Stephen Cheung

Azusa Pacific University · Department of Clinical Psychology

Asian Americans (AA) suffer from bipolar disorder as much as, if not more than, European Americans. However, a large number of them seek mental health treatment only as their last resort due to cultural stigma of mental illness. A multicultural therapy approach would be more culturally consonant and can engage AA in treatment more effectively. In t...

In this article, the author discussed the usefulness of the family life cycle in conceptualizing and intervening with human dilemmas. He explicated the complexity of becoming a couple and outlined the developmental tasks and challenges of this life stage. He then suggested ways for training the future family psychologists and providing services to...

The chapter depicts the diversity among Asian American immigrant families and their environmental and psychosocial realities. To provide competent services to these diverse populations, one needs to be self-aware, knowledgeable, and skilled in order to understand their dilemmas from their vantage point, assess their cultural identity and acculturat...

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is one of the most popular therapy approaches in the managed care system in the United States. For it emphasizes a non-pathological view of human beings, provides brief treatment, and offers very teachable skills to the clinician. In this chapter, the author explicated the theoretical concepts, therapeutic stra...

This article examines the recent developments of problem-solving (strategic) family therapy and solution-focused therapy for Chinese in the United States. These developments include: an integration of the aforementioned approaches; an integration of psychoeducational family treatment with Interactional supportive group therapy for families who have...

Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a popular, brief, strengths-based approach to therapy. The author will discuss the background, theory, and practice of SFBT. Additionally, he will explain how to adapt it to immigrant families across the lifespan with case examples.

The presentation discussed the nature, possible causes, effects, and treatments of intergenerational conflict (IC) in Asian American (AA) families. Among the treatments for IC, the presenter recommended family therapy (FT). He further explained FT's cardinal principles and strategies and illustrated them with a case example. Because most mental h...

In the plenary lecture, I discussed how to adapt some cognitive, behavioral, affective, and spiritual psychotherapeutic strategies to psychiatric patients in a culturally consonant manner amid the pandemic. I concluded that healthcare professionals can apply these strategies to themselves and their clients.

Over the past nineteen months the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted all people of the world in countless ways. For instance, there have been multiple losses and adjustments (e.g., of employment, businesses, loved ones, freedom, human connections, a sense of community, etc.). In addition, there has been social unrest and tension including the recent...

This presentation discusses how family therapy can help Asian American immigrant families to understand and resolve their intergenerational conflict (IC). The psychologist needs to assess the acculturation and cultural identity of each family member and adapt his/her therapeutic approaches to meet the family member's needs and expectations of thera...

This training was provided to faculty members and students at Hong Kong Baptist University. Its goal was to discuss an integrated multicultural treatment approach for bulimia nervosa. The treatment approach encompasses multicultural psychotherapy, systemic epistemology, and solution-focused brief therapy. The presenter applied the approach to a cli...

The presentation was provided to students and faculty and staff members at Hong Kong Baptist University. It was focused on group treatment for severe and persistent mental disorders such as schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. The presenter discussed the various group treatment components and illustrated them with clinical examples.

The earlier clinical literature suggested that Asian immigrants either did not receive mental health treatment or they would drop out of group therapy because of the stigma of mental illnesses and such cultural value as familism in the Asian communities. In recent decades, multicultural psychotherapy indicated that Asian clients would receive menta...

What is bipolar disorder? What are the most common treatments for it? How relevant are these treatments to Chinese clients? Why should we consider a multicultural treatment approach to bipolar disorder? What is it and how can it be applied to Chinese clients? In this training seminar, Dr. Cheung will discuss the above. Using a case study, he will...

The purpose of this training was to discuss the theory and practice of group therapy for Asian American consumers who suffer from severe and persistent mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety, bipolar and personality disorders). The training discussed the following: assessment of cultural identity and acculturation; recruitme...

This presentation discusses how family therapy can help Asian American immigrant families to understand and resolve their intergenerational conflicts (IC). The psychologist needs to assess the acculturation and cultural identity of each family member and adapt his/her therapeutic approaches to meet the family member's needs and expectations of ther...

This presentation discusses how family therapy can help Asian American immigrant families to understand and resolve their intergenerational conflict (IC). The psychologist needs to assess the acculturation and cultural identity of each family member and adapt his/her therapeutic approaches to meet the family member's needs and expectations of thera...

Although Asian American individuals experience depression at the same rate as the mainstream populations, they rarely seek treatment due to cultural stigma. In this training, the presenter will discuss symptom manifestations and how to appropriately engage an Asian American consumer. The importance of offering culturally congruent services will be...

In this presentation, the author discussed the diversity among Asian Americans and some of the cultural competent family therapy strategies and skills of working with them. These strategies and skills include the assessment of their cultural identity and acculturation, pacing and leading, and adapting Western psychotherapeutic strategies and skills...

Looking back on the past twenty years of training in Asian American mental health, the authors described some favorable progress; however, they also noted a few gaps. For instance, there has been very little communication or collaboration between clinicians and the academia. In this chapter, the authors outlined several practical suggestions on how...

Looking back on the past twenty years of training in Asian American mental health, the authors described some favorable progress; however, they also noted a few gaps. For instance, there has been very little communication or collaboration between clinicians and the academia. In this chapter, the authors outlined several practical suggestions on how...

In the Fellow Address, the presenter discussed the needs of immigrant families in the U.S. and some of the ways to provide culturally appropriate solution-focused therapy to them. With a case example, the presenter illustrated some cultural competent strategies of assessing the cultural identity and acculturation of immigrant family members and som...

In this article, the authors captured the insights of the discussion on how to teach family psychology and psychotherapy to graduate students in clinical and counseling psychology at the APA annual conference in 2012. Some practical suggestions were made in the article.

Families in later life are often seen in terms of losses, weaknesses, and death from a deficit or problem-solving perspective. By discussing a composite of cases, the author of this article not only described the life tasks and challenges of this stage in the family life cycle, but he also employed an integrated approach of positive psychology and...

This chapter describes the theoretical assumptions, therapeutic strategies and skills of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), a very popular therapy approach in the postmodern era. It discusses the preliminary empirical support of SFBT's treatment efficacy and its applicability to diverse populations. The chapter concludes with a couple case to i...

The chapter depicts the diversity among Asian American immigrant families and their environmental and psychosocial realities. To provide competent services to these diverse populations, one needs to be self-aware, knowledgeable, and skilled in order to understand their dilemmas from their vantage point, assess their cultural identity and acculturat...