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"Self-experience" is a popular phrase among Chinese psychotherapist professional circles. This article provides a historical overview of the development of this term and explores the underlying social, cultural, and historical elements of the dynamics of this unique lexical choice. We argue that the preference for using "self-experience" instead of "personal treatment" implies a tendency of the Chinese collective consciousness to depathologize the inner feelings of traumatic experience, reflecting the Chinese philosophy of life, that is, emphasizing the upward potential to grow and learn to change. On the other hand, we need to be careful in assessing whether psychoanalysis is comprehending patients' cultural and historical contexts so that we are healing the trauma rather than creating new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principles of CBT emphasize the interactions among cognition, emotion, and behavior. CBT's origins lie in Stoicism philosophy and share similarities with the ideas of Confucianism, Taoism, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in China. The idea of mind–body regulation in traditional Chinese culture has laid a cultural foundation for the promotion of CBT in China. This paper analyzes the applicability and challenges of CBT in China based on the current development of CBT in mainland China and the learning and practice of CBT therapists. It also explores the potential further development of CBT in China and the integration of CBT with the Chinese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therapists' experience with teletherapy pre-pandemic differed widely across countries. We explored potential differences in teletherapy use in therapists in China and the USA in 2020. Results showed that pre-pandemic, therapists in China had more teletherapy training and experience, and they also had more positive views about teletherapy. During the pandemic, both groups reported more positive views on the effectiveness of teletherapy. Unlike the therapists in China, therapists in the USA reported an increase in their use of self-disclosure. Therapists reported similar experience with the therapeutic relationship. These findings highlight general similarities along with specific differences between the groups, and future research is needed to examine teletherapy experiences and to develop effective therapist trainings, outside of the pandemic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: This study investigated the experience of conducting dignity therapy with terminal cancer patients from the perspective of dignity therapists in mainland China. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 trained dignity therapists from across mainland China who have performed at least one time dignity therapy for terminal cancer patients. Data were analysed using content analysis. Results: Four main themes emerged. Firstly, therapists reported that they had many culture‐specific experiences of conducting dignity therapy with Chinese patients. Secondly, they encountered various challenges while recruiting and delivering dignity therapy to patients. Thirdly, through conducting dignity therapy, therapists gained personal development although sometimes they empathised with patients' negative emotions. Lastly, they perceived great benefits of conducting dignity therapy to the culture of caring in clinical practice and healthcare provider–patient relationship. Conclusion: Chinese culture influenced dignity therapists' experience of conducting dignity therapy in mainland China. A series of challenges and benefits of conducting dignity therapy to therapists' personal growth and clinical work were perceived. It is suggested that cultural impacts on dignity therapy implementation and the therapists' ability to deal with practical and emotional challenges need to be addressed in dignity therapy training. A more resource‐saving dignity therapy protocol would be significant for dignity therapy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I have set out to draw an ethnographically inflected, composite scene of what I would loosely term 'Sinopsy' today, drawing on a series of explorative conversations on 'psychoanalysis in China' and the questionnaire-based interviews I undertook (between 2015 and 2020) with 18 psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychological counselors and engaged academics in or from mainland China, ranging from seasoned professionals to new-generation trainees. My ongoing, modest hope is to get to see a bigger and 'democalligraphically' evolving picture of a kind of praxis-oriented community-serving minjian psychoanalysis on the ground. As I turn to this understudied, cartographically complex, porously open-ended zone of Sinopsychoanalysis in the making, a silhouette seems to be emerging on the horizon, itself a question in motion: What is (in) it for people in China, and across and beyond its great walls? Focusing on its transitional specificity, its active indeterminacy and eclectic adaptivity exemplified by Sino-Lacanian analysts' practices among others, I also try to contextualize its deeper and broader psychocultural dimensions, especially given the turbulent (post)modernity of China, where its ongoing epochal traumas are inextricably private and public, familial, national and diasporic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study investigated the prevalence and factors associated with counselling and psychotherapy service use among Chinese sexual minority populations. