The Wall Street Journal-20080131-Modernizing Mental Health Care in China

Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080131

Modernizing Mental Health Care in China

Full Text (296  words)

We were greatly moved by your "Caged in China" (Jan. 16) article, poignantly portraying the plight of people with major mental illnesses in mainland China.

People with major mental illnesses are much more likely to hurt themselves than they are likely to hurt others. The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of people with schizophrenia suffer so terribly that they take their own lives. In fact, it is estimated that 90% of the 873,000 suicides per year in the world are related to mental illness. As the executive director of an international organization of "Clubhouse" programs for people with mental illness, I know many more people with mental illness attempt to take their own lives. The horrible treatment of people with mental illness goes far beyond that portrayed in your article -- people chained to trees, heads cut open by witch doctors and the widespread use of caging.

In partnership with our well-established program in Hong Kong, Phoenix Clubhouse, under the auspices of Queen Mary Hospital and Hong Kong University, the International Center for Clubhouse Development, is working in mainland China to present a community-based Clubhouse Model. Rather than managing people with serious mental illness by isolating them from the world, ICCD Clubhouses present an alternative that draws on the talents and abilities of "members" to create cost effective communities of life-time support and opportunity.

Our first program in the mainland, Heart Wing Clubhouse, opened in Changsha, Hunan, last July. Clubhouse working groups are moving forward in other mainland cities, but the greatest challenge, as your article points out, is in the countryside. For those interested in the world-wide spread of the Clubhouse Model, information can be found on our Web site at www.iccd.org.

Joel D. Corcoran

Executive Director

International Center for Clubhouse Development

New York