Culture affects the willingness of individuals to seek treatment in therapy. One group that has been noted as being less willing to seek treatment is those of Chinese heritage. In a study by Hsu and Alden (2008) this issue was empirically examined. The authors measured first and second generation students of Chinese Heritage and those of European heritage. The authors found that first generation Chinese participants were significantly less willing to seek treatment compared to their counterparts of European heritage. Importantly, Hsu and Alden discovered an association with the reluctance of first-generation Chinese participants to seek treatment and greater Chinese-heritage acculturation. This may be one reason why this group resists seeking treatment, as therapy is not an accepted cultural norm for this population. To engage clientele belonging to this population in therapy, an acknowledgment of the importance of cultural history would be necessary. Many theories of abnormal behavior exist, but the two that I believe have the most merit are the diathesis-stress model and the biological theories. These theories evidence that many behavioral deficits have neurological origins, and biological theories focus on neurotransmitter imbalances in the central nervous system to explain abnormal behavior. Other biological explanations involve structural brain abnormalities and the role of defective genes and hormones. The diathesis stress model predicts individual differences in vulnerability due to both biological and psychological factors that interact with environmental stressors (Walker & Diforio, 1997).
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