The Chinese Society of Psychiatry (CSP; ) is the largest organization for
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
s in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. It publishes the
Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders The Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (CCMD; ), published by the Chinese Society of Psychiatry (CSP), is a clinical guide used in China for the diagnosis of mental disorders. It is on a third version, the CCMD-3, written in Chinese and E ...
("CCMD"), first published in 1985. The CSP also publishes
clinical practice guidelines; promotes psychiatric practice, research and communication; trains new professionals; and holds academic conferences.
Origins and organization
The organization developed out of the Chinese Society of Neuro-Psychiatry, which was founded in 1951. This separated into the Chinese Society of Psychiatry and Chinese Society of Neurology in 1994. Since then, successive committees have run the organisation, currently the 3rd Committee, which started in 2003, whose president is Dongfeng Zhou. The CCMD is now on its third revision.
The official journal of the CSP is the ''Chinese Journal of Psychiatry'' (). The Society held its seventh annual academic conference in 2006. The Society is a member of the
World Psychiatric Association
The World Psychiatric Association is an international umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies.
Objectives and goals
Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional meetings, to promote profess ...
.
As of 2005, the CSP had 800 members.
History
In 2001, the CSP
declassified homosexuality and bisexuality as a mental disorder. However, the organization specified that, "although homosexuality was not a disease, a person could be conflicted or suffering from mental illness because of their sexuality, and that condition could be treated", according to Damien Lu, founder of the ''Information Clearing House for Chinese Gays and Lesbians''. Reportedly, this loophole is used to promote
conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and clin ...
in China.
Beginning in 2014, the CSP began collaborating with the
McLean Hospital
McLean Hospital () (formerly known as Somerville Asylum and Charlestown Asylum) is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and neuroscience research and is also known for the large number of ...
. The purpose of the program is to share research cross-culturally between specialists in
psychotic and
mood disorder
A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the '' Diagnostic and St ...
s.
Controversy
The Chinese Society of Psychiatrists (CSP) has been criticised for alleged complicity in the government's
political abuse of psychiatry towards
Falun Gong
Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
practitioners—including by detaining individuals via diagnosing adherents as "political maniacs" or with "
Qi Gong
''Qigong'' (), ''qi gong'', ''chi kung'', ''chi 'ung'', or ''chi gung'' () is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation
used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial-arts training. With roots in ...
psychosis".
Antipsychotic drugs were wrongly prescribed to practitioners.
In 2004, the CSP agreed on a joint response with the
World Psychiatric Association
The World Psychiatric Association is an international umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies.
Objectives and goals
Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional meetings, to promote profess ...
to the allegations. According to the CSP, certain psychiatrists had "failed to distinguish between spiritual-cultural beliefs and delusions" due to "lack of training and professional skills", and this led to misdiagnoses. However, they claimed this was not a systematic issue and invited the WPA to correct the problem.
The WPA stated, "What has become clear... has been the need to assist Chinese colleagues in matters concerning forensic psychiatry, medical ethics, patients' rights, mental health legislation, diagnosis and classification, to help them improve the care of mentally ill in China and prevent future abuses."
Arthur Kleinman
Arthur Michael Kleinman (born March 11, 1941) is an American psychiatrist, psychiatric anthropologist and a professor of medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry at Harvard University. He is well known for his work on mental illness ...
, a psychiatrist at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, said he believed the claims about systematic abuse of psychiatry were exaggerated, while acknowledging that it did occur in some cases.
Abraham Halpern
Dr. Abraham L. Halpern (February 2, 1925 - April 20, 2013) was a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at New York Medical College and former president of The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
In a wide-ranging career, Dr. Halpern was a cha ...
, a psychiatrist at
New York Medical College
New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System.
NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the Schoo ...
and board member of the
Friends of Falun Gong, USA, criticized the WPA for not demanding an investigative mission in China.
[Abraham L. Halpern]
Letter to the World Medical Association
, April 15, 2007
A follow-up review of the controversy was written by
Alan A. Stone
Alan Abraham Stone (August 15, 1929 – January 23, 2022) was an American psychiatrist who was the Touroff-Glueck Professor of Law and Psychiatry (Emeritus) at the Harvard Law School. His writing and teaching has focused on professional medical ...
, a professor of psychiatry and president of the
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are invo ...
, and published in the ''
Psychiatric Times
''Psychiatric Times'' is a medical trade publication written for an audience involved in the profession of psychiatry. It is published monthly by MJH Associates and is distributed to about 50,000 psychiatrists monthly. The download of the journa ...
''. Stone determined that psychiatrists in China were generally poorly trained and did not receive the sort of medical training which was standard in
the West. Stone said this was cause for the misdiagnoses.''
''
See also
*
Mental health in China
Mental health in China is a growing issue. Experts have estimated that about 173 million people living in China are suffering from a mental disorder. The desire to seek treatment is largely hindered by China's strict social norms (and subseque ...
*
Political abuse of psychiatry in China
Political abuse of psychiatry, also commonly referred to as punitive psychiatry, is the misuse of psychiatry, including diagnosis, detention, and treatment, for the purposes of obstructing the human rights of individuals and/or groups in a society ...
References
External links
Webpage by and about the Chinese Society of PsychiatryWebsite of the Chinese Journal of Psychiatry(English text version)
{{Authority control
Psychiatric associations
Scientific organizations established in 1951
1951 establishments in China
Medical associations based in China
Psychiatry education
Mental health organizations in China