She agonized over her decision to keep working even after her father fell critically ill. She worried about her young daughter, whom she had frequently left alone at home. But rather than hide those feelings, as would have been common just a few years ago in a country where mental illness has long been stigmatized, Dr. Zhang consulted therapists. “If we can face such a huge disaster as this outbreak, then how could we not dare to talk about something so small as some mental health problems?” said Dr. Zhang, an imaging specialist. The coronavirus pandemic, which started in China, has forced the country to confront the issue of mental health, a topic long ignored because of scarce resources and widespread social stigmas. In the Mao era, mental illness was declared a bourgeois delusion and the country’s psychiatric system was dismantled.

Source: New York Times December 21, 2020 10:01 UTC