According to the China Youth Daily, financial pressure, career confusion and academic pressure are the main sources of stress. Photo: VCG

It was Jia Qi's (pseudonym) third time participating in group therapy conducted by her doctor. The group therapy mainly treats patients who are suffering from depression, anxiety and insomnia. Jia was diagnosed with depression this May. She couldn't work and felt depressed all day. 

"I lost interest in everything, even food. I was afraid to talk to people and didn't want to participate in any social activities," Jia said, "I feel much better now with the help of the doctor and the support from my family."

Jia was afraid in the beginning, but she was surprised that there are a group of people who are suffering from the same illness as her when she sought some help from professionals.

Indeed, Jia was not alone. A survey conducted on Chinese people's mental health aged 14 to 35, showed that nearly 30 percent of young people surveyed in China were at risk of depression. The China Youth and Children Research Center conducted the survey, in collaboration with the Institute of Psychology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to a China Youth Daily report in April.

More than half of the respondents in the survey have anxiety problems, with people aged 31 to 35 and high school students showing the highest level of severe anxiety, according to the report. 

Financial pressure, career confusion and academic pressure are the main sources of stress, the China Youth Daily report said.

Too shy to talk

During recent years, the rate of college students in China suffering from depression has increased each year, the China Youth Daily reported on July 25. The topic has sparked  heated discussions on China's social media platforms, with many netizens saying that more efforts should be made to help those people with mental illnesses.

Adriana, 19, will enter her junior year this September at Shanghai University. She was diagnosed with depression when she was in high school. 

Adriana said her family didn't give her enough support when she felt depressed. "My parents discouraged me due to my bad academic performance, which disappointed me," Adriana told the Global Times. "My parents always blamed me as being useless, which made me feel stressed."

When Adriana entered college, she also didn't know how to get along with her roommates and she felt lonely. She was shy to talk with others about her problem. "Most of the students will choose to [internalize] their 'secrets', as they feel shameful to be considered mentally ill," Adriana said.

Jia had the same feeling. She asked her family members to keep her condition secret and didn't want others to know about her illness.

"The symptoms of patients with depression are subtle and not easy to find in the beginning," said a doctor surnamed Chen from Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

"For instance, patients with depression like to rub hands or scratch their heads inadvertently when talking with others, but they don't know they suffer from the illness," Chen said.   

Most people with depression are too shy to talk, as they lack knowledge of depression, Chen noted. "They are afraid to be misunderstood. Negative reactions toward depression may cause more mental or physical illnesses."

According to the China Youth Daily, financial pressure, career confusion and academic pressure are the main sources of stress. Photo: VCG

Understand and overcome

"For those people with slight depression, they can seek psychotherapy. But for those with mid-level or severe depression, they need take medicine under the instruction of the professional doctors," Chen said.

Based on the cases he has treated, some patients' depression is caused by other physical illnesses, and some is due to the high career pressure, and most of students' depression is caused by academic pressure.

Wang He (pseudonym), 40, from Beijing who works in the real estate industry said that the industry is fierce and pushes people to work harder and make more money.

In 2016, he was diagnosed with depression. "I didn't want to talk and suffered from severe insomnia during that time. I lost five kilograms and I felt that I needed help." 

Wang also lost interest in everything. "I'm a movie lover. But during that time, I refused to watch movies. Then I realized I had problems."

In the beginning, Wang thought career pressure might be one of the reasons leading to his illness. He changed his job, but he was still unhappy.

He said he was lucky because he has relatives who suffered from the illness and he got the chance to know more. "I don't think it's shameful. I talked to my wife and tried to seek professional help from doctors." Finally, he took medicine under the instruction of professional doctors for one year, and he feels better.

The depression problem among young people is getting more serious compared with the survey results in 2008, according to the aforementioned China Youth Daily report. In 2008, 75.8 percent of young people were free of depression, 5.3 percentage points lower than in 2018.

"My suggestion is to see a doctor once you feel the onset of depression. Don't be reluctant," Wang noted. 

"The good thing is that more and more people begin to understand this illness, and more encouragement and understanding should be given to those people who are suffering from depression," Wang said.

Global Times