VOA标准英语2010年-Hong Kong Undertakes First Mental Heal

In July, a mentally ill woman decapitated her mother before committing suicide by jumping out of her apartment window. In June, a teenage boy stabbed his mother and sister to death. A month before that, a man with history of mental illness stabbed his neighbors, killing¹ two people.

These shocking incidents in low-crime Hong Kong have prompted urgent calls for greater help for people with mental illnesses. Health-care experts stress that very few people with mental health problems are dangerous. There are worries, however, that there may be more hidden cases of severe mental illness in the community that could lead to similar tragedies.

Rising demand for out-patient services

Hong Kong's public hospitals treated about 16,000 psychiatric patients between 2008 and 2009, slightly lower than the previous year. But demand for out-patient services has risen since 2003, with 137,000 patients treated by 2007. There are worries that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg².

Experts believe this is because mental illness carries a social stigma³ in Hong Kong - as it does in many parts of Asia. Linda Lam, a psychiatry⁴ professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says that while people's attitudes have changed over the past decade, there is still reluctance⁵ to acknowledge serious mental problems.

"People are more willing to talk about having mood disorders⁶, panic disorders, anxiety," said Lam. "But it is very difficult for family members to admit that they have more serious mental illness, such as psychosis or schizophrenia."

In November, Lam and colleagues will start Hong Kong's first mental health survey, interviewing at least one member of nearly 6,000 households to get a sense of the prevalence and causes of mental problems in this city of 7 million people.

Trying to determine causes, prevalence

The World Health Organization's latest global survey said Japan has an 8.8 percent prevalence rate, while Beijing has 9.1 percent and Shanghai, 4.3 percent. In contrast, the United States has 26 percent, largely of because of wider diagnosis⁷ of depression and anxiety disorders. The WHO estimates nearly 40 percent of suicides worldwide are committed in Asia.

Hong Kong's fast-paced lifestyle, cramped⁸ apartments and high cost of living create an often stressful existence. Some of the recent violent cases and suicides happened in lower-income neighborhoods.

Some social workers and health-care experts say that although there are government-funded treatment programs, much more needs to be done to provide earlier diagnosis, especially among the young.

Providing community mental health centers

Next month, the government and private organizations will open psychiatric one-stop centers in all 18 districts in Hong Kong. In some areas, though, they have yet to find places for the centers because of community resistance.

Sania Yau is the chief executive officer of the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation⁹ Association, which opened one such center last year. "Basically they agreed to this approach of helping¹⁰ individuals by starting community mental health centers inside the district, but the concern is 'try not to be in my backyard'. Try to have it in another estate (housing complex), try not to be within my building," said Yau.

Yau says having the centers in communities is not only important in helping detect early signs of mental problems, but also in helping patients ease back into society. New Life, for instance, runs halfway¹¹ houses and training centers, and employs recovering patients in organic produce shops and other enterprises.

Thirty-four-year-old Odette says such services helped her learn how to cook and run a coffee shop. "My mother, she doesn't have to worry about me so much because I'm in a stable progress in recovery. I think the government has to give more working opportunities to us," said Odette.

Professor Lam at Chinese University says the survey's findings should help the government and private organizations come up with a more effective way to help the mentally ill, instead of the current piecemeal¹² approach.

"We need an overarching mental health policy to help people in need," said Lam. "Mental problems are slightly different from a physical illness, because people suffering from mental problems, they need medical care, they need social care, they need occupational rehabilitation, they need housing assistance. And children need assistance at school."

The survey will take up to three years to complete, but experts say it is an important step in addressing mental health issues and preventing more deaths.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

3 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

4 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

5 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

6 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

8 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

9 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

12 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。