Nearly a fifth of the patients visiting hospital out-patient departments are suffering from depression or anxiety, a comprehensive survey has revealed.

Launched by Social Economic Burden of Depression initiative, the China Psychiatry Association and Wyeth, the results of the survey were released in Shanghai yesterday in the lead-up to World Mental Health Day on October 10.

The survey covered 8,487 patients in 15 comprehensive hospitals in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Changsha and was the nation's largest study for 15 years looking at the incidence of mental problems in patients attending out-patient departments and how aware of the problems the doctors in these departments were.

Experts estimate that about 19 million Chinese adults suffer from depression.

Yet both the public and general practitioners are not very aware of the problem - a problem which costs China annually 8.09 billion yuan (US$1.08 billion) directly and 43.28 billion indirectly.

"We also found that many patients suffering physical illnesses are also suffering from depression or other mental disorders," said Dr. He Yanling from the Shanghai Mental Health Center. "Depression makes people feel physically ill. About 90 percent of people suffering from depression don't realize they have a problem in the early stages. They just go to different hospitals for repeated treatments most of which are useless."

She said depression can produce many different symptoms such as headaches, stomach pains, cardiovascular problems, gynecological problems and poor digestion.

The survey showed that neurology departments received the highest number of people suffering from depression and anxiety, followed by digestive disease departments and gynecology departments.

"Moreover, only 8.24 percent of the patients were diagnosed as suffering from mental problems by out-patient department doctors and advised to go to a psychiatric department," Dr. He said. "Most doctors only gave a diagnosis and treatment based on the symptoms and their own experience. Even though some patients suspected they were depressed, they did not seek psychiatric treatment for fear of prejudice."

Health authorities have realized the importance of improving psychiatric training for general practitioners.

(Shanghai Daily September 29, 2007)