Implications of Confucianism for Psychology

The Implications of Confucianism for Modern Psychological Counseling

Abstract Confucianism once dominated traditional Chinese culture. In view of its cultural inheritance and its inevitable role in mental health, the value of Confucianism in psychological counseling should be given due attention. The article emphasizes

that it is not appropriate to stereotypically deny the psychological counseling value of Confucianism. Based on the common problems of psychological counseling, the article initially discusses nine areas in which Confucianism may contribute to psychological counseling: meaning of life, coping

, life and death education, grief counseling, psychological adjustment, interpersonal awareness, social life skills, personality development, and counseling techniques. Then, the methodological problems of constructing Confucian psychological counseling doctrines by using Confucianism as a resource and psychology as a purpose are discussed

, through organizing and discovering, developing, operationalizing and verifying. Keywords Confucianism ,Confucianism ,Counseling ,Mental Health ,Culture .

1 The necessity of studying the counseling value of Confucianism

Confucianism refers to "the school of thought founded by Confucius at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period in China." According to the representative statement, "Confucianism is characterized by the following features: ? Confucius was the master of Confucianism, and his words and deeds were regarded as the highest norms. The classics include the Poetry, the Book

, the Music, the Rites, the Yi, and the Spring and Autumn Annals; ? [ 1 ]

In terms of the historical role of Confucianism, Confucianism has been the dominant ideology of the major Chinese dynasties since the Western Han Dynasty, and its influence on China has been enormous. "For more than 2,000 years before the May Fourth Movement,

Confucianism has dominated Chinese academia, and has had the greatest influence and the longest duration in Chinese history." [ 2 ] "I still believe that Confucianism (first and foremost, of course, Confucius and

The Analects of Confucius) probably played an irreplaceable and leading role in shaping and structuring the cultural and psychological structure of the Han Chinese nation." [ 3 ]

This is the first time that Confucianism has been recognized by the Chinese government as the most influential and influential ideology in Chinese history. [3]

This shows that Confucianism cannot be avoided in the study of the Chinese people, or in solving the problems of the Chinese people. This conclusion also applies to the development of

Development of psychological counseling theories and techniques that are compatible with Chinese culture. Therefore, the study of the psychological counseling value of Confucianism is a realistic requirement of Chinese society and culture

.

In fact, from the theoretical level, this claim also lies in the natural connection between culture and mental health: first of all, culture influences people's evaluation of people with mental illness. For example, the same evaluation of people with mental illness

,

Americans often have such views as "people with mental illness are unstable and

dangerous" [ 4 ]. Chinese people, on the other hand, often believe that having a mental problem is a loss of face, and tend to give a moral judgment to people with mental illness [ 5 ]

. This leads to differences in the way patients seek help [ 6 ]; Secondly, culture influences the way symptoms of mental illness are expressed. For example, neurasthenia in Chinese, Su sto in Latin America

(a symptom of illness in which the soul leaves the body as a result of a frightening event) [ 7 ] ; thirdly, culture also influences the process of psychological counseling and treatment. For example, studies have found that Asian Americans exhibit a low tolerance for uncertainty in the counseling process, a preference for structured situations and practices, and an expectation of rapid problem solving.

1/22 pages

[ 8 ] Chinese visitors tend to receive direct guidance from the counselor [ 9 ] Croesus states directly that "culture is a source of social support, problem solving

, physical health, and spiritual well-being" [ 10 ]. Thus, culture is an organic factor in the formation of mental health problems, therefore, in order to solve the mental health problems of Chinese people well

, we cannot help but consider making efforts from the perspective of Chinese culture. Of course, this is not to deny the universality of the mechanism of mental health, but to emphasize it from a more accurate point of view.

Scholars have recognized the need to study mental health from a cultural perspective. There is a growing body of work on mental health from a Chinese cultural perspective. For example, some scholars have conducted many studies from the perspectives of Taoism and Buddhism. [11,13]

However, there are few studies on psychological counseling from Confucianism, the mainstream of Chinese culture. For example, in the Psychology Database

3 The Behavioral Health Research Center of the University of Hong Kong, Sun Yat-sen University, Phase II of the "985 Project" Public **** Management and Social Development Research Philosophy and Social Science Innovation Base Special Fund Grants.

P syc IN FO ,only two related dissertation abstracts were retrieved .

