Casting and scripting: Visibility, responsibility, and legitimacy in transcultural psychiatry apprenticeships in Paris

Transcultural psychiatry was developed in France to promote cultural and linguistic diversity and address the mental health needs of immigrants who were excluded from accessing other public mental health services. Professionals in health and social services refer patients to transcultural psychiatry consultations when miscommunications arise or when professionals determine that patients need culturally sensitive therapy. In transcultural psychiatry consultations, a group of therapists, composed primarily of psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as other health and social service professionals, receives a patient, the patient’s family, and referring professionals. Previous research on transcultural psychiatry has emphasized the importance of culturally diverse therapy teams and the ways that therapists’ diversity could permit patients to open up in consultation sessions. This study draws on ethnographic research in two transcultural psychiatry consultations in Île-de-France, and pays particular attention to the experiences of apprentice therapists, who were often graduate students in clinical psychology. Apprentice therapists reported being introduced to patients in ways that th