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PhD topic: The Social Representation of Psychotherapy in Urban China
PhD supervisors: Professor Martin Bauer and Dr Thomas Curran
Xiangyi Guo is a PhD researcher at the London School of Economics, specialising in the social representation of psychotherapy in China. Her academic work is grounded in social representations theory, with a particular focus on how psychological knowledge is constructed, communicated, and understood within specific cultural contexts. She adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies to explore lay perspectives on mental health and therapeutic practice.
Xiangyi holds a BA from Wesleyan University in East Asian Philosophy and Psychology, where her undergraduate dissertation examined cross-cultural differences in empathy. She later completed an MSc in Psychological Sciences at University College London, focusing on facial expressions of emotion. Alongside her research, Xiangyi has practical experience working in psychological counselling services in China and is currently training as a counsellor. Her work aims to bridge academic research and practice by critically examining how psychotherapy is interpreted and adapted in contemporary Chinese society.