Document Type

Article

Domestic/International

International

Location

Shenzhen, China

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

This reflection paper summarizes a two-month internship at the Children’s Healthcare and Mental Health Center of Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, examining the interaction among clinical terminology, cultural relativism, and defensive medicine. During psychiatric shadowing, a psychiatrist deliberately chose the ICD-10 term "Mental Retardation" over the updated ICD-11 term "Disorders of Intellectual Development" in medical records. Although the ICD-11 revision sought to reduce the diagnosis in an English-speaking context, its official Mandarin translation accidentally carries heavy local social stigma. This observation demonstrates how local psychiatrists seek a balance between academic rigor and humanistic care within a specific cultural framework.

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The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.