“Oh no! I think I am mentally colonised!” A phenomenological exploration of the governmentality of western discourses in shaping counsellors’ experiences in Kuwait

Abstract

This study investigates the challenges counsellors face in their day-to-day work in Kuwait, in both private and public sectors. Based on in-depth interviews with eleven counsellors, their narratives demonstrate the various levels on which Western colonial discourses dominate the governance of counselling in Kuwait and impact participants’ experiences.

Using a reflexive hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this research offers a unique and original contribution to qualitative research in counselling and psychotherapy by studying the subjective experiences of counsellors in Kuwait through the intersection of culture, colonialism, and therapeutic practices. Drawing on the thoughts of Michel Foucault concerning the governing nature of discourse and its impacts on individuals, the concepts of governmentality and regimes of truth are employed to make sense of the differences and divisions that emerge in the study between counsellors in the private and government sectors and those with differing educational backgrounds. This analysis highlights how therapists' professional identities and roles are impacted by Western colonial discourses and explores the complexities of what it means for therapists to negotiate and resist these prevailing discourses while also being implicated within them.

Postcolonial theory, and specifically the perspectives of Edward Said and Frantz Fanon, is applied to comprehend the impact of colonialism on the human psyche and its ongoing effects on the professional lives of therapists in colonised nations. Evident in the therapists' narratives, attitudes, and orientations, this research finds that hegemonic Western discourses dominate the counselling discipline in Kuwait on myriad levels. Simultaneously, the participants' experiences in negotiating their positions between the opposing landscapes of West and East reflect the complexity of their professional situations and the power struggles for legitimacy and authority that are operating within the counselling and psychotherapy discipline as a whole.

Reflexivity is a crucial aspect of this study, as it highlights my personal journey through the research process and the negotiation of my different positions as a Kuwaiti, Arab researcher at a Western university. This study has been a profound learning experience for me, both intellectually and emotionally, and I am eager to share these insights throughout the research and encourage others to examine their experiences as potential sites of new spaces of existing and resistance to the dominant discourse. The participants' accounts have opened my eyes to the long-lasting impact of colonialism and governing discourses on the human psyche and professional lives of therapists in colonised nations. This has given me a deeper appreciation for the complexities and subtleties involved in exploring the relationship between culture, colonialism, and therapeutic practices.

This research serves as a reminder of the significance of continuing to examine how Western colonial discourses dominate the governance of counselling in Kuwait and impact therapists' professional identities and roles. I hope this work will spark further conversations and introspection within the field and contribute to a deeper understanding of these crucial issues