China and Mental Illness
Lynette Flickinger
Quote On Mental Illness
"Mental health has become a major public health
problem in China, accounting for 20 percent of
diseases in China, not only affecting the life and work
of the patients and their families, but also bringing
heavy economic burden to society"
-Zhu Qingsheng
Suicide
• A high proportion of people who committed suicide in China suffered from
mental illness before committing suicide (97% to 100%)
• The two most prevalent psychiatric disorders were depression and alcoholism
• The most common pattern was depression with substance use disorders.
• The risk for suicide was significantly associated with psychiatric conditions
and a family history of suicide and depression.
• 51% of all suicides had consulted psychology therapists in the previous
month.
Schizophrenia and Suicide
Unlike almost every other country in the world, schizophrenia and suicide in
China is higher in women than in men.
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4.25 million people in China have schizophrenia
284,614 suicides yearly – of those 28,737 people have schizophrenia
The proportion of all suicides attributable to schizophrenia was 9.7%
Schizophrenia is higher in women than men, and greater in urban areas
than rural areas. Risk of suicide is greater in women than men.
• Risk of suicide in residents with schizophrenia versus those without was
higher in women than in men
Shenkui
Also known as “semen-loss syndrome”
* A Fear of losing positive male energy and a severe anxiety over the discharge of
semen or whitish discoloration of the urine.
* Symptoms include dizziness, backache, fatigue, general weakness, insomnia,
frequent dreams, and complaints of sexual dysfunction (such as premature
ejaculation) and feelings of weakness and exhaustion.
* Symptoms are attributed to excessive semen loss from frequent intercourse,
masturbation or nocturnal emission.
* Excessive semen loss is feared because it represents the loss of one's vital
essence and can thereby be life threatening.
Koro:
Genital Retraction Syndrome
This is an intense episode of sudden anxiety that the penis (or in the rare female cases, the
vulva and nipples) will recede into the body and possibly cause death.
A typical episode will occur when a man goes to urinate in the cold or while emotionally upset
and observes that his penis is becoming smaller.
(Reason for getting emotionally upset include guilt over masturbation or frequenting
prostitutes, being concerned about his sexual performance, or a fight with his wife)
Remembering the dangers of a shrinking penis, the man grabs his genitals before they can
retract into his body, and calls for help.
If no one is around to help hold onto his penis, the individual may use mechanical devices to
keep the penis from retracting, including cords, chopsticks, clamps, or small weights.
Koro Case Study
A 34 year old Chinese male was at a cinema show when he felt the
need to go to the bathroom. He went out to the bathroom, and as he
was easing himself, he suddenly felt a loss of feeling in the genital
region, and straightaway the thought occurred to him that he was
going to get penile retraction.
Sure enough, he noticed that the penis was getting shorter. He
suddenly felt cold in the limbs, and was weak all over, and his legs
gave way under him. So he sat on the floor, all this time holding onto
his penis crying for help.
Qi-Gong Psychotic Reaction
An episode characterized by paranoid or other psychotic or non-psychotic symptoms
that occur after participating in the Chinese folk health-enhancing practice of qigong. Especially vulnerable are individuals who become overly involved in the
practice.
Symptoms Include:
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Hallucinations
Anxiety attacks
Paranoia
Heavy breathing or loss of breath
Dizziness
Feeling of weakness
What is Qi-Gong?
- Qigong is an popular aspect of Chinese medicine involving the coordination of different
breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body.
- It is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who teach it
for therapeutic interventions. It is similar to Chinese martial arts
- There are currently more than 33,000 different styles and schools of qigong.
- It relies on the traditional Chinese belief that the body has an energy field generated and
maintained by the natural respiration of the body, known as Qi.
- Qi means breath or to breathe in Chinese, and by extension the energy produced by
breathing that keeps us alive.
- Gong means work or technique. Qigong is then "breath work" or the art of managing the
breath to achieve and maintain good health and to enhance the stamina of the body
Pa-leng:
Frigophobia
The fear of being cold or the fear of cold things
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Panic Attacks
Shortness of breath / rapid breathing
Irregular heartbeat
Nausea
Sweating
Feelings of dread
Fear of dying from coldness
References
Hughes, Charles C. (1985). The Culture-Bound Syndromes: folk illnesses of psychiatric and anthropological interest. Dordrecht, The
Netherlands: D. Reidel Publishing Company. p. 156.
Phillips, Michael R. (2004). Suicide and the unique prevalence pattern of schizophrenia in retrospective observational study. Vol 364(9439),
pp. 1062-1068
National Library of Medicine Online. (1995). Mental illness and suicide. A case-control study in east Taiwan. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 52(7),594603. Information retrieved on November 8, 2005 from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list
Hall, Timothy M. (2001). Culture-Bound Syndromes in China. Information retrieved on November 8, 2005 from:
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~thall/cbs.html
Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. Qu-Gong. Information retrieved on November 8, 2005 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Gong