This result is rare for a psychological literature search, which often retrieves hundreds of related documents. In these two reports, one discusses the inspiration of Confucian self-cultivation thought on psychological counseling [ 14 ]

,

and the other discusses the influence of Confucianism on psychological counseling in the context of Chinese culture [ 15 ].

There are no research reports that directly, positively and holistically discuss the psychological counseling of Confucianism, i.e., sorting out the origins of Confucianism, refining the core concepts, and constructing a systematic theory of psychological counseling.

Obviously,

such a research situation is not in line with the real influence of Confucianism in China.

Additionally, the question of the counseling value of Confucianism was inspired by the research on beliefs and health and mental health, a hot topic in the field of mental health. The issue of beliefs and mental health, which has not been emphasized by mainstream psychology in the past, is now even regarded as a cutting-edge issue in psychology and

physical and mental medicine [ 16,18 ]. Thus, if we want to study the beliefs and health and mental health of Chinese people, we cannot but start from

Confucianism. Because, from the historical facts, Confucianism has long been the core of Chinese people's spiritual beliefs. "The Analects of Confucius" book propaganda, the dissemination, the argumentation of those 'reason

', 'norms', ideas, ideas, has been passed from generation to generation, long penetrated in the two thousand years in China's political and religious system, Social habits, psychological habits and people's behavior, thinking

thinking, speech, activities." [3]

It is clear that in order to solve the mental health problems of the Chinese people, especially from the perspective of Chinese culture, it is necessary to pay attention to Confucianism.

The fact that there is a necessity does not mean that there is a possibility. From a theoretical

theoretical point of view, Confucianism's psychological counseling value of the possibility of how? This can be viewed from the historical resources and the development of counseling psychology from two aspects:

First of all, the ancient knowledge has no modern value? To answer this question, we have to look at modern people and ancient people's psychological (spiritual) have *** with or

*** common, with *** similarity, there is the adaptability of the use of modern psychology. It should be recognized that there are differences between ancient and modern people. This is mainly expressed in the social structure of the differences between the ancient and modern people caused by the difference in psychological

content. However, in the abstract, both ancient and modern people have to deal with the problems of man and himself, man and man, man and society. Therefore, the problems of ancient

2/22 page

generation people may also be the problems of modern people. Moreover, the development of human knowledge is inherited and accumulated. For example, the main concepts used by Confucius, such as "fate", "benevolence", "ritual",

has been continuously working in Chinese social life for more than two thousand years. That is to say, the inheritance of culture determines different degrees of consistency in values and other mentalities between ancestors and descendants

. Therefore, the relevant psychological thoughts of the ancient people are also applicable to the modern people to a certain extent. Therefore, from the perspective of disciplinary integration, it is possible to construct or develop

a modern psychological counseling theory from Confucianism.

Secondly, from the content of Confucianism, Confucianism can provide a source of knowledge for

modern psychological counseling. When it comes to Confucianism, people often think that it is political. In fact, from the pre-Qin period to the late Qing Dynasty, Confucianism has undergone a complex evolution, showing a concentric and multi-faceted form

, and forming branches of Confucianism such as Life Confucianism, Ethical Confucianism, and Political Confucianism [ 19 ]. Life Confucianism

Confucianism is the first of its kind in Confucianism, and its core idea, summarized in the words of Confucius, is the spirit of "benevolence". The value orientation of "benevolence" stipulates the value concepts of what people are and how to be people

;Ethical Confucianism emphasizes the difference between human beings and animals, stresses the cognition of people's kinship, and advocates that through the rituals and music and education, the norms and the formation of the social nature of human beings. This is embodied in the three principles and five norms and other aspects

Face; political Confucianism is based on their own life, social concepts, designed to repair the political doctrine and political system. For humanistic Confucianism, it is concerned with the spiritual survival of human beings

. "The name of Confucius' study is 'Renxue', which refers to its ideal. In terms of its reality, Confucius' study can be called 'humanistic study'." [ 20 ] "Confucius' study is a study of humanism. [ 20 ] "The root concern of the Confucian tradition

is to learn how to be human." [ 2 ] And the purpose of modern psychological counseling is to solve people's psychological problems, improve adaptability, and promote people's growth [ 4 ]. Since Confucianism aims at "becoming a man

", Confucianism, especially the Confucianism of life, has to fundamentally answer the question of how a man can live appropriately. This cannot but involve many questions about man and himself, man and man, man and society, and so on

. Around these issues, Confucianism has given its own interpretation or determination, such as the meaning of life, frustration, interpersonal relationships, physical and mental adjustment. And so on

. These issues are quite consistent with the issues discussed in modern psychological counseling. Since they are quite consistent, it is possible to explore counseling resources

from Confucianism, especially life Confucianism.