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional study was performed using snowball sampling method, which led to the inclusion of 18,193 participants. Participants' sociodemographic background, clinical, and psychological data were gathered. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to explore any associated factors. Results: There were 2007 participants who had used counselling and psychotherapy service out of the total population. Among those who had used psychotherapy services, 80.2% participants perceived discrimination, 1.1% reported that they had been refused treatment by a counsellor and/or psychotherapist, 1.6% had experienced verbal harassment, and 8.4% reported that their counsellor and/or psychotherapist lacked knowledge and experience in treating sexual minorities. In addition, regression analyses indicated that those who were divorced/widowed, had religious beliefs, and those who had experienced discrimination, verbal harassment, and rejection for treatment by health professionals all had an increased likelihood of utilising counselling and psychotherapy service. Conclusions: Service providers and policy makers in China should improve the quality and availability of counselling and psychotherapy services to address the mental health needs of sexual minority populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourse markers (DMs) are characterized by multifunctionality in different contexts. This study addressed the use of the Chinese DM, na (那), as a solution to topical divergence, during clinical interactions with right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) patients. Drawing on data collected from clinical interviews between psychotherapists and RHD patients, this study examined the functions of na in response to RHD topical divergence, focusing on the topic and attitudinal aspects. It was found that na was mainly employed by psychotherapists to mark a reproffer of interview topics (i. e., an attempt to return to earlier topics), and a display of disalignment and disaffiliation with RHD topical divergence. These functions of na reflect the psychotherapists' attempts to overcome communicative problems arising from RHD topical divergence, so as to ensure the achievement of the communicative goal. Thus, na can be interpreted as a compensatory strategy for dealing with RHD topical divergence on an interpersonal level. These findings not only expand our knowledge about the function spectrum of na, but also offer insights for RHD patients' interlocutors to enhance conversational communication with RHD patients via the compensatory strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the story of the self-organized alumni association called "CAPA in China (CIC)," voluntarily formed by graduates and students of the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance. It presents a picture of the new generation of Chinese psychodynamic psychotherapists who are building a home for themselves and for psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in China by their continuous striving for professionalism and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the history of CAPA (China American Psychoanalytic Alliance), from its unplanned conception in 2001, to its birth (incorporation as a 501c3 nonprofit) with Yale University as the midwife in 2006, to its development and growth over the next 13 years with more than 400 Western teachers, treaters and supervisors acting as godparents engaged in training more than 500 Chinese mental health professionals as analytic psychotherapists, more than 35 of whom are now in distance training at APsaA psychoanalytic institutes. CAPA's goal, which seems within reach, has been for the Chinese graduates of CAPA to take over psychoanalytic psychotherapy training and ultimately, psychoanalytic training in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study looks into the much-neglected history of neurasthenia in Maoist China in relation to the development of psy sciences. It begins with an examination of the various factors that transformed neurasthenia into a major health issue from the late 1950s to mid-1960s. It then investigates a distinctive culture of therapeutic experiment of neurasthenia during this period, with emphasis on the ways in which psy scientists and medical practitioners manoeuvred in a highly politicized environment. The study concludes with a discussion of the legacy of these neurasthenia studies – in particular, the experiment with the famous 'speedy and synthetic therapy' – and of the implications the present study may have for future historical study of psychiatry and science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the psychotherapy debate in China that was triggered by the country's mental health legislation. Seeing the release of the draft Mental Health Law in 2011 as a "diagnostic event" (Moore in Am Ethnol 14(4):727-736, 1987), I examine the debate in order to unravel the underlying logic and ongoing dynamics of the psycho-boom that has become a conspicuous trend in urban China since the early 2000s. Drawing on my fieldwork in Beijing and Shanghai, I use the two keywords of the debate-"jianghu" (literally "rivers and lakes"), an indigenous term that evokes an untamed realm, and "profession," a foreign concept whose translation requires re-translation-to organize my delineation of its contours. I describe how anticipation of state regulation prompted fears and discontents as well as critical reflections and actions that aimed to transform the field into a profession. The efforts to mark out a professional core against the backdrop of unruly jianghu further faced the challenge of an alternative vision that