(Ecns.cn)--"The occurrence of mental diseases in the country is now at its peak," said Fan Xiaodong, a doctor from the Sixth Hospital of Peking University.
Echoing Fan's assertion, a recent survey showed that 17% of Chinese age 15 and above are suffering from mental diseases, 5% of whom have depression, 5% are anxiety disorder sufferers, 5% are drug or alcohol addicts, and 1% are severe patients of mental disease, according to the Workers Daily on Monday.
Under this grim situation, the number of schizophrenics has reached 10 million, while 26 million patients are afflicted by depression. As a result, one fifth of the national medical burden comes from mental diseases.
As one of the most afflicted groups, almost 40% of urban senior citizens claim to have depression-related symptoms, according to the Psychology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"Even though these diseases are mainly genetic, they are highly sensitive to social factors including drastic economic and social changes," explained Yang Fude, director of the Huilongguan Hospital in Beijing. "In addition, the incidences of mental disease increase when one realizes the gap between reality and expectation widens."
Despite the worsening situation in which the number of mental disease patients is on the rise, medical treatment for such diseases has been crippled.
Mental disease overlooked
One of the underlying factors that help to fuel the high incidence of mental diseases lies in the lack of knowledge about mental health among the general public.
For example, only less than 20% of the patients suffering from depression have been diagnosed, and less than 10% have received proper medical therapy. Another 62% have never bothered to see a doctor for their ailment.
In the country, a patient with depression is diagnosed after five meetings with a doctor on average, not to mention the minimum 11-month delay before that because of the unawareness of the disease. That is to say, it takes years to confirm a case of depression, which is painful to both the patient and society.
One mental health expert explained that due to the low rate of awareness about related symptoms, few people with depression seek medical help. It is worrying because psychological treatment requires gradual and prolonged treatment, with many long-term meetings between doctors and patients, he said. On another front, 90% of Chinese who have committed suicide are found to have never sought psychological care. This in turn, leads to risks of incidence of relapse as well as high disability rate.
