Evading chronicity: paradoxes in counseling psychology in contemporary China

In this report, I discuss the expansion of psychological counseling in China, while considering sociocultural factors that shape the construction of this field. Based on interviews with counselors and patients, I describe therapeutic encounters that are laden with suspicion, and that are in turn interpreted by counselors as a reflection of social conservativeness and the cultural perception of “face” (mian zi). The proliferation of short-term counseling, along with the success of self-help literature, is to a large extent an institutional adaptation to these conditions. Nevertheless, this process is never limited to an intentional “culturalization” of foreign therapeutic methods, but rather involves constant negotiations between counselors and patients. I contend that while deep-rooted cultural tendencies do influence social approaches to psychology in China, local concerns about counseling may also spotlight problematic aspects in psychotherapeutic mechanisms worldwide.