Collectivism, individualism, and pragmatism in China: implications for perceptions of mental health

This study aimed to better understand how minor mental health problems (MMPs) are perceived by well-educated urban dwellers in China who are influenced by Western values. Urban China is a rapidly changing society in which traditional Chinese culture and Western thought coexist. As a result, the established processes of interdependent self-appraisal have been challenged and a sense of a bicultural self has developed among a growing proportion of the population. The fieldwork for this study included interviews and observations. The results are derived mainly from interviews with professional practitioners, students, and lay people from three urban sites. One of the main findings was that respondents who referred to traditional and collectivistic Chinese values tended not to label MMPs as psychiatric disorders or illnesses but as challenges in daily life and relationships strain. While the Western medical model of MMPs considers them a form of illness, they were not viewed in this way in traditional collectivistic China in the past, even among educated urban dwellers. However, the urban and educated Chinese who have developed a stronger sense of a bicultural self are now more likely to perceive and deal with MMPs from a Western viewpoint.