In fact, the modern Western counseling doctrine, most of its cultural or philosophical tradition of foundation. For example, from Freud's theory, you can see the shadow of the ancient Greek pleasureism [ 21 ]. For example,

, the Frankensteinian meaning therapy, which is currently popular in the West, also has a background in Jewish religious thought [22]. This suggests that Confucianism's basic concepts about the spiritual life of human beings can also serve as the philosophical and cultural basis for a culturally appropriate counseling doctrine in China.

All in all, the reason for studying the psychological counseling value of Confucianism is not only due to the historical fact that Confucianism has been the mainstream of Chinese historical and cultural traditions, but also because Confucianism has already become an integral part of the psychological life of the Chinese people

, and from the experience of the development of Western psychological counseling, it is also inseparable from the nutrition of traditional culture.

2 Positioning of the value of Confucianism in psychological counseling

To put forward the idea of the value of Confucianism in psychological counseling, I believe that many people have doubts: how should we look at the positive and negative impacts of Confucianism on mental health? What is the size of the role of Confucianism in counseling

What is the relationship between Confucian theories of counseling and other theories of counseling? And so on. Fundamentally, these questions are related to the positioning of Confucian

psychological counseling, and they can be summarized into two aspects: the modern psychological value of Confucianism,

3/22 page

the positioning of the role of Confucian psychological counseling.

2. 1 The Modern Psychological Value of Confucianism

This issue is linked to the controversy over the value of Confucianism. At present, many people believe that Confucianism is outdated and even has a negative impact on human psychology.

This paper argues that such a realization is incomplete. Confucianism certainly has negative aspects, such as the ethical nature of Confucianism, which has led to the phenomenon of stigma labeling of psychological problems among Chinese

people, [ 5 ] but Confucianism also has a positive effect on the human psyche. For example, empirical studies have shown that the Confucian idea of coping with hardship as a way of growing up

has a definite positive effect on mental health [ 23 ], and so on.

The basic proposition of this paper is that the psychological function of Confucianism is multi-faceted

with both positive and negative aspects. The positive side should be applied and the negative side should be corrected. The purpose of exploring the psychological counseling value of Confucianism is to discover the positive aspects of Confucianism or the knowledge that is suitable for psychological counseling, and to psychologize them. As for the negative impact of Confucianism on mental health, it is also necessary to conduct in-depth research, rather than making superficial, specious and subjective

judgments.

2.2 The Role of Confucian Counseling

Some scholars may think that Confucianism should solve all psychological problems when discussing the counseling value of Confucianism. This article

does not hold such a single view, and the basic position is that Confucianism does not solve all psychological problems. This is just as behaviorism and humanism have their own fields of application. Therefore, the relationship between Confucian counseling and counseling of other schools of thought

should not be a substitution relationship, but a complementary relationship. This is the same as humanism can not completely replace psychoanalysis, cognitive

knowledge school can not replace the behaviorist school.

Seeing that the value of Confucianism in counseling is not to deny the value of Western mental health theories or disciplines, but to make a new attempt to make counseling more culturally compatible with the clients, more perfected in doctrine, and more diverse in technique

.

3 The content of Confucian counseling

The necessity, possibility, and orientation of Confucian counseling have been argued above, so what aspects of Confucianism can constitute the content of modern counseling? Obviously, this is the core of Confucianism's psychological

counseling value.

This question is not easy to answer. This is because Confucianism has gradually developed into a huge system of thought over the course of history, involving many areas of society, culture and life. Moreover,

, how to make ancient thought and modern

disciplines, Western culture and Chinese culture, in the concrete operation

is not easy to grasp. Therefore, to explore the psychological counseling value of Confucianism, we should first consider the theoretical basis for determining the content of Confucian psychological counseling.

So, what is the standard basis? Theoretically, the content and goals of modern psychological counseling should be the basis for organizing the potential

Confucian psychological counseling ideas.

Psychological counseling is one of the disciplines for maintaining mental health. Although psychological counseling is mainly corrective and