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Psychoanalysis in China: an Essay on the Recent Literature in English
Abstract
Using extensive quotation, the author reviews the introduction and current state of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in China from the vantage point of recent publications in English. Psychoanalysis was briefly introduced to China before the Communist era, then forbidden, and has experienced an accelerated reintroduction since the late 1980s. The author briefly summarizes the cultural and historical background of China relevant to the introduction of psychoanalysis, the traumatic history of China, and the deep structure of thought and philosophical differences from Western culture that challenge a simple imposition of psychoanalytic ideas and practice, and some psychological effects of rapid cultural change throughout China. Training programs in China, the general enthusiasm for analysis among the Chinese, and a number of notable contributions by Western and Chinese authors are discussed. Also surveyed are the use of distance technology for training and treatment, the personal experience of Chinese senior and junior colleagues, and ongoing challenges to the continuing growth of psychoanalysis and analytic psychotherapy in China.
... The use of psychotherapy as a treatment option for psychological disorders is rising in China. For example, psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, and cognitive behavioral therapies have received considerable attention since the 1990s (15). IPT is relatively new in China and efforts to disseminate this therapy into routine clinical settings is currently underway (16). ...
... Talking about feelings was clearly a challenge for this patient. This is not uncommon as elderly Chinese often have difficulty identifying feelings, feel reluctant to speak openly about their difficulties with a stranger, even a professional, and tend to express their emotional pain physically, perhaps because somatization allows people to be ill without stigma (15); these factors can potentially reduce their responsiveness to IPT (28). Another factor that could account for discomfort elderly Chinese might have about disclosing painful feelings with a therapist is suspicion of the principles of patient-therapist confidentiality. ...
Objectives
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is an effective treatment for late-life depression, but little is known about its acceptability and efficacy in Chinese patients. This case report describes the use of IPT in a depressed elderly Chinese man.
Methods
The patient was a 79-year-old widower who lives alone in a large city in China. This was his first contact with a mental health specialist. His wife died one ago, and his only child lives in the United States with her husband and children. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his daughter could not visit him, and his usual social interactions decreased, leaving him feeling isolated, lonely, and depressed. He was diagnosed with a major depressive episode and initially prescribed venlafaxine. However, he failed to show an adequate response to medication and the side effects were intolerable. He was switched to a low dose of Duloxetine (60 mg) combined with IPT.
Results
The patient’s baseline score on the 17-item Hamilton depression rating scale (HAM-D) was 29, suggesting severe levels of depression. He received 12 sessions of IPT. Role transition was the focus of therapy. Although the patient expressed discomfort in therapy, he developed a good rapport with the therapist and was compliant with treatment. Clinical recovery was achieved at the end of acute IPT treatment (HAM-D score = 1).
Conclusion
Response to IPT was excellent in this elderly patient, but several points should be noted. First, mental health-related stigma in China can affect treatment engagement. Second, older Chinese are reluctant to speak openly about their personal experiences and feelings. Hence, repeated emphasis on the principles of confidentiality in psychotherapy and forming a strong therapeutic alliance are important. Third, the “empty-nest” household is an emergent phenomenon in China. Helping elderly Chinese navigate changes in traditional Chinese living arrangements and negotiate filial piety with offspring who have moved away are important issues to address in therapy.
... These efforts have been substantially facilitated by the availability of increasingly accessible communication technologies. One example has been the evolution of psychoanalysis as one of the popular psychological counseling models in China (Scharff, 2016). It has become a routine for Chinese psychoanalysts to be analyzed by U.S. or European analysts via Skype, ooVoo, QQ, or other video-conference technology (Tatlow, 2010). ...
... Psychoanalysis or psychodynamic theories have been quite popular and influential in this field. Their predominance is likely due to the fact that Western psychoanalysis had a presence in Chinese psychiatry early in the 20th century (Qian et al., 2002) and was among the first therapeutic approaches to enter China in the 1980s (Scharff, 2016) when China opened its door to Western intellectual products. One of the earliest training programs in psychotherapy was the China-Germany Advanced Continuous Training Program for Psychotherapy. ...
This article describes technology‐assisted telesupervision‐of‐supervision, which is a component of a 2‐year U.S.–China collaborative program designed to systematically train clinical supervisors in China. Using Zoom conferencing platform, several U.S.‐based supervisors facilitated telesupervision‐of‐supervision groups, with six to ten participants in each group, from different geographic locations in China. This article employs the perspectives of both U.S.‐based supervisors and group participants who are themselves supervision scholars in China, describing their experiences and insights about the rewards and challenges of this telesupervision‐of‐supervision project.
