Depression was not common among the younger children but was the leading mental health problem across secondary school students, with about 10 per cent suffering from the disorder. It was followed by anxiety at 7.8 per cent.

Wong did not reveal the respective numbers of primary and secondary schoolchildren surveyed.

In another government-commissioned survey involving 4,500 people aged 60 or above, Wong said 70 per cent of the elderly living in care homes had severe forms of dementia. The survey details are yet to be announced to the public. Of the city’s overall elderly population, 22 per cent have displayed early signs of the neurodegenerative disease.

Two local universities were delegated by the government to conduct three citywide mental health surveys among different age groups.

Number of Hong Kong students with mental health woes doubles in 4 years

Besides the ones concerning the elderly and children, the survey of youngsters aged 15 to 24 was announced in May and also found depression to be the most common mental disorder.

Wong told the Post the latest findings showed that mental health issues were worth the public’s attention.

“When we are drafting policies and allocating resources, we would need to be more targeting,” said Wong, who will step down from his role at the end of this month.

He said the government should also address manpower issues in psychiatric services, where stable patients usually needed to wait for months or even years for their first appointment at public specialist clinics.

“Can the government mobilise different service providers, other than psychiatrists, to deal with the more stable cases and to provide more timely treatment?” Wong said.

“At the same time, that will leave room for younger people who definitely need a psychiatrist’s treatment … in a shorter time frame.”

During the event held jointly by the Hong Kong Association for the Promotion of Mental Health and the Guangdong Social Psychology Association, Wong, citing the World Health Organization, said there should be at least one psychiatrist for every 10,000 people.

He added with more than 7.3 million population, Hong Kong should have at least 730 psychiatrists. There are only 427 registered psychiatric specialists, far below the international standard.

Wong said that support for mental health services should not only come from the government, but also different sectors of the community.

The government proposed 10 measures to boost support to the city’s mental health services in June, after a knife-wielding man who had been receiving counseling killed two women.

Mental health in Hong Kong at its worst level in eight years: survey

Dr Phyllis Chan Kwok-ling, honorary clinical associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s department of psychiatry, said ADHD took up half of the cases referred to psychiatric specialist outpatient clinics in the public system. Seventy per cent of them were primary school students.

The child and adolescent psychiatrist added most ADHD cases were related to genetic factors or brain development disorder, noting environmental factors could also exacerbate the condition.

She said the stress that ensued from the 2019 social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in the following year could have induced ADHD and lead to depression.

“Patients may display more symptoms of ADHD when they are faced with stress,” Chan said. “Depression among secondary school students can also be because they could not go to schools and lacked social life during the Covid-19 epidemic.”