Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Chinese government recently announced the introduction of a psychological test in selection procedures for government officials and leaders of state-owned industries. The decision stems from the suicide rate among state officials, often suffering from depression. The number of cases of mental and psychiatric disorders is steadily growing in the country.

The problem of mental illness and mental disorders has emerged in China in the shadow of economic development. According to a survey conducted by authorities in 2009, approximately 17.5% of Chinese, from cities to the countryside, suffer from mental illness, schizophrenia and depression.

This situation has forced authorities to put mental health on the government agenda which is unprepared to tackle the problem.

Yanling He, a psychiatrist at the Shanghai Mental Medical Center, said that out of over 1.2 billion inhabitants in China, there are only 20 thousand psychiatrists. The average is 1.5 per 100 thousand people and it is one tenth that of the U.S.. He points out that the majority of doctors are not qualified and are often confronted with problems better suited to social workers and psychologists. Another fact is the inefficient distribution of personnel in the area. "At the Shanghai Mental Medical Center - He says - there are about 200 medical specialists, while in Tibet the only psychiatrist in the region has recently retired."

To modernize and improve qualifications in the field of psychiatry, in 2009 the Chinese Ministry of Science invested over 6 million euro in research aimed at suicide prevention and identification of mental disorders. The ministry has also started several programs of international cooperation with the University of Melbourne and a team of American doctors have launched a series of collaborations with universities in Hong Kong and the Institute of Mental Health in Beijing.

The introduction of new procedures for psychiatric and psychological investigation, especially the introduction of modern pharmaceuticals in the Chinese market since 2005, has generated a boom in purchases among the population which often resorts to a pharmacological solution to the normal problems of life. According to an analysis by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Ely Lilly, from 1999 to 2009 Chinese have increased by six times spending on psychotic drugs and antidepressants from less than 50 million to over 300 million dollars.

Sing Lee, a professor at the University of Hong Kong points out that the introduction of these new drugs has produced an apparent increase in mental illness. “Until a few years ago it took three months to diagnose a case of depression - he says - now it takes two weeks for the diagnosis and administration of the drug." Lee stresses that the risk is the treatment of states such as pain and sadness with medicines that are instead part of normal human feelings.