Few listening ears for many troubled minds

• Source: Global Times
• [04:34 September 24 2009]
• Comments

A pillow fight at a square in Nanning of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region delivers a fun, traditional outlet for pressure.

A psychiatrist counsels the disabled in Beijing. Photos: CFP

By Zuo Maohong

Many called it an "exaggeration" three years ago when He Lin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, remarked to Science and Technology Daily that regardless of whether Chinese liked it or not, they were entering an era of mental illness.

Indeed. For one government employee who requested anonymity, the thought had never occurred that he might have a mental problem.

After feeling a tightness in the chest for about a month, he went to Peking University People's Hospital, one of the best in Beijing. The diagnosis of the doctor came as a surprise to the young man – "mild depression".

In the last month, he has been rushing from one organization to another to get all the certificates he needed to apply for a low-priced apartment from the government.

For a white-collar worker who earns an average salary in Beijing, real estate prices are ridiculously high. So he pinned all his hopes on the government's affordable housing and kept telling himself he had to succeed at his application – his fiancée said they must buy an apartment before they could marry.

Holding the doctor's prescription in his hand, Zhong joked that the illness he's having now must be one of the so-called "metropolitan syndromes".

More than 100 million Chinese are estimated to be suffering from different types of mental disorders, the Beijing News reported in January, citing data provided by the Chinese Center for Illness Control and Prevention. However, less than a half realizes their problems and only a quarter have received professional treatment, the report said.

A mental illness team organized by the Ministry of Health found even worse results. Health News, a newspaper under the Ministry, reported that about 15 percent of the Chinese population are suffering or have suffered from mental disorders, citing an investigation report by the team. Assuming a total population of 1.3 billion, that proportion equals 195 million people.

The report says of these people, 16 million are suffering from serious mental disorders, 30 million people who are under 17 are troubled by mood or behavior disorders, another 30 million are suffering from depression and 6 million are sufferers of Alzheimer's Disease.

16,383 shrinks

There are 16,383 psychiatrists in China, which means every 100,000 people share 1.26 psychiatrists, according to another Health News report, citing statistics released at the Ninth Seminar on the Administration of Psychiatric Hospitals in June. The global average is 100,000 people sharing 3.96 psychiatrists.

Nanjing Neurology Hospital has more than 100 psychiatrists, but needs at least 100 more to meet demand, Modern Express reported, quoting the hospital's deputy director Zhang Ning.

What's even worse is that in the last decade, three to five Nanjing Neurology Hospital psychiatrists have quit each year.

A psychiatrist was quoted by Modern Express as saying that only seven in his 24-student class at university were still working as psychiatrists.

He himself quitted the job after seven years of work with mental illness patients. "The greatest happiness to a doctor is when a patient is cured. But I have to face all these mental disorder patients who cannot be cured within a short period.

"I feel more and more tired after I treat one after another, physically and mentally," he reportedly said.