Psychology in China

Psychology in China 

Although psychology has a firm place in academia in China it isn't accepted by the population or the social system. Every time a young person tells their parents in China they wish to go and examine psychology the very first thing they're asked is what sort of job will you receive and the truthful answer is none. China does not yet know the advantages of psychology to business, hospitals, mental health, individual interactions and a lot more. So many are denied permission to research and need to find a major that comes with an Iron Rice Bowl in the end - i.e. government function, teaching, business and related topics which guarantee a job for life.

Intro:

Some Western companies have attempted to break into the Employee Assistance Program marketplace but with little success except supporting Western workers in USA or similar based EAP contracts. Chinese companies have no interest in the mental welfare of employees as can be seen by the large amount of youthful suicides in Chinese firms from strain of work and alienation by the policies and system of work. Some Chinese EAP companies have experienced success handling US or EU asks for help with counselling their overseas employees - mainly for connection issues abroad as expats find some ethnic resistance and depression caused by being away from family and the usual support systems they'd see in their own country.

They hide them away in back rooms, do not seek help except psychiatric medications to control them (even as is the use in the US). This mindset allows the situation where even the young do not seek support during a mental health crisis. Suicide is the primary cause of death, amongst young men and women, between 20 and 30 years old in China - mainly female - the only country on the planet that has feminine suicides than male.

Most companies work a household management system in China - this usually means the Boss acts as Father to the employees and thus subservience is the order of their day - modern management methods have all but passed China by - they simply can't adapt to the idea of empowerment and responsibility towards younger workers. So when an employee has a mental health issue firing them would be the easiest route - there is very little legal defense here in China - even though the laws themselves exist, the cost of enforcement is beyond any worker's pocket.

Hospitals:

Hospitals in China are by and by primitive in their centers and the quality of medical care. Most physicians here would not be allowed to practice in the West as they study by rote learning and buying their way through the system. Corruption in the education process is everywhere - if your dad has cash - you also can pass anything. This is one reason Chinese degrees aren't recognized by the West and insist on a retraining bundle if they try to practice outside China.

If a psychologist is located working in a hospital the inspectors nice the hospital and give it negative points much the same as the driving permit - so many points closes the hospital. So many need to operate under a medical doctor as an advisor or consultant rather than within their own right. This is about fifty years behind in modern thinking but even at the West psychologists are usually treated as second class citizens by the medical profession, who at the primary really fear a non-medical specialist in their own midst.

Counselling:

Counselling training in China is much worse. You can have a paid for class part over nine months, imitation your supervised hours (presumed to be 500 - impossible for a new counselor at a nine month period) and also pass on an extremely easy government licensing evaluation. Then you can go to business as an expert unsupervised counselor treating individuals. In any Western state the training period is more than decades and is frequently rigorous in its own testing and supervision and although I've contentions over the way we perform the training from the West - as opposed to China which allows a scenario in which people are being handled by advisers using hardly any actual expertise, training or emotional understanding. Most use the method of Tea & Sympathy and don't have any comprehension of how compassion works in training. Most advisers are also judgmental here - they inform the customer what they should be doing according to societal conventions rather than what's in the best interest of the client. A small like Western psychiatry in injectable medication as opposed to offering remedies.

The reader might detect this over-view a tiny negative in presentation and is anything good happening in China for psychological health. Well some areas like Shanghai where there is a more Western influence and life style are accepting psychology more - but most want to be treated by a Western psychologist and not a Chinese one. They trust the Westerner not to be judgmental and also have more modern ways of treating them. However Shanghai is not representative of China as a whole. The angry aunty is just locked from the backroom and fed; nobody discusses her or talks about her outside the household. Hard to believe in this year of 2011 at a modern world but this really is the situation that modern psychology in China has to conquer. Remember the typical political leader in China is in his 70's or elderly - they are the ones dictating policy often with minimal care or understanding of the emotionally ill - another irony amongst the dementia in high places.

On the surface the government talks about mental wellbeing but only like Western governments and spend the smallest amount of the yearly budget on mental health support programmes. Another difficulty is the absence of senior experienced psychologist to lead the programmes anyhow. Many professors in psychology departments did not even do a psychology degree themselves and educate outside of Western textbooks together with Chinese translations with very little depth to understanding the material and so put rote examinations based on memory of their text as opposed to questions which test the application of the theories which the student analyzed. As in all instruction in China - you have well read students, know all the answers but cannot actually use this information in actual life.