... Zhong emphasized that this cultural conflict cannot be ignored or only seen as a defense in the psychoanalytical situation. David Scharff (2016), an American psychoanalyst with experience teaching and supervising in China, found structural and philosophical differences and challenged the colonial imposition of psychoanalytic thought and practice on Chinese clinicians. These observations highlight the importance of being mindful and respectful when psychoanalysis enters a new culture. ...
The development of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychiatry in China is influenced by political, economic, cultural, and social ideology. The process of psychoanalysis entering China is also a reflection of Chinese history, mirroring China's transition from conservatism to openness, from focusing on tradition to embracing modernity, and from focusing on community and family to individualism. These changes align with the Chinese continuous exploration and pursuit of integration, adaptation, and individuation in the process of globalization, urbanization, and modernization. This article describes the continuous expansion and development of psychoanalysis and psychodynamics in China parallel to societal changes and how an increasing number of people have begun to engage in psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic practices and research. The author describes challenges to how psychoanalysis can better serve the Chinese people through clinical practice and in-depth research under the country's unique social, cultural, historical, and political background.
... Psychoanalysis is currently one of the most popular and influential therapeutic models in China. It was present in Chinese psychiatry since the early 20th century [23] and was among the therapeutic approaches that entered China with the opening of doors to Western intellectual products in the 1980s [24]. As China has transported psychoanalytic models of psychotherapy from the West [25][26][27], they started a complex dialogic process as Chinese clinicians have been embracing, selecting, and reworking strands of psychological knowledge they have been importing [28]. ...
Psychoanalysis is gaining widespread popularity as a therapeutic model in China. However, the absence of local accredited psychoanalytic training institutes necessitates that Chinese trainees and clinicians often receive supervision from European or American supervisors through online platforms. A key component of effective supervision is the willingness of the supervisees to disclose. This openness not only solidifies the supervisory alliance but also improves the supervisee’s self-awareness, self-efficacy, knowledge, and therapeutic skills. Emerging research highlights the significant role of cultural factors in shaping supervisory relationships. Our study aims to: (a) compare the disclosure and nondisclosure rates in clinical supervision between Chinese supervisees and their counterparts from Western cultures, and (b) examine the association between these behaviors and variables related to the therapeutic process among Chinese supervisees. We will employ a cross-sectional design, targeting Chinese psychoanalytic clinicians, both trainees and licensed professionals, engaged in individual clinical supervision. Recruitment will be primarily through the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance mailing list, complemented by snowball sampling. Data will be collected through an online survey hosted on the REDCap platform, focusing on the primary clinical supervisor of the participants and their supervisory experience. This research aims to provide insights that could enable supervisors of Chinese trainees to better understand and adapt to the relational dynamics in supervisory contexts. Additionally, it will lay the foundation for more detailed qualitative investigations into the experiences of Chinese psychoanalytic supervisees, potentially informing future supervisory practices and training methodologies.
... Thus, consideration of culture is also valuable in the study of defense mechanisms. Although much literature has shown the significance of defense mechanism research, it must be admitted that there is very little research literature in China, just as Scharff (2016) found that the psychoanalytic literature in China is young and still relatively limited. As far as the research on defense mechanisms is concerned, there is some research in China on the relationship between personality traits, mental health, and mental health education. ...
Over the past three years, people have suffered from unimaginable psychological stress and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. These stresses and anxieties stem from the threat that COVID-19 poses to people’s health and lives, as well as the negative impact of the government’s lockdown and quarantine policies on social economy and development. All these factors may put people in a state of stress and anxiety for a long time. However, any perceived stress can trigger the individual’s self-defense mechanism. To reduce anxiety from the epidemic, the automatic psychological processes are involuntarily activated, and the defense mechanisms are at work. This paper examines the performance of defense mechanisms during the epidemic based on news reports and the theory of defense mechanisms and illustrates the practical role and significance of understanding defense mechanisms for the public. Additionally, this paper also takes into account the potential cultural features of defensive systems.
