Emotional crisis

Deng Xiaomei is a national Grade II psychological consultant and an expert who works with the Guangzhou Youth Cultural Palace's 12355-volunteer helpline for teenagers.

When the emotional pressure on a child exceeds certain levels, he or she exhibits telltale signs, Deng told ThePaper.cn news outlet. These signs include being irritable, overdependent, continuously sad, anxious, or inattentive, avoiding social activities, increased internet usage, and significant changes in sleeping and eating habits.

"The general emotional crisis reaction will last six to eight weeks. When children exhibit more than one or two of these conditions, it is recommended to seek help from a school psychologist or professional organizations," she said.

Looking back, Zhang said that as a parent she had downplayed many of the signs of mental illness in her son.

She tried to impose too many of her own ways and ideas on the child, which was counterproductive to addressing his psychological problems. On one occasion she told him to attend a concert to relieve his depression, although he was reluctant to go.

After arriving at the concert hall, her son said again that he did not feel good about going, but Zhang insisted he attend. After half an hour, he became very agitated and eventually acted aggressively.

During that period he resisted most social interaction and lost interest in almost everything, Zhang said.

Li Yanjuan, a clinical psychologist at Peking University, explained that depression is a mood disorder that causes loss of interest and a persistent feeling of sadness.

"Chinese people may be relatively restrained and reserved, and they are somewhat discouraged from expressing emotions, especially negative emotions," said Li. "They tend to be influenced by their social environment, and they may not be willing or able to find appropriate ways to express these feelings."

"Some of my teenage patients think that their classmates won't like them if they admitted that they were depressed or that people would feel bad and wouldn't want to play with them, so they tend to hide their depression," said Li.

Zhang's son was reluctant to say he was depressed. Instead, he said he felt sick, but resisted his mother's advice to take medicine or see a doctor.

She now encourages him not to suppress his emotions all the time, hoping that he can "cry and laugh whenever he wants" and "not bury everything in his heart".