Early History of Psychoanalysis in China

In 1929, Freud wrote to the ex-Minister of Education of China (Zhang Shizhao):

            “I am pleased by your intention, in whatever manner you care to carry

            out…(to) introduce psychoanalysis to your native country, China.”*

        During the 1920’s and 30’s Chinese, mainly literary critics and theorists, but also some clinicians, were very interested in psychoanalysis. Many of Freud’s works were translated. The Japanese occupation and the enormous changes in the government put an end to organized interest. In the 1950’s there was a slow resurgence of interest, which ended in the 1960‘s with the changes in the status of intellectuals. By the 1980s interest was again rising.  In recent years, there has been a broad resurgence of interest both among literary scholars and among clinicians, limited by the absence of fully trained analysts in China and by the paucity of Western analysts fluent in Mandarin.

Recent History of Psychoanalysis in China

          The government is very concerned about the mental health of the Chinese people. Zhang Jianxin, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Psychology in Beijing was quoted in the August 16, 2007 issue of The Economist,  “…urban Chinese now face tremendous pressure to make money and, most importantly, compete with their neighbors for status. The result is a rise in disorders such as anxiety and depression.” The government funds students to go abroad to study psychology and is opening many new schools of psychology, social work and counseling.

            Among young mental health professionals, interest in psycho-analysis is extraordinarily high. They read widely in psychoanalytic literature, but their clinical knowledge lags, limited by access to Western clinicians who speak Mandarin. Various groups of Western analysts have gone to China to offer lectures and brief supervisions. Since 1982, a group of German analysts has visited Shanghai, Beijing and other cities for five day periods each year during which they lecture and offer “self experience” sessions. What has been sorely lacking is organized intensive treatment or training. This is the gap that CAPA attempts to fill.

CAPA in China

        In 2001, Dr. Elise Snyder, an American analyst, was invited to give papers on psychoanalysis at conferences in Beijing.  She learned of a group interested in psycho-analysis in Chengdu, a city of more than ten million people in Sichuan province. There she lectured, supervised and gave consultations. This was the first experience of a member of CAPA in China.

     The following year, Dr. Snyder again visited Chengdu and also established relations with groups in Xi’an and in Beijing. Members of the Chengdu group asked for American analyses. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Ubaldo Leli, an analyst affiliated with Columbia, visited China.  He began to analyze someone in Chengdu, via SKYPE. This was the beginning of CAPA.   Many members of CAPA have since visited China teaching and supervising.

    Since 2003, CAPA has greatly expanded its work in China.  In 2006, it became clear that Chinese mental health professionals wanted an organized, systematic complete training program. In 2008 the Basic Two year Training Program began. CAPA now has 160 students in more than 10 cities. In 2010, the first class graduated and in 2011 the Advanced Two year Training Program began.