Psy Fever/Psycho-Boom: The Mental Picture of a Transforming China

Article Information

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2023) 9(1):10–21 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2023/9/21

Psy Fever/Psycho-Boom: The Mental Picture of a Transforming China

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there is a boom of popular participation in psychotherapy and training in urban China, which has attracted the attention of anthropologists who called this phenomenon a “psycho-boom” or “psy fever.” This article is a review of anthropological studies on this issue and discusses how psychotherapeutic knowledge and practice with western origin has been indigenized by Chinese psychotherapists as well as the emergence of a new form of self in this psycho-boom. Critical anthropologists tend to emphasize the connection between this psy fever and governmentality. This article shows the insights and blind spots of this perspective, calling for attention to the heterogeneity and agency of participants in this psy fever as well as the potentiality of psychotherapy as both expression and intervention for sufferings in the context of drastic social transformation.

Keywords: psycho-boom/psy fever, psychotherapy, agency, governmentality, self

摘要

进入21世纪以来，在中国的城市居民中间出现了一股参与心理治疗和心理培训的热潮。这一现象引起了人类学家的关注，后者将这一现象称为“心理热”(psycho-boom/psy fever)。本文回顾了人类学对这一问题的研究，探讨了中国的心理治疗师如何将源自西方的心理治疗知识和实践“本土化”，以及一种新型的自我在这场“心理热”之中的浮现。批判取向的人类学家倾向于强调这种心理热与治理术之间的关系。本文展示了这一观点的洞见与盲点所在，呼吁关注“心理热”参与者的异质性和能动性，以及在社会急剧转型的背景下，心理治疗作为表达和干预痛苦的潜力。

关键词： 心理热, 心理治疗, 能动性, 治理术, 自我