... She traces publications in support of (and opposed to) distance analysis back to the 1950s. Before the pandemic, remote therapy was known to offer certain obvious advantages, including access to treatment when a patient is bedridden (Scharff 2012), traveling (Leffert 2003), or geographically distant from an appropriately trained therapist (Scharff 2016) or a therapist with whom they have an established relationship (Leffert 2003). These remote therapy formats have been reported to be useful when the therapist needs to be physically elsewhere (Abrahams 2018). ...
During the Covid-19 pandemic, psychotherapists quickly transitioned to provide online therapy, while facing many challenges. This study aimed to explore psychodynamic and psychoanalytically oriented therapists’ ( N = 1450) experiences with online therapy during the first weeks of the pandemic and two months later. Results showed that therapists had little pre-pandemic experience with providing online therapy and even less training in it, and that younger therapists reported more challenges in the transition to online therapy. During the first weeks of the pandemic, most therapists thought that online therapy was less effective than in-person therapy, and they reported a wide range of relational and technical challenges, feeling more tired, less confident and competent, and less connected and authentic in online sessions, compared to previous in-person sessions. At follow-up, therapists viewed online therapy as more comparable to in-person therapy; the majority felt connected and authentic as they had during the initial weeks of the pandemic, or more so, but were still as tired as before. The most challenging aspect of online therapy was distraction in sessions, which increased over time. This study demonstrates the professional adaptability of therapists and highlights the need for more training and professional support for clinicians providing remote psychotherapy.
... Pychoanalysis in China, a special issue of International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies (2011) Pychoanalysis in Asia: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (Gerlach et al., 2018(Gerlach et al., [2013) Psychoanalysis in China (Scharff & Varvin, 2019[2014) Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China (Scharff, 2015(Scharff, , launched in 2015, now a subscription-based series) 'Pychoanalysis in China: An Essay on the Recent Literature in English' (Scharff, 2016) Pychoanalysis in Hong Kong (Busiol, 2017) In the course of the last decade, with Xi Jinping, the figure of a new era, in March 2013 coming to and now staying in power (in)definitely, the Chinese government's administrative interests in 'strengthening' (Huang & Kirsner, 2020, p. 11) and unifying the national psyche became socially and politically programmatic, one most notable example being 'the enactment of the first national Mental Health Law in May 2013' (p. 11), a milestone event in the contemporary history of psychopolitics in China, which also, in part, explains the formation of professional associations and the implementation of the 'Registry System of the Chinese Psychological Society' (p. ...
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.
This essay describes a treatment with a young Chinese woman whom I call Lily. It deepened during the COVID pandemic when the vulnerability and tenacity of therapeutic aspiration of my patient and me brought forth a serious reckoning in me with my hitherto largely unexamined understanding and practice of psychoanalysis as “epistemological,” foregrounding knowledge, insights, and explicit verbal intervention. I became more aware of an “ontological” dimension of psychoanalytic work that emphasizes “being” and “becoming,” and asks basic questions such as “who are we,” “what are we like to each other,” and “what we could possibly be like.” For me, this changed vision of psychoanalytic work leads to a focus more on cultivating a deep human bond between the analyst and the patient and recognizing a fragile but also potentially powerful “therapeutic striving” presumably inherent in all humans. This shift in conceptual and clinical focus brought about significant change and growth both in my patient and in me.
While many Chinese mental health professionals are familiar with modern psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are the mainstream therapy education and practice in today's China. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a time-limited evidence-based psychotherapy that was originally developed for the treatment of depression. It has since been supported by over 250 randomized clinical trials in the treatment of various mental conditions including anxiety, and eating disorders. Despite good evidence for efficacy, IPT was not formally introduced to China until recently. This article describes a strategic plan for disseminating IPT knowledge in China and reports on current progress to date. We also summarize the discussion results from recent training lectures and workshops, and present suggestions for cultural adaptation per feedback from many enthusiastic trainees. Challenges and the future of promoting further integration of IPT as another effective psychotherapy option in China are discussed as well.
This article is an attempt to describe concisely the supervision experience of CAPA (Chinese American Psychoanalytic Alliance). From the perspective of my personal experience of supervision, I will also add a systems perspective on the development of this remarkable organization. Considering that this is pro bono work, its growth is rather remarkable. The evolution of a system to organize, recruit, assign supervisors and evaluate students is worthy of closer examination. I have found my experience with the individuals I supervised gratifying to the extent that I remain very involved with CAPA. The individual experiences of other supervisors, not only from America, but several other western countries have been sufficiently gratifying to keep up with the increasing demand. It is useful to speculate on the nature of this experience that has kept so many professionals involved in a volunteer organization.
