China has its first batch of professional psychologists following 277 people awarded with certificates by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security Sunday in Beijing.
  
The psychologists are qualified to open clinics to provide psychological services for the public.
  
China has three appraisal levels for psychological workers: psychological consultants, psychologists and senior psychologists, said Zhang Chun, deputy-director of Beijing Huaxia Psychological Education Center.
 
No certificates for senior psychologists have been issued in China, so the psychologist certificate is currently the highest professional psychologist level in China, Zhang said.
  
The government will further promote appraisal and training work for nation's psychological service industry, said Dong Xiaonan, director of the professional technique appraisal center in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
  
About 16 million Chinese are estimated to be suffering from mental diseases, and about 30 million of the country's 150 million minors suffer from "emotional obstacles," said Guo Nianfeng, director of China Psychological Health Association.
  
China has less than 3,000 people engaged in psychological services, while in most developed countries there is one psychological worker for every 1,000 people, Guo said. "China still has a lot to do in improving people's psychological health care," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2005)