Mental problems also exist in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, though they have much better medical infrastructure.

A dramatic growth in the amount of psychobehavioral problems has been seen among children, adolescents and the elderly in urban areas due to the fast pace of social change.

Recognizing the severity of the situation, the government has in recent years scaled up programs and policies to remedy the lack of psychiatric services.

In Shanghai, mental health has been prioritized by public health departments in a new round of healthcare reforms.

"With the fast development of society and the economy, people are facing increasing pressure from work and life," said Xu Jianguang, director of the city's health bureau, who added that Shanghai will boost investment in mental health services, especially for the elderly.

Shanghai is the first city in the country to have an ageing population. It is predicted that about one-third of Shanghai residents will be older than 60 by 2020.

Meanwhile, mental health experts and institutions are also exploring more effective and innovative ways to improve the country's mental health services.

A five-year training program focused on building research capacity and improving mental health among all age groups in China was launched on Monday. It will improve the skills of medical staff, especially those from the country's central and western areas, Xie said.

Sponsored by the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institute of Health, the program was initiated by the department of global health and social medicine of Harvard Medical School, the Shanghai Mental Health Center and the Peking University Institute of Mental Health.

Under the program, a total of 40 researchers, doctoral-level students and post-doctoral fellows from Shanghai and Beijing will receive rigorous training from professionals from these three institutes. In addition, 80 clinical psychiatrists from other areas of China will be trained in Beijing and Shanghai.

"Trainees in this program will play a leading role in mental health research across China," Xie said.

"The main task of promoting mental health development is to reconstruct the country's mental health service system. Over the past few years, the medical staff and resources have been mainly concentrated in the psychiatric hospitals. But now the mental health service should move from institution-based treatment to community-based care," Xiao Zeping, deputy director of Shanghai municipal health bureau, said at the Harvard-China Fogarty Conference, which discussed mental health care in China, including research, implementation and policy. The conference was held at the Harvard Shanghai Center on Monday.

It's estimated that about 300,000 people have already received national licenses to work as psychological counselors.

"This reflects that there is huge demand for psychological counseling. Using this method, some people want to solve their own psychological problems, while some want to provide psychological help to others," said Xu Kaiwen, associate professor of clinical psychology at Peking University.

But Xu added that those granted licenses are usually far from meeting the requirements of a professional clinical psychologist.

"People with different educational backgrounds can easily get the licenses after about half a year of part-time study. But more professional training should be given before they can work as psychological counselors."

"We must enable psychologists and social workers to play their parts to the fullest extent. Psychiatrists provide the treatment after mental illness occurs. Probably a more fundamental way to solve the problem is to prevent mental illnesses from the very beginning through community service, where psychologists and social workers play an important role," Xiao said.

In addition to psychiatrists, the development of mental health needs the collaboration of various participants, such as sociologists, psychologists, mental health social workers, public health experts and anthropologists, Byron Good, professor of medical anthropology at Harvard University, said at the conference on Monday.

wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn