China Long Avoided Talking About Mental Health. Then Covid Hit. – The New York Times
Posted: December 22, 2020 at 11:01 am
Chinas fight against the coronavirus was mostly over, but Zhang Xiaochun, a doctor in Wuhan, was sinking into depression, convinced she had failed as a daughter and mother. She agonized over her decision to keep working even after her father fell critically ill. She worried about her young daughter, whom she had frequently left alone at home.
But rather than hide those feelings, as would have been common just a few years ago in a country where mental illness has long been stigmatized, Dr. Zhang consulted therapists. When friends and colleagues checked in on her, she openly acknowledged that she was struggling.
If we can face such a huge disaster as this outbreak, then how could we not dare to talk about something so small as some mental health problems? said Dr. Zhang, an imaging specialist.
The coronavirus pandemic, which started in China, has forced the country to confront the issue of mental health, a topic long ignored because of scarce resources and widespread social stigmas. In the Mao era, mental illness was declared a bourgeois delusion and the countrys psychiatric system was dismantled. Even today, discrimination persists, and many people with mental illnesses are shunned, hidden at home or confined in institutions.
But after the coronavirus outbreak, that kind of neglect has become increasingly untenable. The uncertainty of the pandemics early days has combined with the grief and terror of the subsequent weeks to leave a trauma both personal and collective.
At the height of Chinas outbreak, more than a third of people around the country experienced symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia or acute stress, according to a nationwide survey by a Shanghai university. An expert in Beijing recently warned that the effects could linger for 10 to 20 years.
Because of the Chinese governments top-down leadership, officials have mobilized quickly to provide help. Local governments have set up hotlines. Psychological associations have rolled out apps and held online seminars. Schools are screening students for insomnia and depression, and universities are establishing new counseling centers.
But the country also faces serious challenges. There is a dearth of therapists for the countrys 1.4 billion people, with fewer than nine mental health professionals for every 100,000 residents as of 2017, according to the World Health Organization.
Chinas centralized political system, for all its strengths in mobilizing resources, may also create problems of its own. The government has curbed public mourning and suppressed calls for accountability over early missteps, pushing a simplified narrative of Chinas triumph over the virus.
Still, the hope is that the pandemic could propel a long-term shift in the conversation around mental health in China, with advocates pointing in part to high-level government orders to improve treatment.
Because of the pandemic, they are braver in coming to ask for help, Du Mingjun, a psychologist in Wuhan, said of the influx of people she had seen seeking treatment this year. More and more people are accepting this. That is new.
Ms. Du was one of the first witnesses to the crisiss mental health toll. On Jan. 23, the day Wuhan locked down, she and her colleagues at the provincial psychologists association helped launch a government-backed 24-hour hotline, placing ads in newspapers and posting on WeChat to reach a city suddenly convulsed by fear.
Immediately, they were inundated. A woman called because her parents were in separate hospitals, and trying to run between the two had left her on the verge of collapse. A man was taking his temperature every 30 minutes, terrified of falling ill. A 12-year-old boy dialed on behalf of his mother, explaining that he was worried about her. At the peak, the hotline managed between 200 and 300 calls each day, Ms. Du said.
Dec. 22, 2020, 5:18 a.m. ET
As the situation improved, the calls tapered off. By late October, there were around 10 a day. Some callers were still seeking help for trauma related to the outbreak, brought back by news reports, or old photos glimpsed on cellphones. But others have come looking for help with more mundane issues, such as academic pressure or arguments with family.
I think this change is here now, and theres no way to stop it, Ms. Du said. We all lived through this together, and it was continuously unfolding around us. So the collective consciousness of our community is very deep.
Around the country, schools have expanded mental health counseling and encouraged students to take time to unwind, as the Ministry of Education has warned of post-epidemic syndrome. Officials have said that after months of stressful lockdowns, students might be more likely to have conflicts with parents and teachers.
Even before the pandemic, the trends in students mental health were worrying. A Shanghai official said in May that suicides among K-12 students were on the rise, with stress arising from academic pressure and domestic disputes.
While the rollout of services has been spotty, educators and students say the campaign has helped break stereotypes about mental health. In the northern province of Hebei, officials have produced cartoons to help students understand trauma. In the southern city of Guangzhou, students are writing letters about anxiety and practicing breathing exercises.
Xiao Zelin, a junior at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, said he suffered anxiety and insomnia when he returned to campus this fall. After months of being cooped up at home, he struggled adjusting to crowds of people. His appetite was poor and he couldnt seem to relax.
Mr. Xiao had never visited a therapist before, but he spoke with a counselor provided by his university. The counselor, he said, helped him understand what he was going through and to be patient with himself. Mr. Xiao suggested his classmates sign up as well.
