Chinese Show Increasing Awareness of Mental Health

Chinese show increasing awareness of mental health

BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) — Under pressure from studying, Feng Yuxuan, a second-year student majoring in arts at a Beijing-based university, often finds his mind full of all kinds of thoughts.

“In my spare time lots of unpractical ideas flood my mind, which means I can never really relax and my studies suffer,” said Feng from China Renmin University.

Feng’s mental problems may be solved soon as a series of mental heath classes are giving him hope of casting aside these illusions.

The classes, which started on Saturday and are open to everyone, are organized by the university and the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center (BSRPC), an organization affiliated to the Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, with the aim of providing treatment for those with mental health problems.

“With the rapid development of our society, everyone faces different psychological challenges,” said Cao Lianyuan, director of the BSRPC.

Statistics from China’s Ministry of Health show at least 250,000 people commit suicide each year in China, with two million more who have attempted suicide.

Another survey from the BSRPC indicates that around 70 percent of those who commit suicide, or have attempted suicide, in China have never sought help of any kind for their mental health problems.

“If more such opportunities can be provided for those people, I think cases of suicide could be reduced,” Feng, the student of arts, said.

Mental health problems should be seen as a public health issue rather than a personal one, Cao said.

Besides college students, university teachers and urban citizens have also shown great interest in the classes, scheduled to be held on the third Saturday of each month from this February to Jan. 2007, with its contents ranging from how to identify depression and psychological traits in college students, to how to deal with psychological crises.

“One basic purpose of the classes is to make more people aware of their mental health and enhance their abilities to identify and prevent mental health problems,” Cao said.

Li Renze, 73, a retired worker in the Haidian District, said he was very glad when his son told him about the mental health classes.

“Mental health is the most important thing in a person, ” said Li, joining the class in the company of his son.

“A person’s happy mood encourages people around him, while bad moods easily lead to disease,” he said, adding that he hoped to learn how to look after his mental health more effectively.

Disseminating mental health knowledge and promoting people’s active participation in preventing such problems are effective ways of curbing the rising number of suicide cases, Cao said.