This article provides an overview of the development of psychoanalysis in China based on literature and personal observations. We situate this history in the context of the cognate disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy, all of which are shaped by the massive political and social transformations of modern and contemporary China. Our account starts with a preliminary beginning prior to 1949, which fell largely outside the clinical domain. What follows is a brief description of how this nascent development was extinguished under three decades of radical socialism. The main part of the article deals with the post-reform period that began in the late 1970s, as the introduction of Western psychotherapy and psychoanalysis became possible again after the Cultural Revolution. Emphasis is placed on the past 15 years or so, a period known for an explosive growth of professional and popular interests in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and psychology in China’s major cities.
In an earlier study, Gordon, Wang and Tung, (2015) surveyed 176 therapists, supervisors and teachers in the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA) and found that the psychodynamic constructs hold up well when treating Chinese patients over video-conferencing (VCON). Over-all, expert raters felt that psychodynamic treatment over VCON was only slightly less effective than in-person treatment. However, 30% of the therapists in this survey had strong feelings against VCON treatment. In this study we asked what differentiated low raters from higher raters of treatment effectiveness. This study focuses on the 94 therapists, who completed the survey questions on treatment issues. As hypothesized: gender and profession (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and others) were not significantly related to how therapists rated the effectiveness of treatment over VCON. Also as hypothesized: the number of years doing therapy and number of years using VCON were also both not significantly related to how therapists rated the effectiveness of treatment over VCON. As hypothesized, low effectiveness raters and higher raters significantly differed on all the questions regarding specific psychodynamic variables over VCON: symptom reduction, exploring mental life, working with transference, working though relational problems, working with resistances, privacy concerns, and countertransference (p < .001 for all these variables). Low raters felt that exploring the mental life of the patient was most affected by VCON and working on transference was least affected by VCON.
Never the less, low raters of effectiveness and higher raters of effectiveness generally agree that treatment over VCON is valuable since it offers quality treatment to underserved or remote patients, and it is valuable when the patient is house-bound or travel would be impractical. The few who were most critical of treatment over VCON were perhaps comparing it to the more familiar psychoanalytic condition rather than considering new ways to extend psychodynamic thought and services.
The author has been teaching psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy in mainland China for 20 years. The paper focuses on the problem of transferring an individual-centered therapeutic theory and technique to a culture with a collectivistic and Confucian tradition. The different structures of the Western and Asian selves with their specific styles to communicate are described as well as the tendency of the Chinese to be more prone to shamefulness. Basic psychoanalytic concepts such as abstinence, therapeutic ego-splitting, the capacity for introspection and transference, as well as the traditional Confucian longing for harmony, can meet culturally immanent therapeutic problems. A specific defense constellation, the Ah-Q mentality as a result of Daoist thinking is presented. Finally, the question is raised whether technical modifications make sense in less individualized cultures.
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.
This paper looks at the work of two figures who, while marginal to theoretical developments within the history of psychoanalysis, each briefly played an important role in the dissemination of analytical ideas in China, contributing to an early psychoanalytic culture there. Bingham Dai, a native of China, while studying for a PhD in sociology at Chicago, received instruction from Harry Stack Sullivan and a psychoanalytic training under Karen Horney's supervision. However, the neo-Freudian outlook with which this experience imbued him had its roots in an earlier encounter with his experiments in personality education first conducted on students in a Tientsin high school, and later in Shantung under the direction of the conservative Confucian scholar and reformer, Liang Shu Ming. These experiences convinced him that a less orthodox psychoanalytic perspective was what Chinese patients with psychological problems required. He returned in 1935 to teach medical psychology to doctors at Peking Union Medical College, taking a few into analysis and treating some patients. However, the Sino-Japanese war brought these activities to a close and he left in 1939, just a few months after the former Freud publisher and Viennese émigré, Adolf Storfer, arrived. Storfer set about publishing "Gelbe Post," a German language periodical replete with articles on psychoanalysis, linguistics and Chinese culture. But limited finances, severe competition from a rival publisher, plus his own ill health, forced him to abandon this in spite of the support offered him through the many contributors in the international psychoanalytic community whose articles he published. The paper concludes by considering the relative historiographic fate of the men upon whom subsequent scholarship has been very unevenly focused.
