Focus on Hong Kong students’ mental health – call for more awareness and assistance
22 student suicides in the past academic year in Hong Kong have put mental health issues under the spotlight, with calls to coax sufferers out of the shadows and offer them appropriate help
The past academic year saw 22 students commit suicide, eight of whom were at university. Even more worrying is the fact that this could be just the tip of the iceberg as mental illness affects a far greater number of students. In the 2015/16 academic year, 920 students at Chinese University of Hong Kong sought help from the school’s counselling team, and that number does not even reflect the full scale of depression or other anxiety disorders as many more cases are not detected.
The alarming trend begs the question, how much do we know about mental illness?
The answer, it seems, is not much.
In fact, the common misconceptions society has about mental disorders – that only the weak are susceptible, or that it’s something to be ashamed of – can be what is keeping us sick.
One problem universities found when tackling the issue is the difficulty of identifying students who are emotionally disturbed. While some are reluctant to seek help because of stigma, many more are not aware of having a problem.
On the outside, Alex Leung Kwun-yat appears to be an exemplary and high-achieving student. The 23-year-old studies law at the University of Hong Kong and leads the school’s English debating team, participating in regional and international competitions. But unbeknownst to many, he spent most of his third year of studies buckling under pressure.
Under mounting workload and stress, he began skipping class and avoided any social interactions. “I didn’t dare go to school – I just hid in my dorm room all the time,” says Leung, who was so scared of running into people then, he would not shower for days at a time nor visit the cafeteria or pantry when he felt hungry.