Say 'see a doctor' rather than 'be happy'

CHOI JIN-RI, A FEMALE POP STAR FROM the Republic of Korea better known under her stage name Sulli, was found dead in her apartment on Monday at the age of 25. The local police said they would conduct a postmortem examination to determine the cause of her death, but the expectation is she committed suicide. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Although it remains to be seen whether Sulli committed suicide, it is known she suffered from depression. According to an estimate of World Health Organization, globally there are about 350 million people who suffer from depression. Yet only about half of them get proper medical treatment. In some countries, the treatment rate can be as low as 10 percent. About 1 million people commit suicide every year because of depression.

The main reason for the lack of treatment does not lie in lack of medical support, but the lack of knowledge about depression and the social stigma attached to it. Many patients, when they get depressed, think they are just in a low mood and hope to get better through their own efforts instead of realizing it is a serious medical condition requiring professional treatment.