Transcultural psychotherapy is an original therapeutic technique designed to respond to difficulties encountered in psychiatric treatment for migrants. Today, this psychotherapy is formalized and it is in use at numerous sites in France and internationally. An increasing number of professionals are seeking training in this method. We sought to explore the experiences of these trainees, at their entry in the group and during their training. This qualitative study used focus groups to interview trainees participating in a transcultural psychotherapy training group. The thematic analysis generated two domains of experience: the emotional and personal experience within the transcultural group, including the private feelings of the trainee-participants, their initial difficulties, and the changes in these feelings; and their perception of this specific type of care, that is, their perspectives on transcultural psychotherapy and its most original aspects. Based on the narratives of trainees in this program, we conclude that becoming a transcultural psychotherapist involves a process not only of cultural decentering but also of professional decentering. This decentering cannot be learned theoretically: it must be experienced, for a long enough time to become imbued with it and to allow oneself to modify one’s practices. After sufficient time in the group, the trainees succeed in extricating themselves, little by little, from their ethnocentric vision of psychotherapy, and come to tolerate and then integrate new ways of doing and thinking.

Background Transcultural psychotherapy (TPT) is an original therapeutic method developed in various forms in France and several other countries in Europe as well as North America to address issues of migrant mental health care when psychosocial, economic, or cultural barriers hinder its accessibility and effectiveness. This study aims to describe the patients referred for TPT in Paris and its suburbs over the past decade, to examine intercultural differences and associations with social, demographic, and clinical variables, and to assess TPT in terms of patient adherence, attendance, and duration of care. Method Retrospective study of 529 patients referred for TPT care, classified in three categories-no treatment, initiated treatment, engaged and continuing treatment. Collection and analysis of social, demographic, cultural, and clinical data, as well as of country of origin, duration of treatment, number of sessions attended (adherence), and number of sessions scheduled.

Background: Cultural context substantially affects the experience and clinical expression of psychiatric diseases, while cultural factors limit both access to and effectiveness of care, especially for migrant families requiring specific types of services. We conducted a scoping review on psychiatric services adapted to cultural diversity, to compare these models of care to the French Transcultural Psychotherapy model. Methods: Systematic electronic search of databases (PubMed and PsycINFO), manual search of archives of journals dealing with transcultural psychiatry, and consultations with international experts, to identify all papers describing clinical models devoted to psychiatric care for migrants, published between January 1990 and October 2018. Narrative synthesis of the included articles. Results: The study included 29 papers. The specificities of psychiatric services for migrant families are linked to the host country's migration patterns and citizenship model. In English-speaking countries, specialized services for ethnic minorities offer ethnic matching of the therapist and patient. In Canada, indirect transcultural consultation services have existed since the late 1990s. Australia emphasizes the networking of consultation services and professional training in cultural competence, while the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark) focus management on trauma. In France, psychotherapy services, with flexible numbers of therapists involved according to the situation, have existed since 1990. Discussion: Most initiatives place emphasis on training and supervision, in an indirect approach not specifically focused on the patient, or offer cultural matching of patient and therapist. The French transcultural approach, on the contrary, makes the family's culture and its cultural diversity an integral part of the therapy process.

Background: Cultural context substantially affects the experience and clinical expression of psychiatric diseases, while cultural factors limit both access to and the effectiveness of care, especially for migrant families requiring the construction of specific types of services. We review the international literature on mental health services that take cultural elements into account and use these data to uncover the specificities of the French model of consultations by a group of transcultural psychotherapists. Methods: Exhaustive review of the international literature through searches of PubMed and PsycINFO. The review includes 32 articles. Results: The specificities of mental health services for migrant families are linked to the host country's migration patterns and citizenship model. In English-speaking countries, specialized services for ethnic minorities offer ethnic matching of the therapist and patient. In Canada, indirect transcultural consultation services have existed since the late 1990s. Australia emphasizes the networking of consultation services and professional training in cultural competence, while the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark) focus management on trauma. In France, psychotherapy services, with flexible numbers of therapists involved according to the situation, have existed since 1990. Discussion: Most initiatives place emphasis on training and supervision, in an indirect approach not specifically focused on the patient, or offer cultural matching of patient and therapist. The French transcultural approach, on the contrary, makes the family's culture and its cultural diversity an integral part of the therapy process. Scientific publications clearly demonstrate the clinical efficacy of this method.