Running Head: U.

S & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

The U.S and China: Different Takes on Mental Illnesses

Kelly A. Meeuwsen
Liberty High School

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

Abstract

Schizophrenia is approached different between the United States and China. These two
countries being the top industrial powerhouses of the world make it imperative to
compare social influences in the varied health care systems. Information reviewed from
various specialty journals revealed cultural influences on the treatments, professional
training, and criteria in order to discharge patients, and the overall approach, as well as
the outlook of the mentally ill. Larger implications of the findings include that China and
the United States having access to similar resources still, approach mental illnesses in
different ways as a result of religious and societal outlooks.

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

Being overwhelmed with hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, and

emotional flatness are all part of the everyday sad truth about schizophrenia. In
comparison, societal and religious perspectives from country to country differ on mental
illnesses. The various treatment approaches to this problematic mental illness vary across
the world, such as the United States and China. Also, the way a psychiatrist is trained can
impact the outcome of patients who are mentally ill. Furthermore, countries give diverse
criteria for mentally ill patients to meet in order to be discharged. The larger implication
is whether approaches towards mental illnesses differ despite countries having access to
similar resources? An analysis of schizophrenic approaches in the US and China reveal a
wide chasm of paths from the religious and societal foundation.
Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that has affected people throughout the
world. There are two types of symptoms to this severe mental disorder, negative and
positive symptoms. Positive symptoms, psychotic behaviors not found in healthy people,
include: hallucinations, delusions, movement and thought disorders. Negative symptoms,
complications with normal emotions and behaviors, include: little or no speaking, few or
no facial expressions, short attention span, and lack of pleasure in everyday life. Although
there is no cure for schizophrenia, the outlook is increasing with evolving treatments to
help schizophrenic patients lead a normal life. The top industrial powerhouses of the
world, China and the U.S., put the similar resources they have to work in different ways
zwhich is critical when it comes down to prevention and treatment of mental illnesses.
Religious and Societal Perspectives
The United States and China are the two leading powerhouses of the world with two very
different classifications of society, religion, and perspectives. The religious outlook for

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

Chinese is composed of four major traditions: Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and

Chinese folk religion. The beliefs and practices from these four components strongly
influence the Chinese outlook on mental illnesses. In his journal, Lay Theories of
Schizophrenia: A Cross Cultural Comparison of British and Hong Kong Chinese
Attitudes, Attributions, and Beliefs, Adrian Furnham (2004) maintains that In Hong
Kong, most people brought up under the traditional Chinese culture would possess a
more conservative and negative attitude towards mental illness than people in Britain
(p.2). In making this comment, Furnham urges to his audience that Chinese generally
have a negative attitude towards people who possess a mental illness. He proceeds to
show that people in China think that having a mental disorder can ruin ones family
reputation and be considered crazy instead of mentally ill. Thus, making a Chinese
approach to Schizophrenia unsympathetic and neglected.
Unlike the spiritual and religious climate of China, where the belief structure is
homogenous throughout the culture, the case is not the same in the United States. The
United States views on mental illness are reflective of the diversity of religious beliefs.
Among our population, religious beliefs are extremely varied and that is reflected by the
views on mental illness and schizophrenia, specifically. There is no clear social view on
mental illness; instead, there are a number of popular ideas and an even greater number of
perceived causes. This is analogous to the religious climate in the United States.
According to BG Link (1999), Results indicate that the majority of the public identifies
schizophrenia (88%) and major depression (69%) as mental illnesses (pg. 3). Links
point is that Americans generally recognize what a mental illness is and that it is a
concerning issue. Link explains the outlook matters further when he writes, While there

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

is reason for optimism in the public's recognition of mental illness and causal attributions,
a strong stereotype of dangerousness and desire for social distance persist (p.5). In other
words, Link believes that because of the freedom to religion in the United States the
perspective changes to fit each religion. Some believe that mental illness should be kept
hidden from the public. Others may think its due to the biological effect from ones
genes. Overall, Americans address the situation of mentally ill people but do not think the
highest of those individuals.
Treatment Approaches
Traditionally, the family of the patient takes on the responsibility for the recovery
of a schizophrenia patient in China. In the event of possessing a mentally ill family
member, that family has authority to decide when and where to seek medical help for the
mental illness. More importantly, there is absolutely no formal commitment to seek help
if diagnosed as mentally ill. Michael Phillips (2001) writes, There are no psychiatric
wards in general hospitals and general physicians do not provide basic mental health
services, and so almost all formal treatment services provided for schizophrenic patients
are provided from specialized psychiatric hospitals, most of which are situated in large
urban centers (p.2). Basically, Phillips is saying that a mass majority of the mentally ill
population does not have access to mental services. When they do get access to services,
Chinese families often hope that one round of hospitalization will cure the patient. Also,
knowing that schizophrenia is chronic, Chinese proceed to result in using antipsychotics
or herbal medicine. Above all, herbal medicine has been used as Chinese treatments for
thousands of years. Prescribing different types of formulations of this medicine depends
on the diagnose syndrome of schizophrenia. According to John Rathbone (2008), In

