$1,200 per 50 minutes What should be the price of counseling?
■ Psychological counseling open sky-high prices
"Hello, is the Clinical Psychology Center at BYU?"
"Yes, what help do you need?"
"My wife wants to kill herself, what can I do?"
"We have a very specialized expert in family therapy here and you can make an appointment with him. His rate is $1200 per 50 minutes."
This visitor immediately bought two 50-minute sessions with the therapy specialist. In his opinion, if psychotherapy and counseling can save his family, he doesn't care how much it costs. The $1,200 per 50-minute session is just a meal and a night out with friends, and not even enough for him. This visitor is the boss of a company in Zhongguancun, Beijing, and now has tens of billions of dollars in personal assets. During his years of struggle, his wife had given him a lot of support. Now that his career is successful, he is faced with the painful situation of his wife committing suicide because of psychological problems.
On July 12, the Peking University Clinical Psychology Center officially opened the highest price for domestic psychotherapy and consultation: 1,200 yuan per 50 minutes. This price immediately caused a furor in the industry.
"Who explains to me why psychological counseling fees are so expensive?" Some people expressed doubts about the morality of such a high price? Will it turn away a large number of the general public who need counseling and therapy?
"Good products and services deserve high prices." The center's executive deputy director, Professor Cong Zhong of Peking University's Institute of Mental Health, said, "A certain writer in Beijing, while writing, also conducts psychological counseling. His price is 800 yuan per 50 minutes. And I dare say that the experts who visit the counseling department of Peking University's Clinical Psychology Center are all at a higher professional level than that writer. Why can't we set such a price?" According to Congzhong, BJU charges $150 per 50 minutes for psychotherapy, which is equivalent to more than 1,200 yuan.
Congzhong emphasized that in the face of the market, moral standards cannot be used to measure. For example, a person has a myocardial infarction, the need for cardiac intervention to place a stent, a stent on several tens of thousands of dollars, if the family is poor, can not pay the money, will watch the patient die. At this time, will not also hate the doctor or hospital: why the price is so high? Is there any morality?
"1000 or so dollars for counseling is very expensive, but that is to stand in the perspective of pure consumption to see; if you stand in the perspective of life investment, it is not expensive." As an example, Cung said that a friend once spent 15,000 yuan on psychotherapy. Now he's making over $6,000 a month, not counting bonuses and whatnot. And there is a girlfriend, but also bought a house, will soon have a family ...... This is once upon a time he did not even dare to think about things! That friend excitedly said that without the help of psychological counseling, he would not have everything now. Back then, serious psychological problems made him hide at home, and even thought of suicide. This 15,000 yuan, for him to spend too much money.
"The psychological services we provide now are not a reduction of the original psychological services, but on the basis of the original psychotherapy counseling services, we have increased the high-quality psychological services provided to high-income people. Low-income people can still seek low-fee psychotherapy and counseling services within the original medical institutions as they did originally." Cong emphasized.
■ Psychological counseling and treatment is a luxury consumption
It is understood that the Peking University Clinical Psychology Center by the Peking University Sixth Hospital (Peking University Institute of Mental Health), the Department of Psychology at Peking University and Peking University Department of Medicine Medical Psychology Teaching and Research Department **** with the formation of the professional staff is mainly engaged in years of psychotherapy and counseling clinics, teaching and scientific research work of the doctor, The program is designed to be a clinical research institute, which is a research center of the Department of Psychology at Peking University.
Prof. Congzhong made it clear in an interview with a newsletter reporter that their services are positioned in the white-collar class, especially when the "big brother" was 50,000 yuan a piece, and the "big brother" stood in the middle of the road holding a "big brother", "hello", "hello", "hello", "hello", "hello". "The first thing you need to do is to get your hands dirty.
Does this mean that rich people need psychological counseling and treatment more? Will it lead to psychological counseling and treatment become the privilege of the "boss"? Prof. Cong did not answer directly. But he said the mental health of many of those who made their fortunes 10 years ago is a cause for concern.
A private joint-stock company's boss is worth tens of millions of dollars, however, if we use modern health standards, he is living a completely unhealthy life. Every now and then, he has to take antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs, the longest time, he served for two years. Still from time to time because of these psychological problems and had to interrupt the work.
A domestic magazine has done a survey on the pain index of managers, found that they are too much, too strong resistance, pressure more than their own mental capacity, are different degrees of mental restlessness, tension, anxiety, depression, insomnia and other adverse reactions. The vast majority of them are in a state of "exhaustion", and many of them are easily provoked, lose their temper, have a sense of compulsion, in a state of pain, they often can not control themselves, can not concentrate, can not make a decision, low efficiency, irritability and irritability, and it is easy to become addicted to alcohol, or even drug abuse.
The series did not shy away from saying that, in the current situation, the people who can enjoy psychotherapy counseling services are first of all rich people, not the general public.
How to solve the general public psychotherapy and counseling? The way to realize the common masses to enjoy psychotherapy and consulting services is not through hospitals or doctors with low charges, but through the development of the national economy, so that the people have a higher economic income, and on this basis, to raise the awareness of mental health, so that people are willing to spend on mental health.
■ "Psychotherapist income is not equal to the three Miss"
Congzhong said: "According to the current market, some master's degree graduated piano teacher 45 minutes to charge 150 yuan, and even a junior high school graduated girl, after two or three weeks of training, went to accompany the guests to dance! Even a girl who graduated from junior high school, after two or three weeks of training, goes to dance with her clients and sings out of tune, earning at least 50 yuan an hour. And the current Beijing medical institutions within the psychotherapy charges are: 30 yuan each time, vice high above the experts every 45 minutes charge 60 yuan, vice high below the charge of 45 yuan, and some of the university psychological counseling center is said to have had an hour 2.45 yuan of ultra-low prices."
