Presentation Information
[SY-83-03]A sociological critique of the Cultural Formulation Interview’s operationalization of identity
*Samrad Ghane (Parnassia Psychiatric Institute(Netherlands))
Keywords:
Cultural formulation,CFI,Cultural identity
Social and cultural identity are strongly associated with mental health and well-being, whereas a lack of belonging has been shown to predict poor psychological outcomes across diverse sociocultural contexts. Thisinsight has justified the inclusion of social and cultural identity in the Outline of the Cultural Formulation and the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI). However, the CFI’s operationalization of identity presents several conceptual and methodological limitations. This presentation critically examines three key issues: (1) static conceptualization of identity; the CFI assumes cultural identity is fixed and reliably assessable within a single clinical encounter, neglecting its dynamic and context-dependent nature; (2) overreliance on conscious introspection; the CFI presumes that salient aspects of identity are accessible through verbal articulation, overlooking embodied cultural capital (Bourdieu) and tacit dimensions of selfhood; and (3) limited engagement with intersectionality; while the CFI permits multiple identity facets to emerge, it often elicits a single dimension, failing to capture the complexity of intersecting identities. As an alternative, a process-oriented approach is proposed that centers belonging and allows for an exploration of identity across multiple therapeutic sessions. This shift may better align clinical practice with the fluid and complex nature of social and cultural identity.