China ill equipped to treat mental health problems

China ill equipped to treat mental health problems

Sat May 19, 4:31 PM ET

SHANGHAI (AFP) - Most Chinese who suffer from depression do not get proper treatment due to a lack of psychiatrists and public prejudice, state press reported Friday, citing the country's mental health professionals.

China has just 17,000 registered psychiatrists for its 30 million depression patients, only one-10th of the ratio in Western countries, the China Daily newspaper reported, citing figures from an industry meeting here.

The imbalance means 90 percent of people in China with depression do not get adequate treatment, according to health experts at the meeting.

"There are just too few doctors available," Hao Wei, vice-director of the Chinese Psychiatrists Association, was quoted as saying.

Moreover, public prejudice against mental diseases also deterred sufferers from consulting psychiatrists, with women and people in rural areas the most affected.

Many patients were reluctant to look for professional care and visited physicians instead on fear of prejudice, Hao said.

Many patients were reluctant to look for professional care and visited physicians instead on fear of prejudice, Hao said.

The economic cost of depression to China, in medical bills and lost employment opportunities, is nearly eight billion dollars a year, according to experts at the conference

For the article, refer to the below link

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070519/hl_afp/healthchinamental;_ylt=AnoJoKsan21SR5HIM1iyn_3VJRIF

Catching a cold

From Straits Times Life! Pg 6 (16th May 2007)

"The Chinese fear being called mentally ill. Actually it's like catching a cold." Actor Chow Yun Fat.


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Thoughts
I tried looking for the original source of the quote on the net but I just couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

Going green could beat the blues: British experts

Mon May 14, 5:26 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - A walk in the country is an effective alternative to chemical anti-depression treatment, a leading mental health charity said Monday, calling on British doctors to prescribe outdoor activities.

The Mind charity said so-called "ecotherapy" could help millions of people with mental health problems after two studies it commissioned suggested it could have significant benefits for sufferers in most cases.

Prescription of care farms as a treatment has been highly successful on mainland Europe, but Britain has failed to follow the example, it added as it launched a report "Ecotherapy: the green agenda for mental health."

Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said: "Mind sees ecotherapy as an important part of the future for mental health.

"It's a credible, clinically-valid treatment option and needs to be prescribed by GPs, especially when for many people access to treatments other than anti-depressants is extremely limited."

Researchers from the University of Essex, eastern England, studied the effect of a 30-minute walk in a country park compared with one in an indoor shopping centre on a small sample of 20 people with mental health problems.

It found that 71 percent reported decreased levels of depression and anxiety after the outdoor walk while 90 percent said their self-esteem increased.

For the full article refer to
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070514/hl_afp/lifestylebritainhealth;_ylt=AmLY9FEKxisQmZ_HfdzveCrVJRIF

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My thoughts.
A good walk, breathing in the fresh air and sunshine always works wonders.

1 in 4 teens and young adults could face mental problems

Got this from a search. its a news article dated 2 months ago


Prime News

1 in 4 teens and young adults could face mental problems

Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent

546 words

12 March 2007

Straits Times

English

(c) 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

Experts to help IMH identify symptoms early, start treatment

A MAJOR effort is under way to identify the symptoms of mental problems and start treatment early.

This comes in the face of findings which show that one in four teens and young adults here and in other developed countries could have psychological problems.

The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) has invited nine experts, both foreign and local, to help it develop a study to see how this can be done.

The hope is that this will help prevent the onset of serious diseases such as schizophrenia

One expert on the IMH panel, Associate Professor Alison Yung of Melbourne University, said: 'If we can pick them up early, we may not even need medicine to help them.'

The concern stems from studies conducted internationally - covering several developed countries, including Singapore - which have shown that 25 per cent of those in their teens and early 20s suffer from mental problems such as anxiety, depression, anorexia, psychosis and personality disorder.

For most, the problems are transient. But 10 per cent are at risk of serious long-term psychosis - or mental problems such as schizophrenia, hallucinations and delusions.

This means that going by Singapore's population growth rate, 1,000 babies born here each year could end up with serious psychological problems.

In 20 years, some of them may join the 5,300 patients warded at the IMH last year for psychosis - adding to the strain on available funds.

Already, about a third of the $40 million from Medifund, the government kitty to help the poor pay health-care bills, goes to IMH patients each year.

Grasping the extent of the problem, Associate Professor Chong Siow Ann, who heads the IMH's Early Psychosis Intervention Programme, invited the nine experts to help.

A panel member, Associate Professor Richard Keefe of Duke University in the United States, said that most serious mental illnesses hit people in their teens or early 20s - when the brain's frontal lobe is developing.

He explained: 'This is the area that helps you plan, organise, strategise - all the high-level processing. It is important in controlling behaviour and emotion - which adolescents struggle with.'

His explanation is borne out by the age range of the IMH's psychotic patients, many of whom were warded between the ages of 22 and 26.

Half of the IMH's 32,000 outpatients are also being treated for chronic schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia, one of the more serious forms of psychosis, makes patients hear voices or believe that others are reading their minds or controlling their thoughts.

Treating schizophrenia early is crucial, said Professor Patrick McGorry of the University of Melbourne. 'After a couple of years, it becomes relatively permanent, and treatment at that point is largely ineffective.'

Prof Chong hopes to get the IMH study off the ground towards the end of this year, once approval and funding is obtained.

Duke University's Prof Keefe described Singapore as an ideal place for such a study. The country is 'compact and structured', and it is easier to follow up on patients, unlike in the US, where people move around a lot.

salma@sph.com.sg