Cong Zhong said, "If the charges for psychotherapy can't catch up with and exceed the charges of a three-partner lady, the psychotherapy industry can't have a big development. When the number of psychological clinics on our streets is more than the number of nightclubs, and when the income of psychotherapists is higher than that of the three-attendant ladies, the mental health of the Chinese people can be maintained in a truly effective way."
According to Congzhong, the purpose of setting such a high price is to promote the development of psychotherapy and counseling in the direction of specialization and professionalization. An embarrassing fact is that China's psychotherapy and counseling as an industry can't even feed itself, let alone dive into development.
"At present, the psychological outpatient clinics in general hospitals are losing money, not to mention not making money, is to make less money, it would be better to shut down the psychotherapy clinic, change the other professional clinics!" Congzhong said, there was a urologist said to him: you charge an hour of psychotherapy, but not as much as a few minutes to open a laboratory bill to earn more money. He could write a lab test requisition in a few minutes, and in a day, his commission income would be high. "And really, what you get after you've paid your money is just talking to inanimate machines, while the doctor gets paid quite a bit of money for little to no exertion." Cong feels this is very unfair.
In Congzhong's view, psychotherapists and counselors sell the time of life, that is, psychotherapists and counselors, with their own lives to accompany the growth of visitors. Psychotherapists and counselors, in the process of receiving visitors, not only to spend time, but also to listen to the visitors of various bad emotions and catharsis, a day down to the doctor's own mood have a lot of adverse effects. And now those economics professors if the white-collar lectures, such as business planning and so on, an hour's income can reach several thousand dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars. "Also after years of professional training in clinical psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, but it is precisely because the counseling rates are so low that high-level clinical psychologists and professors are not as good as when psychiatrists, internists or engaged in other industries to earn more money, they would rather go to lecture rather than receive visitors and provide psychological counseling services for the visitors ."
Cong Zhong said, because the current cost of lecturing for a day is about 2,000 yuan; and the training fee is even higher. Such a market is actually a deformed market, people who need psychological services but can not enjoy a high level of psychotherapy and counseling services. This is exactly the problem that so many people are experiencing now: where can I find a better psychotherapist?
In the interview, a reluctant to disclose the name of the psychological counselor confessed that they usually do not give up doing psychological counseling is mainly to give lectures and training to accumulate material. A counseling expert surnamed Xu is very angry with this current situation, but he is very helpless. This is the sadness of the current psychological counseling and treatment industry.
At the third annual meeting of the psychotherapy and counseling profession, experts said that in the last century, there were 550 counselors for every 1 million people in the United States, while the number in China is only in the single digits, even less than one percent of others.
Another embarrassing situation is that, at present, psychological treatment and counseling, does not belong to the scope of basic medical care, in many provinces and cities, public medical care does not include "psychological treatment and counseling. According to Congzhong, the high price should not be borne by the patient, but by the government or health insurance companies to solve the problem. Under the current situation, psychological treatment and counseling can only be a high consumption, a kind of luxury, so its price can only be high first. At the same time, we should also tell you that psychotherapy and counseling often need many times to meet to work, if only one meeting, the doctor has not yet figured out what is going on in the psychology of the visitor, the visitor will be difficult to get the most effective help.
Things are rare and expensive. Congzhong said, I personally advocate that the price should first go up and then can be adjusted through the market supply and demand, until the final adjustment to a therapist or consultant and the visitor can recognize the price and complete the transaction, which is the road to the market of psychotherapy and consulting services.
So will psychotherapy and counseling come down in price over time? Congzhong thinks it is unlikely. He said, as plasma televisions and other industrial products, can be mass-produced to reduce costs; and the painter's paintings, can not be mass-produced, can not reduce costs, can only be with the development of society, with the increase in people's incomes and the price gradually increased, psychotherapy and counseling, can not be detached from the consultant, therapist and mechanized mass production, with the development of society, with the increase in people's incomes, prices can only be higher and higher, the price will also be higher and higher. The price can only get higher and higher.
■ Such a high price, the rich buy?
In Beijing, Zhixinqiao northwest of a small courtyard in the three-storey building, just opened a month or so of Peking University Clinical Psychology Center Counseling Department has a number of independent consulting rooms. According to the receptionist, now there are about a dozen people a week to come to the consultation, many of whom come from far away from home, and most of them can accept the price here.
Although the current visitors are not limited to white-collar workers, according to Congzhong, some of the visitors who hung up his number are the original patients. In the Sixth Hospital of Peking University, the psychoanalytic physician's registration fee is 9 yuan, and he had to see 12 people in the afternoon, the average time to each patient is 20 minutes, such a short period of time, it is impossible for the patient to do psychotherapy; and in the center, the specialist's special needs registration fee is 300 yuan, due to overcrowding, sometimes speculated on the number of traffickers up to 600 yuan, and so there are those who would rather accept here! "800 yuan times" of counseling and treatment. "We are now the new Peking University Clinical Psychology Center Consultation Department of the environment is relatively elegant, relaxing, the main object of service is to have psychological problems of healthy people rather than psychiatric patients, so it is more likely to be accepted by some white-collar workers and bosses, so that they can return to a state of health and enjoy life."
Interview, a psychological counseling experts told reporters, in foreign countries, there are a lot of entrepreneurs each year will be regular and psychotherapy and counselors interview a number of times, and not necessarily because of psychological problems, many are to do psychological expansion, because entrepreneurs find that when their own psychological state to improve a step, the company also crossed a step forward. Very often the bottleneck of the company comes from the psychological bottleneck of the entrepreneur himself. (Reporter Chen Yingwei reporter Chen Feng / photo )
Source: Youth Times