Kim Wells This wide-ranging article compares the roles and perspectives of psychotherapists and TCM practitioners, acknowledging the importance both attach to the therapeutic relationship. It compares and contrasts attitudes to emotional imbalance in Chinese Medicine practitioners in the West and in China and looks for the causes of this difference, explores differing views as to where to locate the site and cause of illness – in the mind or in the body, and finally, explores parallels between psychotherapy and Eastern philosophies such as Daoism and Buddhism.