Developments in Chinese psychiatry

During a recent visit to China, which included meetings with psychiatrists in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Hohot, I noted that many of the political constraints of the Cultural Revolution on psychiatry had been removed. Clearly, Chinese society was still strongly influenced by Marxist doctrine, but there was greater academic and clinical freedom for the reinstated professionals who had previously been considered ‘elitist’. Western textbooks and journals were available, and the very fact that Chinese psychiatrists were able to communicate freely with me was in sharp contrast to the enforced isolation of the previous decade.