Society
Attacks highlight need for attention to mental illness
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-20 15:55
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BEIJING - What drives a person to kill in a seemingly random act of violence?
The question has been raised repeatedly in China after a spate of attacks targeting children in schools and kindergartens.
While security is stepped up at school gates, mental health professionals say more should be done to identify and treat disturbed individuals -- especially those who pose a risk to the public.
"The persons who are doing violent acts because of mental illness are probably more at the extreme end," he says. "To identify and provide treatment to them is very important."
The police investigation into the most recent attack showed the killer had displayed signs of depression and anxiety.
Before he hacked to death seven children and two adults at a nursery in Nanzheng, in the northwestern Shaanxi Province, and killed himself on May 12, Wu Huanming had attempted suicide twice in April.
The police report did not indicate whether Wu had received psychiatric treatment.
Although China has had some success in improving mental health services, including in rural areas, the country needs to "communitize" the network, Dr. Phillips says.
"In China, most of the mental health services are focused in large urban hospitals. It has just moved a bit out to urban general hospitals, but very few services are provided in communities."
In Britain, 85 percent of mental health serivces are provided through general practices. In China, 90 percent of services are provided by psychiatrists, mostly in big psychiatric hospitals, he says.
However, the country also needs to change social and medical attitudes towards mental illness, says Phillips.
"Stigma limits people seeking care. Even if you have the services, it is hard to get people to come and receive them. Families are afraid that going to a psychiatrist will stigmatize themselves."
He also wants to see general community-based intervention to improve resilience and conflict solution skills among children.
"Many of the violent acts are related to inter-personal conflicts, severe dissatisfaction and inability to cope with stress," Phillips says.
A research report published last year by the government-funded Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center (BSRPC) in the The Lancet medical journal, showed just 5 percent of Chinese suffering mental disorders had consulted a mental health professional.
The BSRPC survey sampled 113 million individuals aged above 18, from 2001 to 2005, in the most recent survey on this topic.
However, limited mental health services, poor awareness and social stigma hold many sufferers back from proper treatment.
"Most Chinese people don't regard mental disorders as illnesses," says Professor Qian Mingyi, of Peking University's Department of Psychology. "Friends and families might think somone is just getting bad tempered, and delay treatment."
At a factory owned by Taiwan-based electronic firm Foxconn in Shenzhen, nine of the 420,000 workers have jumped from high buildings in the past five months, and seven died.
One of the fatalities, Lu Xin, displayed serious symptoms of delusion and depression days before he committed suicide on May 6. The company had two friends keep him company -- in an apartment on the sixth floor.
Company spokesman Liu Kun later admitted that, if they had more professional knowledge about suicide, they would have put him in an apartment at the first floor, which might have prevented the tragedy.
Studies in other countries have showed rates of violence, suicide and mental illness among young adults are lower if they receive intervention to improve psychological resilience and conflict resolution skills when they are children.
Qian says Chinese society is changing fast and everyone is experiencing an increasing number of major life events, such as changing jobs, borrowing money, or divorce, that might stoke stress.
According to the Ministry of Health, 7 percent of Chinese suffer mental disorders.
"China still does not have very systematic clinical psychology or counseling training. Up till 2009, China had about 164,000 psychiatrists. On average, they only receive training of 350 to 500 hours. Many have no clinical experience before getting the certificates," Qian says.
The number of psychiatrists and psychologists is very small compared with the population, she says.
According to the Chinese Medical Association, as of September last year, China had 16,000 registered psychiatrists -- fewer than 15 staff for every million people, or for every 10,000 patients.