In the beginning I was lost, he said. Now Im feeling much better.
Liang Lingyan, a psychologist in Shanghai, said the government there had also arranged more community services, such as home visits for seniors who live alone.
After the epidemic, people are paying much more attention to health, especially mental health, she said. This will be a long-term change.
Despite the efforts, cracks in the system remain.
There are signs that those who need help have difficulty finding it. One survey by Chinese researchers found that only 7 percent of patients with mental disorders had sought online help during the pandemic, despite the introduction of apps and websites by the government.
There are also too few high-quality training programs for mental health professionals, said Yu Lingna, a psychologist from China who is now based in Tokyo. Even if those were expanded, training people would take time.
I expect we will be in a state of inadequacy for our lifetimes, she said.
For Dr. Zhang, the imaging specialist who worked in Wuhan, the feeling that she had betrayed her family lingered, even as state media feted frontline doctors for their contributions. Her father recovered but her parents treated her coldly.
Studies suggest that medical staff may be particularly vulnerable to the pandemics aftershocks, with one study finding that over half of Chinese health care workers surveyed showed symptoms of depression. While many of those symptoms faded as the epidemic ebbed, others, such as a sense of guilt over losing patients, could persist, experts said.
Dr. Zhang said she found therapy unhelpful, but she eventually found other sources of comfort. She immersed herself in the writings of Wang Yangming, a Ming dynasty philosopher. It is easy to catch the thief that lives in the mountain, but hard to catch the thief that lives in the heart, he wrote.
She also eventually left her job at the Wuhan hospital and is now living in Chengdu, in the countrys southwest, spending time with her husband and daughter. She is hopeful that one day her parents will understand her decisions.
Dr. Zhang has often emphasized that her experience is not unique. Many of her former colleagues are also still grappling with the scars of the outbreak, she said, and she was heartened that many of them had also turned to friends or therapists.
Any big crisis like this is bound to leave people with some sort of pain, she said. Theres nothing shameful about it.
Albee Zhang and Liu Yi contributed research.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline offers free and confidential information on mental health treatment and services, 24 hours a day. Call (800) 662-4357 or TTY: (800) 487-4889.
Read the original post:
China Long Avoided Talking About Mental Health. Then Covid Hit. - The New York Times
- Grand Traverse Co. Health Department Seeks Volunteers for Hagerty Center Vaccination Clinics - 9&10 News - January 20th, 2021
- How to live longer: Should you skip breakfast to promote longevity? Doctor weighs in - Express - December 28th, 2020
- With fitness centers shut down due to COVID-19, home gyms are on the rise - SW News Media - December 10th, 2020
- Review: Equinox Takes Luxe Fitness Into The Wild at Their First Outdoor Gym in LA - InsideHook - September 30th, 2020
- Colorados fitness industry starting to reawaken, but some studios will never reopen - Loveland Reporter-Herald - June 16th, 2020
- In sickness and in health: North Spokane couple weds in front yard during pandemic - The Spokesman-Review - May 18th, 2020
- Furry Friends Provide Big Benefits - June 20th, 2018
- CT Nutrition Consultants - Registered Dietitian - July 12th, 2017
- Channel Update - Fitness & Football Videos Only! - Video - August 10th, 2014
- Measuring the Impact of Cytomegalovirus in Younger People - September 1st, 2013
- Decreased mTOR Expression Provides 20% Mean Life Span Extension in Mice - September 1st, 2013
- A Collagen Patch to Spur Heart Tissue Repair - September 1st, 2013
- Statin Use Correlates With Higher Telomerase Activity - September 1st, 2013
- Children of Long-Lived Parents Have Better Immune Systems - September 1st, 2013
- A Two-Part Report on Global Futures 2045 - August 25th, 2013
- The Next Few Years of Research Into Alzheimer's Disease - August 25th, 2013
- A Look Back at Some of the Roots of Modern Thought on Radical Life Extension - August 25th, 2013
- Damaging the Biology of Mice to Make them Age More Rapidly Often Tells Us Little of Use - August 25th, 2013
- Calorie Restriction as a Means to Augment Cancer Therapies - August 25th, 2013