This paper is a case report of a brief intervention with a Chinese family, comprising a series of five hour-long interviews on successive days. The family presented in acute distress because of the suicidality of their fourteen-year-old only daughter. The intervention demonstrates basic technique of analytic family evaluation and intervention, the intersection of an adolescent's development and issues of strain in the parents, the potential usefulness of crisis intervention in ongoing treatment, and the effect of the current mainland Chinese middle class culture on development.
The author reports about a training project in psychoanalytic oriented psychotherapy in Shanghai, in which also analytic group psychotherapy is taught and analytic group self experience offered. He reflects the importance of the changes in Chinese society as a large group process for the individual and for the therapeutic work in small groups as well as the specify of group therapeutic work as development process for a new generation of psychotherapists in China. He takes in account also the process of the lecturers group, understood as a group matrix, in which the anxieties, irritations and fascinations of the lecturers are embedded.
Bsaed on a research project conducted at Sigmund-Freud-Institut (Frankfut/Main), in which interviews with witnesses of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and one of their children were carried out, the question is examined for the eligibility of a collective trauma diagnosis. In contrast to the concept of collective trauma the author argues for the concept of a social broad effect of individual traumatic experience, to take into account the opennesss of social developments, that are not predictable and not to plan, as well as the fundamental unrecognizability of society.
The majority of Western psychotherapies are known and practiced in Hong Kong, while psychoanalysis still has little resonance. A recent study finds that psychoanalysis is perceived neither as ineffective nor as necessarily in conflict with Hong Kong Chinese values. Nevertheless, Hong Kong Chinese culture influences how psychoanalysis is received and understood, when compared to Mainland China and Taiwan. It is argued that a better reception in the latter two was possible because of different social and historical backgrounds, different clinical backgrounds of those who receive training, and the more active role of Western psychoanalysts.
© 2015 by the American Psychoanalytic Association.
Rick Altman. The American Film Musical. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. x + 386 pp. Illus. Mary Ann Doane. The Desire to Desire: The Woman's Film of the 1940s. Bioomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. 211 pp. Illus. Krin Gabbard and Glen 0. Gabbard. Psychiatry and the Cinema. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987. xx + 304 pp. Illus. Wes D. Gehring. The Marx Brothers: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1987. xv + 262 pp. Illus. Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black. Hollywood Goes to War: How Politics, Profits and Propaganda Shaped World War II Movies. New York: The Free Press, 1987. x + 374 pp. Illus. At a time when cinema scholarship is permeated by a virtually incomprehensible vocabulary derived from psychoanalysis and structuralism, a reader may be forgiven a less than enthusiastic response to a new cluster of works spilling from the structuralist/psychoanalytic horn-of-plenty. However, contrary to expecta- tion, each of the five books reviewed here is a great de...
The paper lines out a research project done as a cooperation between Sigmund-Freud-Institut (Frankfurt, Germany) and 5 Chinese professors of different universities. It focusses at traumatic experiences of witnesses of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the transgenerational transfer to one of their children. Method and results of this qualitative research are outlined. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The assessment and treatment of couple relationships in China requires an understanding both of each couple's dynamic situation, and of their relationship to conscious and unconscious attitudes and changes in Chinese culture. The description of a Chinese couple illustrates the use of Fairbairn's concepts of psychic organization and of projective identification in understanding their individual and shared couple organization. We also locate the couple's difficulties with reference to the changing attitudes in modern Chinese culture.
To illustrate the impact of culture on intimate relationships, we will describe couple therapy with a Chinese couple. This treatment was one element in our teaching for students, clinicians, and trainers in China, where we taught workshops in Object Relations Couple and Family Therapy and a continuous course in Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy at the invitation of Professor Shi Qijia at the Wuhan Hospital for Psychotherapy and Dr Fang Xin of Peking University in Beijing, respectively. Our hosts arranged for serial translation of our concepts, slides, videos, and group discussions – and of therapeutic consultations with various couples, to be observed live or on video feed to an audience of 70 mental health students, clinicians, and trainers. We taught our Chinese participants the Western view of relationships and unconscious dynamics. They taught us to understand couples’ verbal expressions, imagery, and culture.The couple we will present attended for a series of five couple therapy sessions. With Gao Jun, our translator, seated between us, and the couple across from us, we made a semicircle facing the audience and used microphones so that we could be heard. It was unfamiliar, somewhat uncomfortable for all of us, and the necessity for serial translation slowed down the treatment, but it provided some insight for the couple, a learning experience for the audience, and a powerful lesson about intimate relationships in China for us. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Shortened interviews with a Chinese father, born 1930, and his son, born in 1968 are presented, in order to discuss the traumatic experience of the Cultural Revolution, its Transgenerational Transmission and some Problems of Inter-cultural Interpretation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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.
