E-help for stressed out Chinese

Students are offered chat room discussions

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- As China moves away from the planned socio-economic system, the state is no longer taking care of everything, leaving many citizens feeling insecure about their future, anxious and even stressed out.

In a changing environment, some are finding they have to compete for survival and to deal with problems themselves.

Case in point is the changing psychology and behavior of modern Chinese children.

"Kids of divorced parents are under severe stress but can't understand what's going on. Then there are these 'only-child' who, because they have no siblings, have problems interacting with their peers," Peng Hui, an elementary school counselor, says.

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To tackle the problem, many Chinese are turning to the Web and to online or 'e-' psychology.

Dr. Xu Haoyuan, a U.S.-educated psychiatrist, now runs a psychology course on the Internet offering a menu of case-studies and chat room discussions for the equivalent of five to seven dollars per course.

"We don't talk to our students about Freud and the like. We start our classes with problems in real life, like why teachers hate teaching, why students hate school, what problems children go through during adolescence," Xu says.

No limits

Teaching on-line enables more people to be reached without the limits of time and space, she adds.

"In traditional classrooms, you can't discuss with 50 students within the limited time. On the Net, it doesn't matter where the students are--they can be anywhere in China."

Xu: 'Today's fast-paced society brings a lot of stress and other problems'

"There are 110,00 school teachers in Beijing alone. It's important for them to study psychology using high-tech tools."

Such a model has received endorsement from education officials.

"With this method, our teachers can take the courses while sitting at home or in school. It's convenient and reduces teacher's time on the road," Tian Zhengfeng, the principal at Chaoyang Elementary School, says.

The result for Xu's students is a virtual support group in the chat room -- a forum for the exchange of experiences, issues, ideas and emotions.

"Many questions relate to work, like how to deal with students, parents and colleagues. But the discussions go beyond those," Xu says.

"Today's fast-paced society brings a lot of stress and other problems. People don't know how to deal with it, and our class tries to provide them with support."