The tour seeks ways to educate for the new competencies required of 21st century mental health leaders
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NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The rising rates of mental illness, the growing middle class, and rising societal pressures have led the Chinese government to take a hard look at the psychological impact of its growing economy. This tour of China in mid October visits leading forward-thinking mental health institutions that are already preparing for the new challenges.
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The CAPA study tour for American mental health professionals (organized with the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry) fosters cultural exchange and understanding of the practice of psychotherapy in Chinese universities, hospitals and communities.
The inaugural China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA) Study Tour of China, October 16 through November 1, began today. Twenty-five CAPA members, affiliated with such organizations as the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Psychoanalytic Association, the Freudian Society, Academy of Psychoanalysis and the William Alanson White, arrived in Beijing, China, to give lectures, consultations, and supervisions and visit a variety of mental health facilities in the five-city, 17-day tour. Elise Snyder, MD, founder and president of CAPA, serves as the tour's official study leader.
Many CAPA teachers will meet their students in person for the first time, having trained them in psychoanalytic psychotherapy using Skype and WebEx. The Chinese students must complete 240 hours of coursework and 6O hours of individual supervision for a certificate from CAPA's two-year training program.
This Study Tour will help these U.S. leaders identify and develop new ideas, skills and capabilities to help train their Chinese counterparts. By visiting and conferring with their Chinese peers in an intensive program, they will gain first-hand knowledge of emerging practices in universities, hospitals, and medical schools in China.
Questions to be answered during the Tour include: How can local Chinese go about developing a psychodynamic strategy for patient care? What is the best way to impart basic concepts of psychoanalytic psychotherapy to members of another culture? There will be lectures on Defense Mechanisms, Ego Psychology, Transference, Contributions of Psychoanalysis to Contemporary Practice of Psychotherapy, Basic Concepts of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Everyday Behaviors and Responding Under Stress, Psychodynamic Perspectives, and Psychotherapy with the Medically Ill—all vitally important to this enterprise. What new capabilities and support will China need to accelerate these training initiatives?
The study tour participants will visit Peking University; Institute of Mental Health, Peking University; Tsinghua University, First People's Hospital in Xian, Huaxi Medical School in Chengdu; Southwest University for Finance and Economics; Wuhan Hospital for Psychotherapy; Wuhan Zhongde Hospital; Counseling Center of East China Normal University; Tongyi University Counseling Center; and the Shanghai Mental Health Center. Dr. Elise Snyder, President of CAPA will visit the Disaster Area where CAPA has had a large presence since three days after the Sichuan Earthquake.
CAPA created a schedule to showcase Chinese culture, art, nature, industries, city projects, cuisine and entertainment within each region, explains Elise Snyder. The tour bus will have a guide well versed in the local sights to educate the CAPA Members as they visit Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Wuhan and Shanghai.
The inaugural CAPA Study Tour was the result of a planning effort that began in August 2009, by Snyder, CAPA's Fundraising Committee, CAPA's Chinese partners and the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry. Planning also involved students who facilitated presentations and meetings with Chinese faculty members. CAPA appears to be the model for many training programs in China.
CAPA members hope to make the study tour an annual event. One goal the tour has accomplished is fund raising. Funds raised will only partially offset program development costs in 2010, however. Staffed solely by volunteers, contributing time and resources, CAPA has come far since being incorporated as a non-profit in 2006. Substantially more monies are needed to subsidize the cost of treatment, reduce the backlog of patients and attract qualified analysts to participate in the program.
"Participating over the Internet and finally meeting participants face-to-face gives students and teachers alike a great sense of satisfaction," said Snyder. "Later this month, plans will begin for next year's tour. We hope to add two more cities where we will have new training programs."
The China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA) is a non-profit organization created to promote psychoanalytic thinking, psychoanalytic treatment and psychotherapy training in China via distance learning and treatment. "Our mission is to enhance the lives of Chinese residents by training therapists in contemporary psychodynamic practices to help their fellow citizens."
For more information on CAPA and China Study Tour 2010, see www.capachina.org or contact Elise Snyder, president of the CAPA, at 212-533-0310 or at [email protected].
SOURCE China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA)
