Since the blockade of Covid in Shanghai began, Hu Bojun has received numerous inquiries about the counseling services of her and her hospital. This month, the US-trained clinical psychologist began facilitating support groups to block – in English and Chinese – clients from “all walks of life.”
“Even people from different socio-economic sectors are already present [counselling] together… My old clients are coming back, and there are many more new clients, ”she says, adding that many more Chinese have started talking to her about their mental stress and loneliness in times of extreme insecurity.
Mental health support is now a much-sought-after service in China, with more than 400 million citizens estimated to be below a certain degree of blockage. China’s Baidu search engine last week saw a huge jump in search for “psychological counseling” in March.
Although Covid has dominated the headlines for the past two years, mental illness is another crisis that is changing the lives of millions of Chinese families. Fifty-four million people in China are depressed and about 41 million suffer from anxiety disorders, according to the WHO. These are two of the most common mental disorders in the country.
Mental health problems are becoming a growing problem with China’s age. Many older people face loneliness as children move away to build their future in big cities. In a 2021 study, researchers found a touching link between the suicide rate among the elderly and communication. They found that the percentage decreased by 8.7% during the annual lunar new year, when the elderly receive unusually high levels of family company.
Areas of Shanghai are isolated from the pandemic, which puts more people at risk of depression. Photo: Ali Song / Reuters
Other age groups, especially young people, are also affected by loneliness and isolation. According to recent research, more Chinese high school students have experienced insomnia, depression and anxiety during the pandemic. In 2020, a large-scale Chinese survey found that almost 35% of respondents experienced psychological stress during the pandemic.
“My parents thought I was just thinking too much.”
However, until recent years, mental health was not a widely discussed issue in China, and those who experienced mental illness were often misunderstood or stigmatized, said Li Yue, a 20-year-old student in Luoyang, central China.
When Lee was diagnosed with major depression in 2018, her family was confused. Depression was not a familiar vocabulary in the part of China she came from, and her parents did not know how to react.
“For a long time, my parents thought I was just thinking too much. Sometimes they agreed with me to be treated, and sometimes they opposed. At first I was very lost and later I became desperate. I didn’t know what to do, and that feeling lasted a long time, “she recalled.
That was four years ago. A series of popular cultures on mental illness were shown in China last year. First, the Broadway show “Once Normal” made people talk about bipolar disorder. The musical is touring in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. A documentary accompanying the tour was also released. A few months later, a 40-episode television series, Psychologist, sparked a conversation about mental health.
Also in 2021, several art exhibitions were held in China, aimed at raising public awareness of mental health. In Shanghai, a collection of abstract art in Gallery № 600, featuring works by patients with mental illness, went viral. State news agencies have reported this, and a related hashtag has been seen more than 70 million times on social media.
Public awareness of the importance of mental health is beginning to change in cities like Shanghai. Photo: Ali Song / Reuters
Help on the horizon
Some enterprising people also took advantage of this opportunity. Hu says some of her friends have launched online training courses for people who want to be therapists. They also use mobile apps to connect virtual seekers with therapists. “Even in smaller cities, there are many coaches to help deal with public pressure,” Hu said.
But despite growing awareness, the issue of infrastructure and resources is still a problem. Lee says that when she was in the hospital, she saw many patients, but too few doctors. Her experience reflects a 2017 WHO report that found that there are fewer than nine mental health professionals per 100,000 people in China.
The government has taken some steps to address the problem. In its national Healthy China campaign, which began in 2019, Beijing acknowledged the growing scope of mental health problems in China and is committed to providing access to treatment for at least 80% of depressed patients by 2030.
The diagnosis four years ago proved to be a major turning point for Lee and her family. After years of treatment and counseling, Lee’s life began to slowly but steadily return to the track. “It changed the way I look at things and myself,” she says. She is currently studying psychology at the university.
Add Comment