What is it about?
Many Latin American patients seek mental health care, yet little is known about what they actually want from psychotherapy. This review systematically examined 12 studies to understand the psychotherapy preferences of people of Latin American origin. Findings show that these patients generally prefer psychotherapy over medication, value individual sessions, collaborative decision-making, and therapists who are culturally aware and sensitive to migration-related challenges. Structural barriers, such as language, cost, and limited service access, often prevent patients from expressing or acting on their preferences.
Featured Image
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This is the first scoping review to focus specifically on psychotherapy preferences among Latin American patients. Most existing research on this topic has been conducted with Latino populations in the United States, leaving a significant gap in understanding how preferences are shaped within Latin American countries themselves. This review highlights that patient preferences are not simply individual choices; they are deeply shaped by cultural identity, migration experiences, and structural inequalities. The findings offer clinicians, researchers, and policymakers a foundation for developing more culturally responsive, person-centered mental health services in a region where the treatment gap for mental health disorders exceeds 77%.
Perspectives
As a psychotherapist and researcher, conducting this review was a meaningful experience. Working with a population whose mental health needs are so significant, and yet so underserved, reinforced my conviction that effective psychotherapy must be grounded in its social, cultural, and political context. One of the most relevant findings concerns cultural competence: understanding migration-related challenges, structural barriers, and the lived experiences of Latin American patients is at the heart of building a trustworthy therapeutic relationship. I hope clinicians reading this feel encouraged to reflect on how these factors shape the preferences and expectations their patients bring into the room. I also noticed a meaningful gap: while psychotherapy research by Latin American scholars is rich and growing, the specific question of what patients prefer from their treatment remains largely unexplored within Latin America itself. This feels like an open invitation for future research.
Alberto López-Vásquez
Universidad de Chile
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Exploring the psychotherapy preferences of Latin American patients: A scoping review., Clinical Psychology Science and Practice, June 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/cps0000368.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
