Nina If you want to go to a hospital for formal psychological consultation, the highest priority is the psychology department of the local public mental health hospital, followed by the psychosomatic medicine department and clinical psychology department of the public tertiary general hospital. It is not recommended to choose the relevant departments of private institutions without formal medical qualifications and Putian hospitals.
I have been in the clinic for almost eight years, and I have encountered many clients who have taken detours. The one who impressed me the most was Xiao Qin, a sophomore who came to me for follow-up consultation last year. She used to cry because of the pressure of the postgraduate entrance examination. She was afraid of being seen by her classmates when she went to the mental hospital, so she found a warmly decorated "psychological counseling studio" near the school. The other person said that she was an "American certified hypnotherapist" , a one-time charge of 1,200, and after four treatments, not only did she not get better, but the other PUA said, "You are in pain because you don't want to break up with your parents." She almost dropped out of school. Later, a counselor accompanied her to the Provincial Jingwei, where she was diagnosed with a moderate depressive episode. After taking two months of medication and weekly psychological consultation in a public hospital, she slowly recovered.
Of course, this does not mean that all private clinics are bad. There are now many private clinics in the industry run by senior doctors who came from public hospitals. The environment is good, you don’t have to wait too long for an appointment, and the time for a single consultation is sufficient. However, the fees are generally 2-3 times higher than that of public hospitals, and you have to keep your eyes peeled. You must see whether the doctor has a medical practice certificate issued by the Health Commission, and whether the area of expertise matches your problem. For those who come up and say "guaranteed" and "three cures for depression," you can go directly regardless of whether it is public or private.
In fact, choosing a hospital for psychological consultation is a bit like choosing a dental hospital: a public specialist hospital is equivalent to a public dental hospital. The doctors are professional and the fees are compliant. Even if there are many people waiting in line for a long time, there will be no arbitrary diagnosis and treatment or arbitrary charging. If it involves the need for medication or the identification of severe mental illness, you must go to such a public institution to be reliable.； Formal private psychological clinics are equivalent to chain high-end dental clinics, with good service experience and flexible hours. They are suitable for people who have ruled out serious pathological problems and want long-term development consultation. As for those small institutions whose qualifications cannot be checked, they are like unlicensed dental clinics in the alley. If you are lucky, you may be able to get by, but if you are not lucky, the treatment will get worse.
I often hear complaints from visitors, saying that psychological consultation in public hospitals is too much like "going through the process". It lasts for 50 minutes at a time, and the doctor has to take the next call. Sometimes the time is up as soon as the emotional point is reached. This is indeed the objective status quo of the current shortage of public medical resources, so many people will choose a compromise plan: go to the public hospital first for the first time. The department will make a complete diagnosis and rule out organic and severe mental problems. If you need medication, take the medication as directed by the doctor. For subsequent long-term consultation, you can choose a public hospital or a formally registered psychological counselor based on your financial situation and time. After all, the compatibility between you and the counselor is the core factor that affects the effectiveness of the consultation.
Oh, by the way, if there is no specialized mental health hospital in your small city, you can also first go to the neurology or general outpatient clinic of the local tertiary-level hospital to ask. There are usually related psychology resources. Don’t just search for the top-ranked “psychological consultation hospitals” on the Internet. Most of them are bidding advertisements, and the probability of being scammed is very high.