saw popularization as an equally noble cause. The Mental Health Law came into effect in 2013; ultimately, however, it did not introduce substantive regulation. Finally, I discuss the implications of this debate and the prospects of the psycho-boom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this preliminary report, we explore therapists’ perceptions and experiences of dropout. In total, 199 therapists from the United States, Colombia, India, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, and China completed an online survey (translated into their native language) on dropout from therapy that included both quantitative and qualitative questions. The findings suggest cultural differences in factors related to dropout between therapists in the United States and therapists in the other six more collectivistic countries. Participants also shared their experiences and perspectives concerning encouraging treatment engagement and re-engaging dropouts. We discuss the clinical implications of our findings for different cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Asian Chinese families are experiencing constant changes. While commonly known cultural themes such as 'face', 'hierarchy', 'harmony' and 'filial piety' are useful references and important caveats in clinical settings, they are most useful when the context of larger socio-economic and political developments of recent decades is taken into account. This article is co-authored by seven experienced Asian therapists from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. They share their insights into working with Chinese families in Asia. In addition to considering cultural dimensions, the authors attempt to consolidate the understanding of Asian Chinese families by focusing on the effects of socio-economic and political development. Other than focusing on the unique characteristics and challenges of working with Chinese families in their region, they highlight the most useful therapeutic stances and approaches when working with Asian Chinese families. Practitioner points Be mindful that changing family structures affect family dynamics, childcentric values and work-life balance., Chinese families expect to receive advice and instruction. Therapists need to be direct and authoritative where appropriate to avoid causing dissatisfaction, Chinese families can be helped to negotiate their emerging needs for the differentiation of self, A possible therapeutic option is use of self and the ability to embrace uncertainty [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of working as a family therapist with Asian Chinese families in mainland China.

The fathers' role in assisting the recovery of young Chinese diagnosed with anorexia nervosa has seldom been documented in Chinese contexts, namely Hong Kong and Shenzhen. In this article the author argues for the importance of engaging the absent Chinese father in helping in this context, describing the process of family treatment and highlighting the treatment principles and skills in achieving the goal of helping, illustrating it with two clinical cases from two Chinese cities, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Practitioner points Engaging the absent father in treatment to join hands with his spouse is crucial to assist a young Chinese person with anorexia nervosa to recover., Translation of the young person's symptoms as a developmental challenge is clinically useful to achieve the goal of paternal engagement., Increased paternal involvement to mediate mother-daughter conflicts, raising the father's self-confidence and improved marital relationships are clinically useful [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family therapists from 10 different countries (China, India, Israel including Palestinian citizens, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, and the United Kingdom)[The sectio] describe systemic therapy in their contexts and current innovative work and challenges. They highlight the importance of family therapy continuing to cut across disciplines, the power of systems ideas in widely diverse settings and institutions (such as courts, HIV projects, working with people forced into exile), extensive new mental health initiatives (such as in Turkey and India), as well as the range of family therapy journals available (four alone in Spain). Many family therapy groups are collaborating across organizations (especially in Asia) and the article presents other ideas for connections such as a clearing house to inexpensively translate family therapy articles into other languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares levels of systemic thinking between Chinese and German systemic family therapists when conceptualizing a clinical case. Furthermore, it explores the relationships between levels of systemic thinking and several variables of clinical training and practice. Eighty-two Chinese and seventy-six German systemic family therapists participated in this study. Significant differences in levels of systemic thinking and significant predictors for these levels were found. Limitations of this study and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. This study is one of the first to compare the case conceptualizations between systemic family therapists in China and Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine family therapy training from the perspective of a sample of 99 family therapists from the United States and another 101 from a total of six countries (Colombia, India, Iran, Indonesia, the Philippines, and two regions of China, mainland China and Taiwan). We compared the responses of the