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Psychological problems on the rise
By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-08 22:41
Working at least 13 hours a day, seven days a week, Beijing taxi driver Bai
Fengshan finds life is too heavy a burden to bear.
Bai, 43, father of a middle-school boy, has to work hard to support a whole
family.
His wife got laid off last year.
"I would have committed suicide if I had no children," Bai said.
The only way Bai has to ease the pressure of the everyday grind is to chat
with his passengers.
However, many other people who are under high pressure might not be so lucky.
They often find no one to talk to.
A psychological
consultant talks with a female student in March, 2003 at the Psychological
Care Centre for Adolescents in Ji'nan, capital city of East China's
Shandong Province. Statistics suggest that nearly 10 per cent of children
and adolescents in China, or 30 million, are inflicted with depression.
[newsphoto] | Psychologists have warned that an increasing number of people suffer from
psychological problems as China's urbanization gathers pace.
Loneliness, anxiety and depression are common problems for some urban people
and migrant workers who often live on the fringes of urban society.
Recent media reports have recounted cases of college students who became
murderers after minor confrontations with peers, migrant workers committing
suicide after failing to obtain overdue wages and members of the social elite
falling into mental depression.
Behind these incidents is an unhealthy state of individuals who fail to deal
with an abruptly changing society in this transitional period, said Wang
Dengfeng, a psychology professor with Peking University.
Many Chinese have seen their incomes increase tenfold, or even hundredfold,
due to the economic boom in the past two decades.
But psychological studies show their desires for things also increased
tremendously. In the process, their growing salaries are often not enough, Wang
said.
Instead of feeling contented, they get frustrated and depressed.
Depression is the main cause of suicide, said Hui Xiaoping, an emergency
physician with a Shanghai hospital, who has received more than 40 patients who
tried to commit suicide since April.
Lack of psychologists a problem
"In a fast-paced modern society where people shoulder more pressure, suicide
has become an expanding problem," Hui said.
The World Health Organization reports that about 1 million people commit
suicide around the world every year, and the number of those who attempt suicide
is 10 to 20 times larger.
Michael Phillips,
executive director of the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Centre,
meet two elderly people on September 10 at a promotion activity about
mental health. Phillips and his team found that risk of suicide was
substantially greater in people with schizophrenia; about ten per cent of
all suicides are attributable to schizophrenia.
[newsphoto] |
The worldwide suicide rate is about 16 per 100,000, making it the 13th most
common cause of death. In China, the figures are equally distressing.
According to a survey by the Beijing Psychological Crisis Research and
Intervention Centre, more than 200,000 people in China take their own lives
every year.
The suicide rate in China is more than 20 per 100,000, making it the fifth
cause of death in the country. Women in rural areas make up the largest group of
suicide victims.
Emotional release is an essential phase in suicide intervention, Wang, of
Peking University, said.
Venting depression and anger through discussion with psychological
professionals is a good way to prevent suicide attempts.
However, psychological services in China are inadequate, with a shortage of
trained specialists and no professional standards, said experts attending a
national psychologists convention in Shanghai in September.
They said it is estimated that 20 per cent of China's 1.3 billion people had
psychological problems. But there are only a few hundred professional
psychologists to cope with the problems.
In Shanghai, with a population of 17 million, including 3 million migrant
workers, there are only about 100 therapists.
Medical experts warn that long-term mental pressure harms the body's immune
system and weakens people.
Many government health departments and non-government organizations have
attached increasing importance to the psychological health of people in recent
years as almost every big city across the country has established special mental
counseling hotlines and websites.
Shanghai established its first suicide intervention group in early September.
Dozens of trained volunteers lend a sympathetic ear and heart to those in
need.
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