Mental Health in China and the Chinese Diaspora: Historical and Cultural Perspectives

Following on the previous volume, Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific, which was co-edited with Milton Lewis, this book explores historical and contemporary developments in mental health in China and Chinese immigrant populations. It presents the development of mental health policies and services from the 19th Century until the present time, offering a clear view of the antecedents of today's policies and practice. Chapters focus on traditional Chinese conceptions of mental illness, the development of the Chinese mental health system through the massive political, social, cultural and economic transformations in China from the late 19th Century to the present, and the mental health of Chinese immigrants in several countries with large Chinese populations. China's international political and economic influence and its capabilities in mental health science and innovation have grown rapidly in recent decades. So has China's engagement in international institutions,and in global economic and health development activities. Chinese immigrant communities are to be found in almost all countries all around the world. Readers of this book will gain an understanding of how historical, cultural, economic, social, and political contexts have influenced the development of mental health law, policies and services in China and how these contexts in migrant receiving countries shape the mental health of Chinese immigrants.

• Includes China and the Chinese Diaspora;
• Integrates examination of mental health and mental health system development in context;
• Features international experts in Chinese history and culture and their mental health aspects.

Autorentext

Harry Minas is Head of the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit, Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, at The University of Melbourne. He is a psychiatrist who has worked in transcultural and global mental health over the past three decades. His mental health research, education and service development work has been in development of mental health services for multicultural communities in Australia and mental health system development in low-income and middle-income countries, and post-conflict and post-disaster settings in South-East Europe, Asia and the Pacific. He has had a particular focus on mental health and human rights, working with academic and government colleagues in several countries on improving human rights protections for persons with mental illness and psychosocial disabilities. At the University of Melbourne he has developed graduate diploma and master-level programs in transcultural psychiatry and global mental health and, through the International Mental Health Leadership Program, has trained several hundred mental health leaders in more than 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific. He has written on transcultural psychiatry and global mental health, including more than 300 peer reviewed journal papers, books, book chapters, reports and multimedia teaching products.

Inhalt
A brief political, social, cultural and economic history of China.- Psychiatry in Republican China.- Psychiatric Services in Early 20th Century China.- Psychiatry in Hong Kong during the Britishperiod and post-handover.- Mental health and psychiatry during the Mao era, 1949-1976.- Mental health and psychiatry during the reform era, c1977-2012.- The Positives and Negatives of the Era from c1980 to the Implementation of the 2013 Mental Health Law.- Mental Health Law and Policy, Human Rights and Sustainable Development.- TCM treatments and Chinese conceptions of the body-mind relationship; how they differ from Western conceptions and those of biomedicine that incorporates those conceptions.- On the speed of cultural, social and economic change and the rise of the therapeutic response in contemporary China.- The contribution of the global mental health movement and overseas psychiatrists to the recent effort to advance mental health and improve the mental health system.- From the Kerr Asylum to the Guanzhou Brain Hospital.- Historical overview of the establishment of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.- Mental health of the Chinese in Indonesia.- Mental health of the Chinese in Malaysia.- Mental health of the Chinese in the Philippines.- Mental health of the Chinese in Australia.- Mental health of Chinese International Students.