Campus offers help

In 2004, the Ministry of Education declared May 25 to be Mental Health Day for college students. In Chinese, the number 5/25 (the Chinese abbreviation of May 25) sounds similar to "I love myself," reminding students that they need to love who they are before they can love others. The recent tragedies made this year's Mental Health Day much more meaningful. Universities around the country organized many different events and activities to promote mental health awareness.

Several hospitals based in Beijing worked with local educational departments to establish a clinical center that offers guidance and suggestions for school psychologists in order to prevent mental health problems on campuses.

In most developed countries, the psychologist-to-student ratio is 1:1,500, while in China, where psychology has just started to make inroads, the Ministry of Education has mandated that each university should have one psychological counselor for every 3,000 students and make sure to have more than two on call at all times. 

"But in fact, most universities fail to meet that requirement," said Yang, suggesting that this is due to a lack of psychological professionals in China. "Compared to Western countries, China's psychological service sector got a relatively late start."

But Yang believes that the field is growing quickly. Psychological therapy administered to the victims of earthquake disasters in recent years has led to more Chinese people understanding the importance of such therapy. At the same time, televised talk shows discussing interpersonal relationship issues have become more popular, and while such shows are not tantamount to professional psychological counseling, they indicate an increase in people's attention to emotional wellbeing.

Yang believes that social awareness about the importance of psychology is related to economic development. It is only when people are not concerned about food and clothing that they are able to pay more attention to mental health, said Yang. This explains the increasing need for psychological help in China over the past decade.

In terms of offering psychological support to students, CNU is a leader among educational institutions in Beijing. It founded a Psychological Counseling Center in 1993. The center, which is staffed by around 20 psychologists and psychological postgraduate students, is open eight hours a day, and offers counseling services to the university's students. The university has also established a compulsory course for freshmen that includes information on psychology.

These efforts seem to be making an impact. Unlike their parents, who prefer to follow traditional Chinese norms and keep their stress and pain to themselves, young Chinese pay more attention to their psychological health, and nearly 1,000 CNU students now seek psychological help each year. "I think our students realize the importance of asking for help when it's necessary," said Yang.

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