City to count its stressed citizens

By Cai Wenjun  |   2008-12-24  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SHANGHAI is launching its first large-scale mental health study so the city can better manage its treatment resources and plan new policies for the future.

The research reflects a growing concern among the local mental health community that the city's rapid economic development is putting more emotional stress on its citizens.

The project will also explore the connection between emotional illness and chronic physical disease, the Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday in announcing the effort.

Starting tomorrow, trained investigators will visit the homes of 20,000 residents age 18 or older in the districts of Changning, Jing'an, Zhabei, Jiading, Nanhui and Jinshan, Pudong New Area and Chongming County.

They will ask a series of questions designed to identify major mental problems such as depression, anxiety, alcoholism and drug addiction.

"With the city's growing economic development, local people are experiencing a faster pace of life and keener competition, which can influence the incidence of mental illness," said Dr Zhang Mingyuan of the Shanghai Mental Health Center. "The survey will help us determine the incidence of mental diseases and track any changes in the disease spectrum."

The city last participated in mental health surveys in 1982 and 1993. But those were national studies, and no separate local report was compiled.

"The survey will be important in helping us gather health information, guide the distribution of health resources and inform the government's policy making," Zhang said.

"A survey of this type has been a dream of the local mental health professionals. It's a shame that we haven't done it until now."

Results from the survey will also guide amendments to local mental health regulations that were issued in 2001, according to the doctor.

In developed countries including the United States such research is done every 10 years.

The survey will also explore the financial and social burden of mental illness and the relationship between emotional problems and major chronic physical diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and tumors.

The research will be finished in June, and preliminary results will be available before the end of next year.

According to recent case reports from mental health facilities, 160,000 city residents suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, and experts estimate that at least another 600,000 are afflicted by lesser psychological disorders such as non-chronic depression or anxiety. But the registered cases and the estimates lack the scope of a comprehensive study.

Around 16 million people suffer from mental illnesses in China, accounting for 20 percent of the financial and social burden of all diseases.