Page 18 - JCBP-3-4

Journal of Clinical and

Basic Psychosomatics

REVIEW ARTICLE
Balancing psychotherapy: A comprehensive

review of clinical applications, efficacy, and
innovations

2,3
Ni Yang 1,2 and Yonggui Yuan *
1 Department of Applied Psychology, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
2 Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, Zhongda Hospital, Nanjing, China
3 Insitute of Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Science
and Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

Abstract
Balancing psychotherapy (BPT), rooted in the oriental philosophical system, applies
the theory of balance to achieve harmony between mind and body by focusing on
“mastery of degree” and “coordination of relationships.” Recent clinical studies have
demonstrated the efficacy of BPT in various formats – individual BPT, group BPT, and
virtual reality-based BPT – for treating major depressive disorder, panic disorder,
generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This review aims
to evaluate the efficacy of BPT across different psychological disorders by analyzing
existing clinical studies. It also seeks to contribute to the theoretical refinement and
*Corresponding author: practical enrichment of BPT as a distinctive and culturally rooted psychotherapeutic
Yonggui Yuan
(101011406@seu.edu.cn) approach.
Citation: Yang N, Yuan Y.
Balancing psychotherapy: Keywords: Balancing psychotherapy; Virtual reality technology; Treatment efficacy
A comprehensive review of
clinical applications, efficacy,
and innovations. J Clin Basic
Psychosom. 2025;3(4):12-20.
doi: 10.36922/jcbp.8288 1. Introduction
Received: December 29, 2024
In current clinical practice, various psychotherapies and therapeutic institutions
1st revised: February 24, 2025 are available for patients with depression, anxiety, somatoform disorders, and
2nd revised: March 12, 2025 psychosomatic-related disorders, with many studies and clinical cases demonstrating
their efficacy. For instance, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychoanalytic therapy,
Accepted: April 8, 2025
and Morita therapy are well-known and have been widely used. Nevertheless, most of the
Published online: April 23, 2025 current psychotherapies have been developed abroad. Given the unique characteristics
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). of Chinese people and the distinct cultural context, the psychological features of Eastern
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the and Western people often differ significantly, suggesting that psychological treatment
Creative Commons Attribution should be culturally adapted. In recent years, Chinese researchers have investigated
License, permitting distribution, the cultural applicability of CBT in clinical practice. Notable efforts in the localization
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is of CBT include comprehensive practice therapy, psychological dredging therapy, and
properly cited. Daoistic cognitive psychotherapy. Techniques such as “relaxation training” and “relative
1
Publisher’s Note: AccScience inhibition” used in systematic desensitization for adolescent social anxiety disorder
Publishing remains neutral with also reflect the adaptation based on the Chinese sociocultural context. Balancing
2
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional psychotherapy (BPT) is an indigenous psychotherapy system developed for Chinese
affiliations. patients. Rooted in oriental philosophical traditions, it employs theories of balance to

Volume 3 Issue 4 (2025) 12 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.8288