Various activities were held across China yesterday for World
Mental Health Day to raise public awareness for better
understanding of mental diseases which are troubling more and more
people in the world's most populous country.
There is still much prejudice and misunderstanding when it comes to
such diseases, said a top health official.
One aim of the campaign is to teach others that anyone can have a
mental disease or psychological problems, said Wu Jieping,
vice-chairman of the Standing Commission of the National People's
Congress.
People shouldn't discriminate against people with mental health
problems which can be prevented and cured, he added.
Wu
made these remarks at China's first exhibition of artwork by mental
disease patients, sponsored by the Ministry of Health's disease
control department.
A
total of 750 artworks, such as handwriting and clippings, by
patients from 22 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions
in China are on display at the Museum of Chinese History in
Beijing.
As
one result of China's fast economic and societal development,
various social problems, such as increasing working pressure and
social conflict, have caused an increase in the number of people
with psychological and mental problems, experts said.
The latest statistics show that China has 16 million mental
diseases patients, including more than 7.8 million that suffer from
dementia praeacox.
The social and economic burdens caused by mental illness have
become the number one burden among all current diseases, said Ma
Xiaowei, vice-minister of the Ministry of Health.
More attention should also be given to children's behavioral health
problems as well, such as infantile autism, psychological problems
of students in middle school and university, occupational health
problems, mental problems among the elderly, drug abuse and people
who have attempted suicide.
"Mental diseases patients need to be accepted. This acceptance can
help them become more socially stable," said Qin Yi, a mother of a
son who suffers from mental illness, at the exhibition.
(China
Daily October 11, 2002)