Path Exploration for a Social睵sychological Health Services System in Ethnic Areas: A Qualitative Research Project Based on Adolescents General Understanding of Mental Health in Tibetan Areas

Cheng Ke He Wenjing

Abstract：The adolescents who live on the QinghaiTibetan plateau seem to have their unique cultural character which has been shaped by their unique living environment， ethnic culture， and religion. From the perspective of constructing a socialpsychological health care system， （1） making an indepth analysis of the Tibetan adolescents awareness of mental health， （2） providing mental health education with targeted goals， and （3） comprehensively promoting the creation of socialpsychological health services in ethnic areas， not only could effectively improve the mental health of the people and increase the physical and mental health of teenagers but also encourage people to elevate their social identity while forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation. Therefore， taking mental health perception as a starting point， this paper tries to explore the current Tibetan youths understanding of mental health and their psychological needs.

This paper puts forward the following countermeasures and suggestions： First， the cognitive conditions for improving the socialpsychological health services system for adolescents in Tibetan areas seem to be ripe. To develop mental health education and services in ethnic minority regions， it is necessary not only to strengthen the treatment of pathological psychological problems but also to reinforce educational destigmatization as well as positive counseling of psychological problems. Moreover， one should pay attention to the cultivation of positive psychological health and promote mental health awareness education with an optimistic orientation. Secondly， one should combine the psychological development needs of Tibetan teenagers， fan out from a point to cover an entire area， take adolescents as the basis and school education as the fulcrum， provide educational services to parents so as to promote the construction of socialpsychological healthcare system in ethnic compact communities. The family environment arguably has a ?significant impact on the mental health of adolescents， so parents should take the initiative to create a harmonious， warm， and supportive family atmosphere. Thirdly， given an apparent shortage of professional talents in socialpsychological services in ethnic group areas， one could cooperate there with the local research base of socialpsychological services， strengthen the education and training of mental health services talents in said ethnic areas， and further look into a suitable version of regional socialpsychological services. Finally， we find that the construction of a socialpsychological health services system in ethnic minority areas should be combined with corresponding ethnic cultural traits. One could indeed imbue the educational and counseling aspects of psychological services with the excellent resources of ethnic culture. At the same time， the construction of a socialpsychological healthcare system in ethnic areas could arguably also aim for social identity and social cohesion， and comprehensively try to improve individual mental health literacy and the cultivation of positive psychological health for teenagers.

Key Words：psychological services; Tibetan area; teenagers; mental health awareness