What do I do if I can’t figure something out? In the United States, people either seek counseling from a psychiatrist or go to church to confess to a priest. Like going to church for psychological relief, counseling is a common practice among Americans. Due to the stressful life and indifference, more people in the United States suffer from psychological disorders. According to statistics, 26.2% of adults over the age of 18 in the United States have had a mental illness or seen a psychiatrist. As common as taking cold medicine “To save our marriage, Hillary and I sought counseling separately, one day a week for a year. It was the first time in my life that I opened up and talked openly about my feelings, my experiences, my approach to life and my love. I didn’t like my past; it made me miserable, having to deal with an unfortunate childhood and a painful upbringing. And I knew I was exhausted, angry and lonely, I was ashamed of the wrong things I had done, and I tried to find mental balance. After a long period of counseling, Hillary and I started talking and we got to know each other again.” This is a monologue of former U.S. President Clinton in her autobiography. At that time, Clinton’s sex scandal was exposed by the media, his wife Hillary and he fought a “cold war”, the two were mentally tortured. Although you are the president, Clinton also had to undergo psychological counseling. Recently, the famous American golfer Tiger? Woods was involved in a car accident that led to a sex scandal, which ruined his reputation and forced him to undergo psychological treatment. A Chinese-American high school student was late to school and then started skipping school. The school first asked the counselor to talk to the student, and then the counselor gave a psychological consultation, after which the parents were asked to take the child to a psychiatrist, and eventually the child’s psychological problems were solved: the child was in a trance because of online dating. Counseling has become an indispensable part of American life, and in their words, receiving counseling is as common as taking cold medicine. The reason why Americans regard mental illness as a common thing is that they are brave enough to face the problem of mental illness from top to bottom, and do not discriminate against and alienate the “mentally ill”. As a famous German psychotherapist said, those who think they are mentally healthy are not really mentally healthy, and those who are really mentally healthy are those who dare to face their mental problems. Zhang Xiaodong, a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego, believes that mental illness is an inevitable product of social development. When material life is difficult to meet, there are relatively few psychological problems; as economic development and material living standards improve, psychological disorders will become more and more prominent. As China moves toward modernization, the psychological problems of its citizens will also become increasingly prominent. Dr. Lin Cimin, a psychologist from Southern California, said that Americans are more courageous to face their mental and psychological problems and do not consider seeing a psychiatrist to be a shameful thing. But many Chinese see things differently. Even Chinese in the U.S. are less courageous than Americans when faced with psychological problems, and will only go to a psychiatrist if they have to. In this respect, receiving psychological counseling and treatment begins with crossing cultural differences and psychological barriers. A well-developed counseling system The counseling profession in the United States began to flourish in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and gradually developed and improved, during which an important role was played by an act. 1963, then President John F. Kennedy signed the “Document Concerning the Establishment of Community Mental Health Centers”. In 1972, the “Presidential Commission on Mental Health” was established as a White House office to address presidential mental problems. This meant that everyone from the president down to ordinary people could receive psychological counseling and see a psychiatrist at any time. Currently, there are more than 280,000 clinical psychologists, social workers and psychiatric caregivers in the United States, with one psychologist for every 1,000 Americans. There are also many levels of psychologists. To become a psychologist who can prescribe medication and do psychotherapy, one must have a medical school undergraduate degree or higher and a degree in psychology, and should also be a relatively healthy person who can handle his or her psychological conflicts properly, which is not an easy task. In contrast, a PhD in psychology can only do psychological counseling and therapy, not prescribe medication. Master’s students can also do psychotherapy, but cannot do psychological testing.