Culture and mental health in (the greater) China

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical glimpse into and environmental scan of mental health practices in Greater China, including three adjacent jurisdictions – Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan. The cultural diversity and colonization legacy of this geo-cultural region affords a fruitful site of critical investigation into the ways that cultural and colonial dominance have been implicated by and negotiated within the manifestation of and institutional response to mental health issues. Although the Western paradigm of psychiatric medicine largely dominates the mental health care field, Chinese traditional and folk healing, which is characterized by a holistic and person-in-environment perspective, continue to be utilized by people living in Chinese societies. In response to the intricate intersection of culture and mental health, practitioners and researchers from diverse disciplines have sought to revitalize indigenous knowledge in search of a culturally integrative approach of mental health practice.