Coping with schizophrenia: Western treatment and Eastern healing in harmony

In Hong Kong, there is a phenomenon of the West and East cultural ideas mix harmoniously. Chinese in Hong Kong are simultaneously influenced by traditional Chinese and Western beliefs, and a unique blend of Chinese and Western religious and metaphysical beliefs is found in Hong Kong Chinese (Hui, 1991; Hui et al., 1989; Leung, 1996). Similarly, the coping of Hong Kong Chinese with schizophrenia is shaped by traditional Chinese and Western beliefs simultaneously. My in-depth interviews with a number of Chinese diagnosed with schizophrenia reveal that when coping with their mental illness, Chinese clients would resort to both traditional Chinese cultural practices and modern Western psychiatric treatment at the same time and they do not see any contradiction in these apparently conflicting modes of treatment. This finding sheds light on indigenizing social work practice in the mental health field. It also indicates that knowledge of and sensitivity to Chinese cultural practices and religious healing facilitate us social workers to collaborate with clients more smoothly and helps us formulate more culturally appropriate interventions while working with Chinese suffering from schizophrenia and their families.