Stressed, depressed Chinese embrace therapy with 'less stigma': music
Not just for the rich, healing through trained music therapists is becoming an accepted practice amid taboos over psychotherapy
Stressed-out mainlanders are turning to music therapy to help them relax, a treatment that carries less of the social stigma than sessions with a psychologist.
At the private, membership-only Ciming Oasis Hospital in Beijing, a one-hour session with a music therapist costs up to 1,000 yuan (HK$1,260) per hour on top of the annual membership fee, which can cost up to 15,000 yuan.
“Most of our clients are upper middle-class, from all ages and backgrounds,” said Hu Lin, a music therapist at Ciming. “They see me for different reasons – some have been clinically diagnosed, some are having trouble in their lives, others just want to de-stress”.
Therapists employ the qualities of music such as sound, rhythm and harmony to treat a range of physical and emotional conditions from depression and anxiety to dementia and autism.
“There is still a social shame factor,” said Wang Lujie, a professor of music therapy at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. “People don’t want to be called crazy because they’re seeing a therapist.”
There is still a social shame factor. People don’t want to be called crazy because they’re seeing a therapist
Hu and other music therapists never use the term “patient”, preferring “client” or “visitor”.