Mental health: Fast, deadly facts

Some 16 million of more than 100 million patients at the end of 2009 were categorized as seriously mentally ill by the National Center for Mental Health.

One in eight people are suffering some kind of mental problem, according to research released by Shanghai Mental Health Center this month. Fewer than 7 percent had sought professional help.

The average financial input of "overseas countries" for mental health is 20 percent of their total health budget, says center deputy director Xu Yifeng, but China spends 1 percent.

There are 450 million mentally ill in the world, according to World Health Organization figures and 1 million commit suicide every year.

"In China, we had 2 million people attempt suicide and 280,000 of them eventually succeeded," Xu says.

"Mental disease occupied 20 percent of all sickness in China by 2010 and is expected to increase to 25 percent by 2020 while the world average level is 10 percent."