Zhang Lijia meets a Canadian mental health expert working in Beijing to discuss the present realities and the future of mental healthcare in China.

Zhang Lijia meets a Canadian mental health expert working in Beijing to discuss the present realities and the future of mental healthcare in China.

Caitlin invites two mental health practitioners who treat expats in China to share the attitudes, habits and behaviors that help foreigners make the most out of their time abroad.

Caitlin invites two mental health practitioners who treat expats in China to share the attitudes, habits and behaviors that help foreigners make the most out of their time abroad.

Last week, we took a look on public attitudes regarding mental illness in China; this week we bring viewers an exclusive peek inside one of the few mental institutes in Beijing providing services for mentally ill patients with few other options.

On the outskirts of Beijing lies Chaoyang District Mental Health Service Center; one of only three private institutions in the Chinese capital providing housing and services for the mentally ill.

The head of the institution, Yang Yun, has been with the centre since it first opened in 1999. She has seen the center grow from 60 patients after its first year in operation to 190 today. For many of the patients – and their families – this is the only option they have.

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The recent execution of a British man in China for drug smuggling triggered heated debate between the British and Chinese authorities.

At the center of the argument was whether the man was or was not suffering from a mental condition – bi-polar disorder – and whether he was aware of his actions and the consequences.

And recently a number of widely publicized attacks on either family members or strangers by mentally ill assailants have resulted in several deaths. All this has led to more attention being paid to an area of health that has long been largely ignored in China.

A recent survey carried out by the People’s Daily found that more than 16 percent of university students frequently experience anxiety, depression and nervousness. And the Mental Health Research Institute at Peking University says that while fifteen out of every thousand people will suffer from depression in China - an incident rate similar to that of the US – the number of medical professionals working with mental illness in China is 43 times fewer than in the United States.

BON researcher Jackie Wen went online to find out what net users in China are saying about mental illness and it’s effects on society.