They end up isolated victims, prone to inflicting irrational violence upon themselves or others. Making things worse have been rapid modernization and the recent economic turmoil. Asians' habitual reserve obliges those stressed-out by change to hide their problems, and prevents those around them from intervening. Individuals are losing the support they once received from extended families, stable communities and traditional values. Suicide rates are reportedly soaring in rural China because elderly women there, once honored as paragons, are now being vilified as economically useless.
Education is one answer.
Doctors and governments need to take the lead in explaining mental illness to the public. And sufferers should be better informed about where and how to seek help. A commendable example is the television ads that the Hong Kong government runs, depicting how ex-mental patients can rejoin society. The bigger change must be within each and every one of us. Mental illness is mysterious and scary, and sufferers have long been shut away.