The adaptation of forms of psychotherapy from the West in China such as psychoanalytic
psychotherapy should include the rich cross-fertilization with traditional Chinese medicine
(TCM). This article suggests the category of Reinforcing and Reducing as a point of
convergence where Reinforcing/Reducing is seen as like Supportive/Expressive approaches
in psychotherapy. A tentative integrative Paradigm called “Talking Acupuncture” will be
discussed.
The author describes experiences gathered during several years of teaching psychodynamic psychotherapy with psychologists and psychiatrists within a 2-year-training programme in Shanghai, China. Questions and problems of the reception of psychoanalysis - shame, sexuality, harmony, abstinence - as well as the possibilities and limitations of exporting psychoanalysis are discussed. The possible future development of psychoanalysis in China is also outlined.
In this article I analyze longitudinal case studies of five Chinese families to account for the tensions underlying widespread Chinese discourses about the unsatisfactory personalities and behaviors of children born under China's one-child policy. I argue that these tensions result from a mismatch between the simple values of excellence, independence, obedience, caring/sociableness that Chinese parents tell their children to abide by and the more complex, difficult-to-conceive, and difficult-to-articulate cultural models Chinese parents actually want their children to develop. This dissonance arises for a number of reasons: (1) The values at stake are often mutually contradictory; (2) Parents have difficulty identifying and articulating the situated cultural models they want their children to use to match values to contexts; (3) Children fail to understand and internalize the complex cultural models their parents want them to develop; and (4) Parents' desires to transmit their own cultural models to their children conflict with their desires for children to develop superior cultural models that would enable them to attain upward mobility. Chinese singletons' inability to meet their parents' expectations should thus be seen not merely as a result of the singleton status popular Chinese discourses often blamed for the younger generation's failings but also as a result of their status (shared with many other children worldwide) as rapidly developing children in a rapidly changing world. My findings suggest that studies of cultural models should pay more attention to discrepancies between verbal glosses and the conceptual complexity of the cultural models underlying them, and to the transformations that occur in the process of internalizing and integrating diverse sources of social information.
The history of psychoanalysis in China started already in 1912, followed by a great interest from Chinese intellectuals in the 20s and 30s. Since 1983 psychoanalysts from different Western countries, especially Germany and Norway, teach psychodynamic psychotherapy at Chinese psychiatric institutions. Meanwhile the IPA offers full psychoanalytic training in Beijing and in Shanghai. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Urban daughters have benefited from the demographic pattern produced by China's one–child policy. In the system of patrilineal kinship that has long characterized most of Chinese society, parents had little incentive to invest in their daughters. Singleton daughters, however, enjoy unprecedented parental support because they do not have to compete with brothers for parental investment. Low fertility enabled mothers to get paid work and, thus, gain the ability to demonstrate their filiality by providing their own parents with financial support. Because their mothers have already proven that daughters can provide their parents with old age support, and because singletons have no brothers for their parents to favor, daughters have more power than ever before to defy disadvantageous gender norms while using equivocal ones to their own advantage. [Keywords: gender, family, fertility, demography, China]
One important element in psychoanalysis, which is derived from Western culture, is individualization: the independency and autonomy of an individual are highly valued. However, one of the significant essences in Chinese culture is that the collective interests transcend the individual interests and the interests of social groups are more important than those of families. Therefore, when learning and practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Chinese clinicians inevitably experience conflicts derived from this difference of cultural values. This article attempts to use a historical perspective to discuss the current challenges of professional identity for Chinese clinicians learning and practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
The Oedipus complex is central to Western tradition, but not to Chinese culture. Occurrence of oedipal themes in Chinese literature is almost negligible. This phenomenon seems to support a contra-Freud claim: that a theory of European origin, the Oedipus complex, is not universal to human experience in non-Western cultures. However, this article suggests that powerful moral repression may cause the Oedipus complex to undergo structural transformations in some cultures. Through studying a sample of Chinese literary and film representations, the author argues that the Oedipus complex in Chinese culture has been transformed into a filial piety complex. Some conceptual issues are considered from a cross-cultural perspective.
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