The people described here have one thing in common: They are in crisis because they feel different from those around them. The feeling of being different is accompanied by feelings of alienation and loneliness, depression, and anxiety. People who feel different feel misunderstood and undervalued. The feeling of being different is typical among members of minority groups.

The task facing the therapist trying to help a victim of the mismatch syndrome is a challenging one. This task is all the more difficult because mainstream theories and techniques of counseling and psychotherapy often ignore cultural and individual differences.

The neurotic person develops a self-image based on what others would like him or her to be, an idealized image, instead of developing a “true self.” The person becomes neurotic, developing a false self based on the shoulds of parents, societal institutions, and important others. This false self is an idealized image that forces the person to conform to certain imposed idealized standards and results in the disavowal and suppression of the true or real self.

The flex theory of personality looks to the levels of match and mismatch between individuals and their environments to explain problems of maladjustment. In the flex theory of personality, match and mismatch are assessed in two domains: cognitive and cultural.

This chapter introduces an approach to psychotherapy and counseling which evolved from the experience of treating clients who were suffering from feeling different and from mismatch shock.

This chapter focuses on the preferred cultural and cognitive styles of the therapist. Further, it examines the degree to which the therapist can and should flex in order to match the client and serve as a multicultural model.

The principal goal of the initial two sessions of multicultural psychotherapy and counseling is to match the preferred cultural and cognitive styles of the client.