseling that can be used to train lay health counselors to conduct culturally appropriate therapy. Hence, this theoretical model of counseling uses sociocultural factors to conceptualize the mental health issues of Indian clients and indigenous methods along with an evidence-based approach to inform psychotherapy interventions. Finally, the Indian sociocultural aspect is integrated into the fundamentals of therapy to improve client retention and reduce the treatment gap.
","abstract_html":"<p>Common mental disorders in India are on the rise and are adding to the national burden of mental health care on a day-to-day basis. The demand for treatment of mental illnesses has risen considerably, though there is a shortage of mental health professionals who can deliver counseling services. The Indian government has made efforts to improve the scalability of services by training lay health counselors to diagnose and conduct brief counseling with the mentally ill and those involved with their care. Despite efforts to scale up services, the treatment gap still exists, as mental health services are not uniformly distributed. Considering that psychotherapy is based on Euro-American concepts of mental health care, but India is a complex amalgamation of cultures, there is a need for a culturally sensitive model of counseling. Thus, this clinical research project was geared toward creating a culturally sensitive model of counseling that can be used to train lay health counselors to conduct culturally appropriate therapy. Hence, this theoretical model of counseling uses sociocultural factors to conceptualize the mental health issues of Indian clients and indigenous methods along with an evidence-based approach to inform psychotherapy interventions. Finally, the Indian sociocultural aspect is integrated into the fundamentals of therapy to improve client retention and reduce the treatment gap.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kalra, Vini"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology","degree_level":"Dissertation - Public Access","degree_discipline":"Clinical Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Mudita Rastogi Ph.D","Carolyn Gralewski Ph.D"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:20:44Z","subjects":["Clinical Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/444","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Mudita Rastogi Ph.D","Carolyn Gralewski Ph.D"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kalra, Vini"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-10-26T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Clinical Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation - Public Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Clinical Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/444"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Common mental disorders in India are on the rise and are adding to the national burden of mental health care on a day-to-day basis. The demand for treatment of mental illnesses has risen considerably, though there is a shortage of mental health professionals who can deliver counseling services. The Indian government has made efforts to improve the scalability of services by training lay health counselors to diagnose and conduct brief counseling with the mentally ill and those involved with their care. Despite efforts to scale up services, the treatment gap still exists, as mental health services are not uniformly distributed. Considering that psychotherapy is based on Euro-American concepts of mental health care, but India is a complex amalgamation of cultures, there is a need for a culturally sensitive model of counseling. Thus, this clinical research project was geared toward creating a culturally sensitive model of counseling that can be used to train lay health counselors to conduct culturally appropriate therapy. Hence, this theoretical model of counseling uses sociocultural factors to conceptualize the mental health issues of Indian clients and indigenous methods along with an evidence-based approach to inform psychotherapy interventions. Finally, the Indian sociocultural aspect is integrated into the fundamentals of therapy to improve client retention and reduce the treatment gap.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Psychotherapy Model for the Training of Counselors in India"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Mudita Rastogi Ph.D","Carolyn Gralewski Ph.D"],"dc:creator":["Kalra, Vini"],"dc:date.available":["2019-10-26T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Common mental disorders in India are on the rise and are adding to the national burden of mental health care on a day-to-day basis. The demand for treatment of mental illnesses has risen considerably, though there is a shortage of mental health professionals who can deliver counseling services. The Indian government has made efforts to improve the scalability of services by training lay health counselors to diagnose and conduct brief counseling with the mentally ill and those involved with their care. Despite efforts to scale up services, the treatment gap still exists, as mental health services are not uniformly distributed. Considering that psychotherapy is based on Euro-American concepts of mental health care, but India is a complex amalgamation of cultures, there is a need for a culturally sensitive model of counseling. Thus, this clinical research project was geared toward creating a culturally sensitive model of counseling that can be used to train lay health counselors to conduct culturally appropriate therapy. Hence, this theoretical model of counseling uses sociocultural factors to conceptualize the mental health issues of Indian clients and indigenous methods along with an evidence-based approach to inform psychotherapy interventions. Finally, the Indian sociocultural aspect is integrated into the fundamentals of therapy to improve client retention and reduce the treatment gap.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/444"],"dc:subject":["Clinical Psychology"],"dc:title":["Psychotherapy Model for the Training of Counselors in India"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Clinical Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation - Public Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:20:44Z"}