Preface#
Recently, I plan to resume the weekly journal series and intend to change it to a series of one hour of creative work each week (the one hour is a vague reference, aiming to control it within half a day on weekends), mainly to maintain a state of thinking and creation as much as possible. The content of the creation is not limited to specific themes and may revolve around topics I have been thinking about recently.
Asians don't need therapy.
This is a phrase I heard on a stand-up comedy show. Although the jokes thrown out in stand-up comedy shouldn't be taken too seriously, the meaning this phrase conveys is something that every East Asian understands.
Coincidentally, I have also been thinking about some topics related to mental health recently and have some relevant insights.
I will discuss it in two parts. One is about the pursuit of mental health, and the other is about methods of psychotherapy.
Mental Health#
The first time I seriously questioned the concept of mental health was when I was confined at home in Shanghai during the lockdown, seeing many people online sharing ways to seek psychological counseling. I understand the goodwill behind this, but I still find it ironic. Do I really need psychological counseling? All I need is to go outside and get some sunlight, to live a normal life.
Recently, due to some events, I have been contemplating whether I need psychotherapy, and once again, I fell into doubt about the pursuit of "mental health." Assuming "mental health" is indeed a state that can be achieved, what good is it if only I am healthy? What can I do if the people around me are not healthy? In an unhealthy society, most people's mental health issues are not psychological problems but social problems.
Modern people seem to have a kind of worship for the pursuit of mental health. But can the mind really be healthy?
If we compare it to physical health, high blood pressure, diabetes, breast hyperplasia, cervical spondylosis... who doesn't carry some illness? Yet life continues, right? Living within controllable limits is just how it is. I think mental health is similar. Health, a childhood without trauma, is inherently a luxury. We must accept that we are people who can get sick at any time. The so-called reconciliation with oneself is just this.
Then why do we pursue mental health? For happiness?
There is some reasoning behind this. For example, the concept I have always accepted is that happiness in intimate relationships comes from mutual respect, and both parties adopt healthy communication methods, and so on. In other words, the key to happiness lies in the mental health of people during their interactions.
But is this true?
Observing many seemingly happy couples around me, it seems they are not happy because both are psychologically mature and healthy, but rather because their unhealthy points happen to match. In other words, the key to happiness is that one is willing to give and the other is willing to endure.
Psychotherapy#
The pursuit of mental health seems to be a concept that only emerged in modern times. I try to think, if psychological needs are one of the most fundamental needs of humanity, then before modern times, did people have no pursuit of psychological states at all?
Indeed, the traditional Chinese concept has never included the pursuit of mental health, but there are many guidelines on what kind of "heart" one should have. For example, Wang Yangming, who vowed to become a sage, left behind a famous saying before his death: "This heart is bright, what more is there to say?" Yes, does such a life need to say anything more? Is it still important to judge Wang Yangming's mental health by modern standards?
Human sorrow and joy do not communicate. I often see people online complaining that white therapists cannot understand the anxiety and fear of East Asians. It is helpless.
But Chinese people have their own methods of psychotherapy. In recent years, practices like fortune-telling and seeking deities have become popular among young people, and I must say these do indeed contribute to mental health. From what I understand, at least the Eastern fortune-telling systems are based on a complete philosophy of yin and yang, and the implication that "one cannot always be smooth sailing, nor can one always be in a low point; there must be ups and downs" is full of wisdom. Who can say that these effects are worse than cognitive therapy? Moreover, the most important thing is that for a country with 600 million people earning only 1000 yuan a month, psychotherapy is indeed a luxury.
There are many dimensions to view the world; no one is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. If science and the psychoanalysis/psychology that extends from it are another form of redemption after the death of God, then the Chinese, who have never had faith for thousands of years, have long formed their own redemption vouchers.
Regarding the concept of mental health, I have indeed become somewhat "disenchanted."