My project in “ The change I want to see ” is about care crisis in mental health field in China.
The driving force of this project actually is my own venerability, in the previews projects, I’ve been continually researching about mental health, from whether trauma should be dug out or not, to whether intergenerational trauma exists, to the impact of social environment and cultural value systems. These questions and the changes I want to see actually come from what I’ve been feeling and observing. I just really started treating my anxiety and depression last year, and have made a lot of improvements to the point where I am now taking my medication consistently. I couldn’t help but wonder why I wasn’t able to take that step in time before this. Before I came here to study, I joined a support group on the internet and I realised that there were many others like me, so I genuinely wanted to help them, or rather, help my former self.
What I am researching about this subject is the current situation in China and I have read REPORT ON NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA （2021-2022） as well as some news about the social influences. I think there are still a lot of stigmas attached to mental illness in China, and also the Mental Health Literacy of the nationals is not that high. The next step in the progression of my research is the possibility of using new technology to improve the profession, about which I watched the documentary film ‘Stutz’ to learn about some practical tools in the therapy process, therapist Stutz encourages people to think in visual terms, and some weighty, unwieldy notions About Psychology are presented as simple, actionable items, which I think is a very good way to incorporate visual representations with healing. In the meantime, I am reading the book HEALING which focuses on some of the shortcomings of the means of treating mental illness in the US and some of the better models proposed by the author. I haven’t finished reading it yet， but although it is set in the US, I think it can still bring me a lot of inspiration since mental health treatment in the US actually started earlier and is much more advanced than in China. Also, the American psychologist Thomas R. Insel mentioned the use of technology to help with “engagement”， I will continue my research in this direction.
After the presentations at 4.17 and 4.18 in front of the tutors and dragon den, I gained some very useful feedback, not only about the presentations but also about suggestions to develop the topic further, such as strengthening the structure of the presentations and using visualisation elements to make the presentations clearer, as well as mapping different ways of addressing mental health care in different countries in future research. The way in which mental health care is addressed in different countries can be mapped in future research. After this feedback, I think I would narrow down the scope of my research, for example, to help with certain symptoms of anxiety disorders. The artist Kumbirai Makumbe in Dragon Den suggested that I could consider how the government could improve the mental health care system, but this is something I still need to investigate and remain sceptical about because of the Chinese context. It is difficult to achieve direct top-down reform, our power system and class are very solid, but I would do some research in this direction to see if it would help or make a difference to my next project.
I understand that this is a huge area and even though a lot of people have been working on this subject, the stigma of mental illness has not been removed so far — it is a difficult problem to solve. But I’m still passionate about it because I think that every passion and attention that is put into this field is an accumulation of little steps forward.
supporting bibliography
- Fu, X. et al. (2023) REPORT ON NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA （2021-2022）. Social science academic press( China ).
- Insel, T.R. (2022) Healing: Our path from mental illness to mental health. New York: Penguin Press.
- Insel, T.R. (2022) What’s next for Digital Mental Health Companies?, STAT. Available at: https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/02/whats-next-for-digital-mental-health-companies/ (Accessed: April 21, 2023).
- Aguilar, M. (2022) What types of mental health apps actually work? A sweeping new analysis finds the data is sparse, STAT. Available at: https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/19/mental-health-meditation-app-evidence/ (Accessed: April 21, 2023).
- Insel, T.R. (2022) Tech can help solve our mental health crisis. but we can’t forget the human element., Tech Can Help Solve Our Mental Health Crisis. But We Can’t Forget The Human Element. Big Technology. Available at: https://www.bigtechnology.com/p/tech-can-help-solve-our-mental-health?s=r (Accessed: April 21, 2023).
- “Depression: Let’s talk” says who, as depression tops list of causes of ill health (no date) World Health Organization. World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/news/item/30-03-2017–depression-let-s-talk-says-who-as-depression-tops-list-of-causes-of-ill-health (Accessed: April 21, 2023).
- Stutz (2022). Netflix. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81387962?trackId=14277281&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2CVideo%3A81387962%2CdetailsPagePlayButton.
