BEIJING - When a distraught landlord wielding a kitchen cleaver stormed into a
kindergarten classroom in southeast China's Fujian province in May and killed
several people, including children, it was the bloodiest of five recent attacks
at schools across the country.
In the end, the Fujian landlord hacked to death seven children and two adults
before returning home and killing himself on May 12.
That brought the number of casualties from a spate of school attacks in China
to more than 20 students and adults dead, prompting calls for the government to
improve protection for
schoolchildren. Several of the attackers were reported to be suffering from
mental illnesses.
The violent incidents seem to point to a quiet crisis in China: the growing
prevalence of mental illnesses and a lack of care for those afflicted. And it's
a struggle the government appears to be coming to terms with.
According to estimates from senior health officials, China has at least 100
million people suffering from some form of mental illness, affecting 7% of the
population. In 2009, this surpassed heart disease and cancer as the biggest
burden on China's health care system.
The conditions that come with these mental illnesses include depression,
anxiety, drug addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Recent reports in state-run media indicate the government is beginning to
recognize the problem. Premier Wen Jiabao said "deeper causes" may have
prompted the recent attacks. An article in the China Daily newspaper said the
government "was taking urgent steps" to expand treatment for mentally ill
patients.
Vice Minister of Health Yin Li said at the recent National Conference on the
Comprehensive Management of Public Security that "social transformation" had
increased pressure on people and therefore the prevalence of mental illnesses,
according to China Daily.
"The increase of social problems, competition, the rich-poor gap as well as
other psychological obstacles means the number of people suffering from mental
disorders is on the rise," Cao Rifang, the deputy secretary of the Hangzhou
Association for Mental Health, told Inter Press Service. "These patients are in
an unstable condition, and if there is inadequate care, these people can easily
hurt others. China has no complete care system to take care of mental
disorders."
Cao notes, however, that the vast majority of the estimated 100 million people
who suffer from mental illnesses in China remain functioning members of
society, with no impulses toward violence.
The Communist Party of China's current five-year plan (2007-2012) includes
mental illness as a major field of research. Beijing has pledged to build six
new mental health clinics in the city to treat the 150,000 people who are
estimated to suffer from mental illness. In February, the government launched a
nationwide mental-health awareness campaign, part of an effort linking
treatment to reducing social unrest.
But providing effective treatment for mentally ill patients will be an uphill
struggle in a country where the subject has long been taboo.
The practice of psychiatry was outlawed during the Cultural Revolution and
Chairman Mao Zedong said all mental illnesses could be attributed to an
inadequate understanding of class struggle. Many Chinese suffering from mental
illnesses were removed from hospitals and sent to labor camps in the
countryside due to their "counter-revolutionary" behavior.
Despite the recent school attacks, some officials have insisted the horrific
episodes were isolated incidents and have called instead for increased
security.
According to a report last year in London's Telegraph newspaper, there are only
4,000 qualified psychiatrists and another 15,000 doctors working in psychiatric
hospitals to serve China's 1.3 billion people. Often, mental illness has been
used as an excuse to detain people who cause trouble for local governments.
Zhou Rongyan, an office director for the Agricultural Committee in Chongqing,
was sentenced to prison for 10 years in 1998 for fighting for petitioners'
rights. A psychiatrist diagnosed her with a mental disorder, though the
Chongqing Procuratorate later issued a statement to say she did not.
On her release, Zhou started investigating mental illness in China and found
that at least 1,000 had been detained illegally based on false psychiatric
diagnoses, according to a post she placed on Tianya, a popular Internet forum.
Cao said that prejudices against mentally ill continue to exist and that they
may find it difficult to find jobs or enroll in schools. But attitudes are
improving, and the government is taking important steps toward providing better
care for mental health problems, he said.
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