United States sample to that of the other countries, both individually (for trends) and as a combined group. We found differences in training experiences both within and between countries, and discuss the implications of our findings for the continued development of family therapy training and the professionalization of the field in the countries studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This naturalistic study examined the relationship between two types of therapist empathy, intellectual empathy and empathic emotion, and client-perceived working alliance (WA) in China. The study adopted the definitions and assessment methods of empathy recommended by Duan and Hill and used the theory of WA by Bordin and WA Inventory-Short by Tracey and Kokotovic. Eighty-six clients and 43 therapists from a university counselling centre at a comprehensive university in China participated in the study. Therapist intellectual empathy and empathic emotion and client-reported WA measured in six consecutive sessions from the second through the seventh session were assessed for each session. The results of multilevel modelling analyses showed that client-perceived WA increased significantly session after session, and therapist empathic emotion significantly predicted Tasks of WA. Moreover, there was significant therapist effect associated with Bond. In the context of empathy and WA research findings reported in the USA, some of the non-significant results of this study were intriguing. We discuss the study results with particular attention to the Chinese cultural context and present suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Beneath the many stereotypes of Chinese characteristics common in the West, there are complexities of Chinese culture and personality not well understood by psychoanalysts and analytic therapists. Knowing something about these can be critically helpful to Western colleagues who wish to teach effectively in China. This presentation outlines cultural issues concerning Confucian and related values, changes in family and marital structure, changes in the role and practice of sex, the effect of widespread national and individual trauma in China in the twentieth century, and changes in the nature of individualism in Chinese personality. These five factors come to bear whenever Western analysts and psychotherapists teach Chinese analytic therapists and/or treat Chinese patients. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide an overview of the family therapy in mainland China, by analyzing its development, current situation and future directions. The authors argue that the history of family therapy can be understood as three stages: introductory stage from 1985 to 1994, 'blossoming' stage from 1995 to 2004, and 'fast growing' stage from 2005 to present. In every stage, we can see clear differences in each of the following fields: training (including training programs in universities and workshops held by companies or institutes), academics (including research articles, professional books and conferences), and general public environment (including media and policies). We also outline the development of China's first university system family therapy training program as an example and evidence of family therapy's significant present and future development in mainland China. Based on this, we highlight some points for future improvement in family therapy in mainland China, including developing indigenous theories and practice models, reinforcing training and research programs in university systems, and improving accreditation standard for all family therapists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To (1) estimate the proportion of people in the community who could correctly recognize autism spectrum disorders (ASD); (2) describe the attitudes towards various treatments for ASD; and (3) identify factors associated with ASD recognition. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Harbin, China ( n = 4,947). We estimated the proportions of participants who were at different levels of knowledge about ASD and of their attitudes towards mental health service use. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to identify factors associated with the recognition of ASD. Results: Overall, 2,786 (57.8%) of the respondents could recognize the ASD. Recognition of autism depended on gender, residing areas, age and educational levels. With respect to the attitudes towards mental health service use for ASD, 4,007 respondents (84.6%) chose to visit a health organization for treatment; 2,470 (68.2%) made the choice of consulting a psychotherapist. Conclusions: There is a large room for improvement in awareness about ASD and treatment in the Chinese communities. Insufficient knowledge about ASD and inappropriate attitudes towards mental health service use may impede the efforts of early identification and intervention. Health education and promotion are needed to improve people's knowledge about ASD and available mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Despite differences between Chinese culture and Western culture (Sun, 2004), modern Chinese are gradually accepting psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy as options for dealing with psychological problems and inner conflicts (Gerlach, 1999). Through my own experience of being analyzed and vignettes from my clinical practice as a Chinese analytic psychotherapist, I argue that: (1) although there are conflicts at philosophic and cultural levels between Chinese culture and psychoanalysis, modern Chinese may have varying experiences in psychoanalytic and psychodynamic situations and (2) such cultural conflicts cannot be ignored or regarded only as defenses in the psychoanalytic situation in China. