Mental illness afflicts 30 million young Chinese

Mental illness troubles more than 30 million young Chinese, yet their mental health care is often neglected in families and by society, say mental health care experts on World Mental Health Day on Tuesday.

Zheng Yi, a renowned pediatrician and mental health specialist at Anding Hospital in Beijing said that tens of millions of children under the age of 17 are bothered by emotional and behavioral problems as a result of mental illness.

"Chinese parents are more likely to address their children's material needs than assisting in healing their mental illness," said Zheng.

Statistics with the Ministry of Health showed that there are fewer than 50 doctors in China, who specialize in pediatric mental illness. There are barely a 100 if doctors who work part-time in the field are counted.

There are about 370 million children in China. A recent Internet survey on juvenile mental health carried on an official juvenile education website showed that only 10 percent of juvenile respondents would choose to seek help from a doctor if they suffered mental stress.

The health department in north China's Hebei Province found 14 adults out of 100 in the province suffer mental illness, including depression, phobias, alcohol abuse and anorexia.

Mental health experts said that mental illness can be cured if the illness is appropriately treated, especially in juveniles.

Zheng Yi says mental health care in China lacks sufficient funding to carry out mass mental health education, psychological consultations.

According to Tang Hongyu, deputy director of the No. 6 Hospital of Beijing University, the Beijing Municipal Government's annual budget for mental health care is 0.1 yuan (about 1 U.S. cent ) per person.

Source: Xinhua