HONG Kong is a stressful city for families. It is also a magnet for English-speaking counsellors - psychologists, social workers and therapists providing a sympathetic ear and advice on anything from drug and alcohol abuse, to marital problems, adjustment, stress and trauma.
From just a handful three years ago, the number of private counsellors have increased four or five times making counselling, particularly family counselling, one of the fastest growing industries in Hong Kong.
While counselling can do much good, some professionals believe bewildered and vulnerable clients are at a greater risk than ever of being exploited by articulate, self-confident peddlers of comfort and advice, dressed up in psychological jargon.
Complaints of ''over-counselling'' are increasing. After a help-line was set up by the Hong Kong Psychology Society following the Lan Kwai Fong disaster in 1993, some English-speaking families complained of being ''pursued'' by counsellors ''falling over each other'' to help them.
More recently at a seminar organised by the YWCA on family stress, counsellors almost outnumbered members of the public in the audience, and that did not include members of the professional panel.
Local doctors who often recommend counsellors to their patients say they are bewildered by the proliferation of new counsellors with no known track record.