THE suicide in early June of Chen Baifeng, vice mayor of Weifang in Shandong Province who suffered from depression, brought the psychological health issue among government officials into public attention.

As of April, 112 civil servants in the the country had committed suicide since 2003, with some of them suffering severe psychiatric disorders, according to a report on www.wfnews.com.cn, an official news portal of Weifang government.

The Zhejiang Province government has long recognized the seriousness of mental illness among civil servants, and launched a psychological support program targeting government staff six years ago. The program is continuing.

Zhao Guoqiu, 60, is among the 36 psychologists in that support program. Groups of civil servants from Zhejiang and other provinces turn to him for psychological treatment every week, and they need to make appointments several weeks in advance.

“Undoubtedly, the number of  civil servants suffering from psychiatric disorder has been ascending over the years,” said Zhao, former president of Hangzhou No. 7 Hospital, a well-known hospital offering psychiatric treatment in Zhejiang Province. Zhao now operates a clinic in Zhaohui Block in Hangzhou.

The most common mental illnesses include depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondria, while the depressive disorder comes first, according to Zhao.

“Unlike most people, civil servants work under a complicated system and face intricate interpersonal relationships. Moreover, young people born in the 1980s and 1990s have joined the group. Most of them are the only children of their families and were over-protected by their parents, which means they may not be accustomed to the anfractuous government system for a period,” Zhao said.

On the other hand, Zhao said government staffers bear pressure from society.

“Chinese civil servants enjoy higher social status,” Zhao told Shanghai Daily. “Being a government official is so highly valued in our country that even graduates of Peking University are competing for those governmental posts. Such abnormal social cognition toward civil servants exerts pressure on them, conversely.”

In addition, President Xi Jinping’s anti-pomp and anti-graft campaign since late 2012 also puts pressure on officials. President Xi called for a curb on excessive spending for the “three public consumptions” — vehicle purchasing and maintenance, overseas trips and official receptions — and a guideline for “eight rules” on official behavior, which include bans on expensive meals and showy official trips.

“No one dare to go against these rules now,” said a civil servant who has worked in the Jiaxing government of Zhejiang Province for more than 20 years and wanted only his surnamed of Shen used. “We cannot slack off on work like we did in the past and have to take responsibility for what we do. What pressures us more is that supervision becomes frequent and tougher compared with past times.”

However, not all civil servants encounter the same pressure. Grassroots government officials faces the biggest stress, especially those who work in police stations.

“I’ve had Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner with my family only one time since I joined the police department three years ago,” said Jason Tang, a Wenzhou native who works in Hangzhou as a police officer. “Most of all, negative news about police lead some citizens to resent us, which makes me feel unworthy after all the hard work I have done.

“Our salary is extremely disproportionate to our working hours, because we work overtime for two thirds of working days without extra pay. Sometimes the heavy work really drives me crazy,” Tang said. “I also cannot find spare time to accompany my girlfriend, which makes our relationship tense. To tell you the truth, the divorce rate among the police is really high.”

Although the stress on civil servants varies according to different jobs and government departments, all of them suffer from pressure and even depression when the promotion chance comes.

“The chance for promotion in the civil servant system is low, especially for those in the grassroots level,” added Shen, who is in his 50s and soon will retire. “Sometimes, it is the leader’s review instead of work achievement that decides a person’s promotion, which, to some extent, means there will be some unfairness in the process of promotion.”

Zhao’s long-term research shows that inequality is the foremost factor causing depression among civil servants, with other work pressure and income and marriage quality also common factors.

“Influenced by Chinese traditional culture, which highlights humility and forbearance, Chinese people are more vulnerable to depressive disorder than Westerners. In addition, the cognition level of depressive disorder is low in China, so Chinese people usually feel ashamed over such psychiatric disorders. In most cases, they will conceal their mental illness condition rather than see a psychologist,” Zhao said.

According to Zhao’s survey, only 10 percent of people with depressive disorder turn to professional psychologists for treatment, while 40 percent sense they have a mental illness but choose to look for therapy by themselves on the sly.

The remaining half, who have no idea that they are experiencing psychological illness, go to two extremes — self-healing or committing suicide.

“Among the major depressive disorder patients, 10 percent will choose to kill themselves,” Zhao said.

Government officials’ desire to conceal mental illness is stronger than that of other people.

“Depressive disorder means your political career is over — you will never get promoted thereafter,” said Shen.

“During my psychologist career, I have never met an official who wanted to disclose that he had a depressive disorder,” Zhao said.

Compared with developed countries, people in China lack access to treatment and consultation for mental illness.

“In Western countries, there is one psychologist among 600 to 1,000 people generally, while in China the proportion slumps to one in 100,000,” said Zhao. “Given the immature development of psychology and limited professional psychologists in China, common knowledge of psychiatric disorders urgently needs to rise among the public.”

Soon Zhao plans to cooperate with mass media, hospitals and other pharmaceutical units to hold a series of seminars and lectures that will aim to spread basic knowledge of mental illness, especially how to prevent it.

In Zhao’s mind, prevention is as important as psychological treatment. Some Zhejiang provincial and Hangzhou municipal government departments have begun to carry out Zhao’s suggestion to add a psychological health examination to the annual physical examination.

“Such mental health examination is cheap and effective. Civil servants just need to fill a questionnaire on a computer, which could immediately analyze the result,” Zhao said.

Zhao frequently gives lectures in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and other provinces to educate government personnel about basic psychological issues and guide them on how to prevent mental illness. His curriculum consists of five three-hour courses.

“First, civil servants should think positively and get rid of negative thoughts,” Zhao advises civil servants who attend his courses. “Second, find more than three confidants with whom you can share privacy. It couldn’t be better than to pick your husband or wife as your best friend. Third, write a diary recording your mood to help rethink your reaction to daily events.

“The Zhejiang government’s work on preventing and treating mental illness among civil servants is in the lead across China,” said Zhao.

Nonetheless, some civil servants with mental illness gave up searching for help from the support program and killed themselves.

A SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) officer in his 40s who suffered from major depression made an appointment with Zhao but backed out and later committed suicide. The SWAT officer’s identity wasn’t disclosed to protect his and his family’s privacy.

“I was so sad when I heard about his death. How I wish he could see me. Maybe I could have saved his life,” Zhao said.

Thereafter, Zhao directed his employees to ask about any suicidal urges when a person calls for an appointment. If the answer is yes, Zhao will see the patient immediately.

“Depressive disorder patients who tend to kill themselves could be saved if appropriate mental intervention was made,” Zhao said. “I hope more and more people know that psychiatric disorders can be healed.”