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

these trials results tended to favor combination treatment compared with antipsychotic
alone (p.3). In making this comment Rathbone urges to his audience that combining the
Chinese herbal medicine with antipsychotics is more beneficial for patients with
schizophrenia rather than antipsychotics alone. As a final point of Chinese Schizophrenic
Treatments, mostly depending on medication, the social aspects make it difficult to
generalize treatments resulting in difficult accessibility.
Although there is no cure for schizophrenia, the United Sates uses treatments that
allow their patients to live a productive and satisfying life. For a Schizophrenic patient to
recover they can choose from medications, rehabilitation programs, or both. According
to Matone, Although youth with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism
proportionally were more likely to receive antipsychotics, youth with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and those with three or more mental health diagnoses
were the largest consumers of antipsychotics over time; by 2007, youth with ADHD
accounted for 50 percent of total antipsychotic use(October 2012). The essence of
Matones argument is that the most commonly used treatment is antipsychotics. The
usage of medication to treat schizophrenia has not only increased among the adult
population but also the pediatric as well. Matone proceeds to point out that the
medication for mental illness has evolved into second-generation antipsychotics that have
fewer side effects and treat an increased amount of symptoms. Americans possessing
schizophrenia will most likely be on medication and also endure therapy programs that
will aid better understanding and knowledge of schizophrenia resulting in allowance for
one to work on skills in order to live a normal life. The American treatment for
Schizophrenia is simple; its just a matter of finding the best fit for the patient.

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

Mental Health Care Professional Training

Mental health care professionals depend on their years of training in order to
successfully diagnose, attend to, and treat each individual mentally ill patient. There are
three main types of professionals that are all essential in the success rate of the health
care system: psychiatrist, therapist, and a counselor. More importantly, each of the
categories have specialist within. On one hand, China has minimal mental health care
professionals that acquire a limited amount of skills. According to Jin Liu Hong (2011),
The primary aim of the program was to train up multi-skilled case workers by: a)
developing understanding of the key principles of community-based mental health care in
general and basic case management; b) providing practical skills in developing
individualized service plans to maximize integration and continuity of care; c) exploring
culturally appropriate ways to build partnerships with the patient, families and
community; d) building skills to work in multidisciplinary teams; and e) providing
opportunities to share ideas and plan for implementation. (p.10). Hong is basically
saying that teaching the basic knowledge and skills from reliable sources will help
resolve cases throughout the community. On the other hand, the United States has a very
wide variety of highly skilled mental health care career options that include precise
training. Thus, giving patients more options to choose from. In her academic journal,
Psychiatry Residents Attitudes on Ethics and Professionalism, Jain Hoop (2010) claims
that Interviewing 151 psychiatry residents at seven different locations and found that
they generalize the use of ethics and professionalism through surveys (p.3). In making
this comment, Hoop urges that everyone values the presence of ethics in the area of
psychiatry. To put it briefly, the United States has a great deal of successfully trained

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

mental health care professionals who also value much more than just the chemistry. In
comparison to the shortage of not fully skilled health care professionals among the
Chinese.
Discharging Patients
Discharge planning is an important part of the psychiatric field in order to prevent
the relapse. Michael Phillips (2001) states, Traditionally, family members in China
assume responsibility for ale the health care decisions of a seriously ill individual (p.10).
Phillips point is that there is no particular plan in China of discharge because it will
always be up to the family if and when the patient can be discharged. In comparison, the
United States once again has strict criteria to follow and meet in order to be released.
Writing in the journal Psychiatric Discharge Process, Hamzah Alghzawi (2012) explains
that, Discharge planning should be a collaborative process between hospital staff, the
patient, the family, and the community aftercare agencies so that vital linkages are
affected before discharge (p.1). In other words, Alghzawis point is that discharging is a
decision made by many in order for the best results after discharge. To conclude, China
depends on solely family members opinion whereas the United States puts each persons
knowledge together in order to come to a conclusion.
The U.S. and China have two distinct ways of approaching the mentally ill. On
account of diverse religion, the views differ in the way people see causes, how
schizophrenia should be treated, professional training programs, and discharging a
patient. Having access to relatively the same resources, one would think that mental
health care would be mostly similar. The analyzed information is important by the reason
of bettering our healthcare by comparing systems. This research could positively impact

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

approaches towards schizophrenic patients due to the different outlooks and learning
from each others use of resources.

U.S. & CHINA: DIFFERENT TAKES ON MENTAL ILLNESSES

10

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Albayt University

Furnham, A., & Chan, E. (2004). Lay theories of schizophrenia: A cross-cultural

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Grohol, J. (2013, October 1). Schizophrenia treatment. Psych Central

Kolstad, A., & Gjesvik, N. (2013). Perceptions of minor mental health problems in China.
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Kukshal, P., Thelma, B. K., Nimgaonkar, V. L., & Deshpande, S. N. (2012). Genetics of
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Link, B., Phelan, J., Bresnahan, M., Stueve, A., & Pescosolido, B. (1999). Public
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