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many educational opportunities are available for students developing into professionals as psychotherapists and psychologists. Textbooks, conferences, and endless lectures provide outlets to research and theory, but they fall short in providing the human factors available through cross-cultural encounters. Trips to China, where students and professionals interacted in dialogue and engagement, have created personal and professional changes in the way we live and practice. Through encountering the body, compassion, and being, the importance of creating culturally sensitive and flexible psychological interactions became prevalent throughout our travels in China, in which we dialogued with many professionals and lay persons that worked in various psychological settings. It became apparent that, to support the existential orientation, we had to also be willing to critique it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The following considerations have their source in more than 25 years experience with intercultural contacts in teaching and research in China and with psychoanalytic therapies with patients from foreign cultures. They may broaden the inner space of the psychoanalyst by a new dimension, which is not systematically reflected due to the integration of each in the own large group identity but influences the unconscious aspects in the work with people from foreign cultures. The concepts of psychosocial defence (S. Mentzos), of large group identity (V. Volkan) and of the ethnic unconscious (G. Devereux) are helpful instruments for understanding restrictive countertransference reactions, which handicap not only the work in the psychoanalytic setting, but also all intercultural relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study regarding the internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) for patients with social anxiety in China that suggests that ICBT helped in the treatment of social anxiety as a result of waiting list for patients. Topics discussed include the reduction in the symptoms of social anxiety in patients; and the support of psychotherapists in the program.

For Satir, suicidality is a mental and emotional process that must be addressed at a deep level, the level of unmet yearnings. This article discusses several errors in suicide intervention and treatment, and includes several common myths and misconceptions about suicide. Dr. John Banmen presents the Satir Models process for change, and an interview method for therapists. This article is based on the suicide prevention training manual that Dr. Banmen developed for therapists in Hong Kong, which was first published in manual form by the Centre for Suicide Prevention and Research at the University of Hong Kong. It is reproduced from Applications of the Satir Growth Model (ed. J. Banmen, 2006). We thank the publisher-Avanta, the Virginia Satir Network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on controversies in psychiatric services in Hong Kong, China and the complexes of the social workers involved in that profession. The controversies of psychotherapy still prevail in the psychiatric services. First, there is the controversy of whether psychotherapy is effective or not for people with mental illness. Studies have shown that various types of psychotherapy can reduce the number of consultations and the medication dosage, change the psychological diagnosis, shorten the time in psychiatric and medical treatment and increase patients' satisfaction. Second, there is always a problem in defining psychotherapy. The controversies are concerned with topics ranging from helping, casework-oriented activities to psychoanalytical description. The findings showed that the controversies over defining and perceiving psychotherapy were complicated by social workers inferiority and superiority complexes. Some tended to have specialized definition and others had general definition of psychotherapy.

We attempted a cross-cultural replication of Hill et al.'s (2017) consensual qualitative study of experienced Western therapists' perspectives on working with meaning in life (MIL) in psychotherapy. We thus interviewed 12 experienced Chinese therapists about their views on MIL, working with MIL in psychotherapy, and the meanings they derived from working as psychotherapists. Chinese participants typically defined MIL as involving freedom, responsibility, and valuing life and viewed MIL as underlying many clients' presenting concerns and thus playing a critical role in therapy. In terms of working with clients on MIL, therapists described specific intervention strategies (e.g., challenging clients to broaden their meaning) and related outcomes (e.g., enhanced motivation to change). They further indicated that for MIL work to be effective, therapists need to be competent for working with MIL and clients need to be aware of MIL issues and ready to work with them. Therapists also reported that they gained both personal and professional benefits from working with MIL in psychotherapy. A comparison with Hill et al. (2017) indicated some similarities (e.g., both viewed MIL as part of human existence and as underlying most client presenting concerns) and differences (e.g., Chinese therapists perceived MIL as involving a sense of responsibility to others whereas Western therapists did not mention this) between Chinese and Western therapists regarding MIL in psychotherapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).