The demand for psychotherapy in China is booming among its nearly 1.4 billion citizens. But psychologists are largely unable to help meet the demand for a simple reason: In 2013, a new law went into effect that, among other provisions, restricts the ability of psychologists in mainland China to offer psychotherapy. Unless they are working in hospitals with clients who have already been diagnosed by psychiatrists, psychologists must call themselves counselors and limit themselves to offering counseling and psychosocial support.
“Psychotherapy can’t be … practiced in settings other than hospitals,” says Buxin Han, PhD, president-elect of the Chinese Psychological Society (CPS).
The country’s Mental Health Law—available in an annotated English translation (Chen, Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, Vol. 24, No. 6, 2012)—doesn’t define what services are considered psychotherapy or what training one needs to provide it. But the law does spell out penalties for situations in which “psychological counselors,” also undefined, provide psychotherapy or diagnose or treat individuals with mental disorders.
