Following the death of her hospitalized father, Lin found she could not cope, and attempted to commit suicide. Fortunately, she was saved, and, subsequently, comforted to revival by her friends and associates.

That episode in her life inspired her to become a voluntary consultant offering comfort to Chinese women suffering mentally from depression, domestic violence and sexual abuse.

In the past 10 years, since the Women's Hotline went into operation in Beijing - the first free-toll mental consulting service in China - Lin and her colleagues have offered consultancy services to more than 60,000 people in the country, 80 per cent of who are women in need of mental relief.

Wang Xingjuan, the 71-year-old director, said mental consultancy is urgently needed in China, as rapid economic and social changes have put heavy pressure on people, especially women, who are bracing themselves for complications in jobs, marriages, family and social activities.

Wang is not solitary in the crusade. Consulting services, hotlines and clinics have flourished in China in the past few years, as mental health - long a concept of public aversion - is receiving a wider embrace in metropolitan urbanites in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Many hotlines are operated free of charge, offering Chinese a private way to air their agonies, which they feel they cannot share with many others, due to ignorant views of the mentally ill - offensive, psychos or freaks.

And talking about this "stigma" to doctors is a tall order, as China only has a handful clinics dealing specifically with mental illness. And even these hospitals focus on severe mental illness, while their services on, say, depression are virtually nil.

Coupled with a rising medical bill, a pedestrian, by the name of Li, turned instead, to Wang's hotline. He suffered depression after failing to be promoted in a company one year ago. He could not bear to tell his colleagues for fear of discredit, neither did he want to enter a hospital for a consultancy, as he believed people would think he was a freak.

"The operator was very amiable and earful," Li said. "We spoke a lot and, after several meetings, I felt free from depression.".

However, some leading mental health clinics now claim they are ready to care for all types of mental illness.

"We receive more than 120 visitors a day right now; a sharp growth of about 20 per cent since 1998," said Zhang Haiyin, chief doctor at Shanghai Mental Health Centre. Ten years ago, the centre received just 70 to 80 visits per week.

To accommodate the growing number of visitors, Zhang's clinic has extended its opening hours from five to seven days a week.

Counselling focuses on problems related to study, work, family matters and personal relations, as well as mental distress, frustration and insomnia.

However, the fledging profession is facing a brain drain.

"Human resources right now are the biggest problem in the fight against mental illness," said Yin Dakui, vice health minister. "Many professionals right now are not up to standard, and those conversant in the field are defecting due to poor pay and disparagement from social milieu."

(China Daily October 31, 2001)