WWU’s Joseph Trimble Co-Authors New Book ‘Foundations of Multicultural Psychology’

Joseph E. Trimble, professor of Psychology at Western Washington University, has co-authored a new book entitled “Foundations of Multicultural Psychology: Research to Inform Effective Practice” which will be published later this month by the American Psychological Institute.

The book was co-written by Timothy Smith, a professor and department chair of the Department of Psychology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

In their book, Smith and Trimble write about the role culture can play in mental health. Research indicates that mental health services are underutilized by people of color (ethnic minorities) in North America. This finding underscores a call by the U.S. Surgeon General to attend to equity in the mental health system. Their book looks into some of the problems and concerns.

The book combines information on cultural and racial factors as they relate to psychotherapy and aims to give psychotherapists clear and evidence based information they can use in the field. The elaborate combination of data from multiple studies representing over 300,000 individuals provides data on racial inequities in mental-health service utilization. The study appears along with eight other meta-analyses on cultural issues such as the association of experiences of racism and ethnic identity with individuals’ well-being. 

Trimble said he hopes the findings in his book will help practitioners research, rethink and reconsider what they know when it comes culture in psychotherapy. He said during the course of his research that much of the current information is scattered, and his book brings that information together.

One of the highlights of the book is the question of how perceptions of racism and ethnic identity are associated with mental well-being. It also discusses how therapists’ multicultural training and competence can benefit a diverse range of clients.

Trimble is a Distinguished University Professor, the recipient of multiple awards in the field of psychology and author/co-author/co-editor of over twenty books and 150 journal articles and book chapters.

For more information about his book, contact Joseph Trimble at (360) 650-3058 or joseph.trimble@wwu.edu.