WITH a gradually increasing awareness of the need to deal with students’ psychological health needs, Shanghai is pushing ahead with a major initiative to teach students and get counselors into schools at all levels — from primary through university.

Since early 2000, many education experts in the city have recognized the problem in a country that has not dealt very seriously with mental health. While the psychological condition of university students in general is considered within normal range, there are common problems among them that require help from professionals.

A textbook about the mental health of university students that will be released at the upcoming Shanghai Book Fair opening next Wednesday is being recommended for university psychology courses in Shanghai.

Written by psychologists from more than 10 universities in the city, it endeavors to bring together all the issues typical for university students. They include self-recognition, career planning, interpersonal relationships, sexual/love psychology, pressure management and coping with frustration.

“Psychological education is important in helping the students develop a healthy personality, which may pose impact on their entire life,” says Professor Zhang Haiyan, deputy director of the Shanghai Students Psychological Health Education Development Center.

As requested by the Ministry of Education, psychology courses have been set in more than 60 universities in Shanghai to help students cope with their issues and offer guidance in study and work.

The new book is expected to be an improvement for educators and students, as it provides not only basic psychology theory, but also particular cases and problems common among university students in Shanghai.

“Some people may think we made the book because of many psychological problems among the university students, which is definitely not the case,” says Professor Zhang, a co-author of the book.

According to Zhang, most of Shanghai’s university students are psychologically positive. That conclusion is drawn from research she did on about 5,000 students ranging from undergraduates to doctoral degree candidates in Shanghai in 2008. A similar study of more than 60,000 students of all kinds in the city has been conducted by the center since last year. Preliminary results of the research show agreement with Zhang’s conclusion from 2008.

“Surely there are psychological problems among the university students, but most of the issues are just natural for their age,” says Zhang.

The purpose of offering university psychology courses is not for curing problems but for informing students of issues they may encounter and giving advice on how to cope when they happen, either to themselves or to their friends.

Problems with self-recognition, interpersonal relationships and romance are among the most frequently raised questions by university students in consultations.

For example, many students who were elites in high school may find themselves not so outstanding in universities, where they are surrounded by equally smart classmates. When they fail to adjust to that new reality, they are likely to take their failure in study as failure in life, which may lead to self-denial and self-contempt.

“Some students consider high scores in class the only way to success, which is definitely not the case,” says Zhang. “Recognizing their weak points, identifying themselves properly and setting realistic goals ... are the most recommended way to cope with the problem. Without guidance, some students just give up and indulge themselves in video games and procrastination.”

How to communicate and make friends with others is a question that was mentioned by almost every student who came to Zhang for help at her campus office. A lack of communication skills and self-centeredness are among the major reasons for the difficulties in relationships, while low self-esteem in some students also poses huge obstacles to their social life.

“Due to lack of confidence, the students always keep hostile to others’ overtures. They may take others’ praise as mockery, and criticism as bullying. In some cases, the students just try to avoid contact with others to protect themselves,” says Zhang.

Naturally, others will keep distance from them. The students lacking self-esteem may take that as evidence of their unpopularity, when in fact it’s just a natural consequence of their choice in the first place.

Being attracted by the opposite sex and longing for a romantic relationship, very common among university students, is nothing to be ashamed of, Zhang notes.

“Falling in love is just a perfect chance for the young to get rid of self-centeredness and start to care for others,” she says. “But it is undeniable that considering their age and experience, it may be difficult for the university students to handle some particular problems in the relationship, such as where the relationship will end up. Proper guidance from professionals may offer much help in these cases.”

Students in Shanghai facing a multicultural environment and rapid life changes may run into problems that include cultural conflicts and high pressure, apart from the general problems.

“Psychological courses among ordinary students do not have to be comprehensive, but useful and to the point,” says Zhang. “They have to answer common questions among the students while offering guidance like how to prevent, where to search for help and how to help each other when it happens.”

Apart from upgrading university psychology courses, improvement in psychology education in primary, middle and high schools is also on the way.

All campuses from primary to university in Shanghai are expected to have done evaluations on their psychology education by 2015. Among the standard requirements are: having a room set aside as a counseling center, with a qualified instructor; offering psychological training for related teachers; providing specified psychological counseling to students.

About 24 primary, middle and high schools were announced as demonstration schools on Monday, while nearly 70 universities have reached qualified standards.

“The occurrence rate of psychological problems among middle and high school students has increased in recent years because of the growing pressure in study,” says Wu Zengqiang, vice director of the Shanghai Students Psychological Health Education Development Center.

A parent-child conflict is a big problem among students at this age, apart from coping with the pressures of school and homework.

It often results from the contradiction between students’ desire to be independent and respected and the parents’ insistence that their children are incapable of taking care of themselves.

“It does not only happen to the students with poor scores, but also the good students,” says Wu. “That is why we are advocating a comprehensive psychological problem prevention net with parents involved as well.”