Chinese Culture And Mental Health

Chinese Culture and Mental Health presents an in-depth study of the culture and mental health of the Chinese people in varying settings, geographic areas, and times. The book focuses on the study of the relationships between mental health and customs, beliefs, and philosophies in the Chinese cultural setting. The text reviews traditional and contemporary Chinese culture; characteristic relations and psychological problems common in the Chinese family; adjustment of the Chinese in different socio-geographical circumstances; and general review of mental health problems. Ethnologists, sinologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists will find the book interesting.

Following on the previous volume, Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific, which was co-edited with Milton Lewis, this book explores historical and contemporary developments in mental health in China and Chinese immigrant populations. It presents the development of mental health policies and services from the 19th Century until the present time, offering a clear view of the antecedents of today’s policies and practice. Chapters focus on traditional Chinese conceptions of mental illness, the development of the Chinese mental health system through the massive political, social, cultural and economic transformations in China from the late 19th Century to the present, and the mental health of Chinese immigrants in several countries with large Chinese populations. China’s international political and economic influence and its capabilities in mental health science and innovation have grown rapidly in recent decades. So has China’s engagement in international institutions, and in global economic and health development activities. Chinese immigrant communities are to be found in almost all countries all around the world. Readers of this book will gain an understanding of how historical, cultural, economic, social, and political contexts have influenced the development of mental health law, policies and services in China and how these contexts in migrant receiving countries shape the mental health of Chinese immigrants.

Our purpose in assembling the papers in this collection is to introduce readers to studies of normal and abnormal behavior in Chinese culture. We want to offer a sense o/what psychiatrists and social scientists are doing to advance our under standing of this subject, including what fmdings are being made, what questions researched, what conundrums worried over. Since our fund of knowledge is obviously incomplete, we want our readers to be aware of the limits to what we know and to our acquisition of new knowledge. Although the subject is too vast and uncharted to support a comprehensive synthesis, in a few areas - e. g. , psychiatric epidemiology - enough is known for us to be able to present major reviews. The chapters themselves cover a variety of themes that we regard as both intrinsically interesting and deserving of more systematic evaluation. Many of the issues they address we believe to be valid concerns for comparative cross cultural studies. No attempt is made to artificially integrate these chapters, since the editors wish to highlight their distinctive interpretive frameworks as evidence of the rich variety of approaches that scholars take to this subject. 'We see this volume as a modest and self-consciously limited exploration. Here are some accounts and interpretations (but by no means all) of normal and ab normal behavior in the context of Chinese culture that we believe fashion a more discriminating understanding of at least a few important aspects of that subject.

China's massive economic restructuring in recent decades has generated alarming incidences of mental disorder affecting over one hundred million people. This timely book provides an anthropological analysis of mental health in China through an exploration of psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosocial practices, and the role of the State. The book offers a critical study of new characteristics and unique practices of Chinese psychology and cultural tradition, highlighting the embodied, holistic, heart-based approach to mental health. Drawing together voices from her own research and a broad range of theory, Jie Yang addresses the mental health of a diverse array of people, including members of China's elite, the middle class and underprivileged groups. She argues that the Chinese government aligns psychology with the imperatives and interests of state and market, mobilizing concepts of mental illness to resolve social, moral, economic, and political disorders while legitimating the continued rule of the party through psychological care and permissive empathy. This thoughtful analysis will appeal to those across the social sciences and humanities interested in well-being in China and the intersection of society, politics, culture, and mental health.

Collects together data compiled from 177 World Health Organization Member States/Countries on mental health care. Coverage includes policies, plans and laws for mental health, human and financial resources available, what types of facilities providing care, and mental health programmes for prevention and promotion.

This book offers to serve as a guide for professionals in understanding and applying a strength based perspectives for Chinese clients with mental illness and to discuss the Chinese articulation of concepts and practice of these perspective within Chinese culture. Ever since the emergence of a medical model in the explanation of mental illness, the disease model or deficit/problem orientation became the dominant paradigm in perceiving, treating and rehabilitating persons with mental illness. The terms 'mentally ill' and 'mental patient' serve as labels for both professionals, family caregivers and members of community to describe the burden, the needs of care and treatment for persons with mental illness. These labels also justify the establishment and implementation of mental health services. Under the influences of the disease model, persons with mental illness are regarded as subjects for academic research, patients for treatment, clients for intervention, and objects for stigmatisation and labelling.

Following on the previous volume, Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific, which was co-edited with Milton Lewis, this book explores historical and contemporary developments in mental health in China and Chinese immigrant populations. It presents the development of mental health policies and services from the 19th Century until the present time, offering a clear view of the antecedents of today's policies and practice. Chapters focus on traditional Chinese conceptions of mental illness, the development of the Chinese mental health system through the massive political, social, cultural and economic transformations in China from the late 19th Century to the present, and the mental health of Chinese immigrants in several countries with large Chinese populations. China's international political and economic influence and its capabilities in mental health science and innovation have grown rapidly in recent decades. So has China's engagement in international institutions, and in global economic and health development activities. Chinese immigrant communities are to be found in almost all countries all around the world. Readers of this book will gain an understanding of how historical, cultural, economic, social, and political contexts have influenced the development of mental health law, policies and services in China and how these contexts in migrant receiving countries shape the mental health of Chinese immigrants. Includes China and the Chinese Diaspora; Integrates examination of mental health and mental health system development in context; Features international experts in Chinese history and culture and their mental health aspects.

The 24 essays collected in this volume present the latest research on the specifically Chinese experience of mental health. The contributors, all mental health professionals, discuss a wide range of disorders found in Chinese communities in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore andabroad.Realizing that there is diversity within Chinese culture itself, they utilize that culture as an axis from which to explore various dimensions of mental health at individual, family and community levels. Various mental health problems are examined, with particular emphasis on neuroses and otherspecific mental disorders.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of behavioural and social sciences, culture, and mental health; to clinicians and mental health workers, particularly cultural psychiatrists; and to any persons interested in the study of the Chinese.