- Life Without Ageing: Aubrey de Grey and Tom Kirkwood to Debate Longevity Science at the British Science Festival - August 18th, 2013
- A Short Overview of 3-D Printing in Tissue Engineering - August 18th, 2013
- Another Way to Improve Memory in Old Mice - August 18th, 2013
- SENS Research Foundation Releases 2013 Research Report - August 18th, 2013
- Targeting Redox Biology to Reverse Mitochondrial Dysfunction - August 18th, 2013
- The Cost of Living Longer, Even in Good Health - August 11th, 2013
- Signs of Progress: Insurers Talk of Radical Life Extension - August 11th, 2013
- The Current State of Knowledge of Genetics and Longevity - August 11th, 2013
- A Video Tour of Alcor and Interview With Max More - August 11th, 2013
- And Now For Something Reprehensible - August 11th, 2013
- Opposing the Argument that Increased Longevity Will Slow Progress, and is Therefore Undesirable - August 4th, 2013
- Considering State Opposition to Life Extension Technologies - August 4th, 2013
- Steps Towards a Tissue Engineered Thymus - August 4th, 2013
- The Intersection of Kickstarter-Style Fundraising for Research and Distributed Development in Complex Problems - August 4th, 2013
- The Cost of Being Tall is a Shorter Life Expectancy - August 4th, 2013
- A Little Methionine Restriction Research - June 16th, 2013
- Calorie Restriction Versus Resveratrol Treatment - June 16th, 2013
- Reviewing the Literature on Calorie Restriction and Oxidative Stress - June 16th, 2013
- Arguing By Induction For an Absence of Boredom in an Ageless, Greatly Extended Healthy Life - June 16th, 2013
- Investigating Fingertip Regeneration in Mammals - June 16th, 2013
- The Incentives Associated With Becoming a Machine Entity - June 9th, 2013
- A Good Scientific Polemic on Aging - June 9th, 2013
- Quantifying Neurogenesis in Adult Humans - June 9th, 2013
- Considering the Details of Replacing the Brain - June 9th, 2013
- Overreacting in the Direction of Doing Nothing - June 9th, 2013
- Considering the Regenerative Signals Emitted by Transplanted Stem Cells - June 2nd, 2013
- A Bioprosthetic Heart - June 2nd, 2013
- Exercise Versus Peripheral Artery Disease - June 2nd, 2013
- Bracketed by Billionaires - June 2nd, 2013
- Stem Cell Transplants for Leukemia Showing Improved Outcomes - June 2nd, 2013
- Videos from the SENS Research Foundation Evidence Studios Event in December 2012 - May 26th, 2013
- Early Mortality Rates Predict Late Mortality Rates - May 26th, 2013
- Decellularization May Enable Use of More Donor Organs - May 26th, 2013
- Mitochondrially Targeted Antioxidant SS-31 Reverses Some Measures of Aging in Muscle - May 26th, 2013
- Arguing for the Role of Nuclear DNA Damage in Aging - May 26th, 2013
- Reviewing the Results of Calorie Restriction Primate Studies - May 19th, 2013
- A Possible Biomarker for Senescent Cells - May 19th, 2013
- Inhibiting ICMT as a Progeria Therapy - May 19th, 2013
- Are the Most Influential Futurists Those Who Put in the Work to Make Their Visions Real? - May 19th, 2013
- Excess Body Fat Hardens Arteries - May 19th, 2013
- Comments on Rapamycin and Metformin - May 12th, 2013
- The Present State of Artificial Retinas - May 12th, 2013
- The State of Electromechanical and Bioartifical Organs - May 12th, 2013
- Parabiosis Points to GDF-11 as a Means to Reverse Age-Related Cardiac Hypertrophy - May 12th, 2013
- Insights into Inflammaging - May 12th, 2013
- A Different Take on NF-?B and the Hypothalamus - May 5th, 2013
- T-Regulatory Cells More Numerous in the Aged Immune System - May 5th, 2013
- HMGA1 as a Potential Common Mechanism in Cancer - May 5th, 2013
- Recent Research Results from the Study of Naked Mole Rats - May 5th, 2013
- A Skeptical View of Mitochondrial DNA Damage and Aging - May 5th, 2013
- Recent Calorie Restriction Research - April 28th, 2013
- Joining the Dots in Genetic Parkinson's Disease - April 28th, 2013
- Considering the Electron Transport Chain in Aging - April 28th, 2013
- More Data on Granulocyte Transplant Cancer Therapies - April 28th, 2013
- Measures of Mitochondrial DNA Damage Lower in Long-Lived Mice - April 28th, 2013
- Aubrey de Grey on "The Undoing of Aging" - April 21st, 2013
- Mitochondrial Functional Mutations and Worm Longevity - April 21st, 2013
- Indy Mutations and Fly Longevity - April 21st, 2013
- Further Research on BubR1, Cellular Senescence, and Aging - April 21st, 2013
- Sterilized Dogs Live Longer - April 21st, 2013
- Robust Cancer Therapies Will Mean a Greater Use of Aggressive Stem Cell Therapies - April 14th, 2013