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Chinese indigenous psychotherapies in Singapore
Author(s) -
Lee Boon-Ooi
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
counselling and psychotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1746-1405
pISSN - 1473-3145
DOI - 10.1080/14733140212331384938
Subject(s) - indigenous , shamanism , psychodynamics , psychotherapist , psychology , relevance (law) , traditional chinese medicine , western medicine , traditional medicine , alternative medicine , medicine , history , political science , ecology , archaeology , biology , law , pathology
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of folk therapies or traditional medicine to counselling in Singapore. It addresses the meanings of the indigenous psychotherapies and then the rationales for understanding them. Three popular Chinese indigenous psychotherapies have been selected for discussion in terms of their aetiology and treatment beliefs about emotional problems: traditional Chinese medicine, dang‐ki (Chinese shamanism), and feng‐shui (Chinese geomancy). Findings from an empirical study are briefly presented to show that Chinese Singaporean clients hold eclectic belief systems encompassing both beliefs derived from thse indigenous psychotherapies and those from Western psychotherapies (e.g. psychodynamic and behavioural therapies). Two cases are presented to illustrate the application of these indigenous psychotherapies in counselling practice.