Adaptation behavior and mental health of Chinese in rapidly changing society

Introduction . China is progressing rapidly. The environment, the contents and styles of the life in China have been changed enormously so that all the people have to readjust their behavioral ways and psychological status. But the process of adaptation is not always smooth for many people, so that psychological inharmony becomes obstacle in the way to «construct a harmonious society».

Since 1980s, Psychotherapy and psychological counseling become focus of attention. More and more people begin to see them as a part of the modern life. It is no longer an issue of «stigma» to see a so-called «psychological doctor» and to utilize mental health services. In October 2007, the Communist Party has written in an important Resolution that the Party would pay much attention to promote the psychological harmony of the people.

From clinical and cultural perspectives, Ill discuss in this presentation following issues:

What are the new elements in the daily life in China?

What has been changed in Chinese behavioral patterns and psychological life?

What clinical problems are the Chinese colleagues dealing with in a new era?

How should we analyze the outstanding phenomena regarding the relationship between modernization and peoples adaptation?

Observing and experiencing Social-cultural Change . We are living in a world where every thing is intertwined. In order to understand problems on individual level, we should begin with the macro environment. Old stereotypes of Chinese have never fitted the diverse realities. Nowadays Chinese look still further from such stereotypes than before.

Changing Ecology, human ecology and ecology of mind . In general, mentality of the contemporary Chinese has been changed and is still changing due to the changes of natural and social environments, so that an art of new «Zeitgeist» has been shaped.

Behavioral Change in Adaptation. Firstly, we see changes related to the living standards . Secondly, life styles have changed. Thirdly, the contents of life are increasingly complicated. Contents of life are colorful but also stressful. Major pressures come from various areas: learning, economy, interpersonal relation, etc.

Experiencing phenomena of ambivalence . On the way to a modern society, we are enjoying increasing freedom and satisfaction, but we have to encounter with more and more tension, stress and confusion. There are fewer political taboos than before, but we are still wary of our colleagues because of competition. We have more and more wealth, but the meaning of life is unclear. Freedom means to choose, and to choose means responsibility and pressure. The very essential ambivalent situation is related to Individuation and Attachment, dependence.

Imbalance of psycho-somatic relation . Since 30 years, nutrition of Chinese has been improved much. The speed of improvement is faster than the evolutionary adaptation of our organisms. Were facing to a challenge to re-balance our body-mind relationship, and to readjust our operational definitions about happiness and well-being, in order to develop beliefs in better life that is friendly to environment, to our minds and bodies.

Are the Chinese really suffering from «Civiliza-tion-diseases» ?

Research Case of CEIBS: Happiness feeling of Citizens in 10 big cities in 2005 . Prof. XI Kaiyuan has found that some non-material factors are influencing the psychological feeling of happiness, such as tempo of life, marital quality, social contacts, and environment. The growth of pure GDP doesnt necessarily bring positive feeling of happiness.

Mental health of the immigrants . Chinese use the term «immigrants» only in a very narrow range. In fact, China has the largest population of domestic immigrants – at least 120 000 000. Nearly 500 000 000 people will enter into the urban areas in next 30 years.

Shenzhen is the most typical city of immigrants. Within more than 20 years, it has grown up from a small town to a modern big city with population of over 10 000 000. An epidemiological survey conducted by the Shenzhen Mental Health Center in 2006 showed that the life-time prevalence of mental disorders was 21,19 %.

The «New-rich families» in the booming Pudong New Area – A socio-cultural view of family problems . Shanghai is the largest city of immigrants. Pudong is a suitable place to observe paradoxical

Тезисы докладов Международной конференции по психоонкологии «Культура, мозг, тело»

«Civilization-Disease-relation». A lot of people are experiencing «cultural shock».

Traditional value collides with the reality. For example, androcentrism and money worship enjoyed by the husbands collide with wives ideal for equality and warmth. («Generation gap»)

Gender roles shift substantially. While some women are totally dependent on their husbands, some women are capable of being superior to their husbands so that the latter cannot tolerate.

In spite of the «One-child policy» and the change of family structure, many people believe in large family and in the necessity to have male offspring for kinship continuation. These are relevant reasons for daily quarrels, high rate of divorce, and even for bigamy, illegitimate children.

The elites life styles don’t meet the requirements of the competitive market economy, so that they cannot cope with stress properly. Alcoholism, gambling, sexual affairs and burn-out syndrome harm the quality of family life.

Inter-generation conflicts reflect the influences of

Western values on family life. Individualism and famil-ism collide with each other. Traditional pattern of parent-child relation hinder the process of individuation which is encouraged by the modern society.

Psychotherapists role in changing China –

Leading role and responding role . In nowadays

China, Leading means that we can implant mentalhealth-promoting ideas and approaches into Chinese society where there is great hunger for orientation of new life. Psychotherapy is meaningful for «construc-tion of a harmonious society». Cloe Madanes ideas on general objectives of psychotherapy are now rele-                            .

vant.

In the past 20 years, the German-Chinese cooperation has shown successfully that professionals from different cultures can learn and benefit from each other, but it could become possible only after                                           - they have constructed a shared reality of consensus, in the sense that they began to use the same terminology and similar thinking ways.

How can we do? – For discussion!

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