Fewer than a third of Hong Kong’s secondary school students say they seek help for mental health issues, a situation that researchers say is due to a lack of safe spaces to talk and a lack of mental health literacy.
According to a poll by the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, the results of which were released on Sunday, nearly half of 826 students from grades one to six interviewed in July and August said they “never” ask for help, and more than 20 percent said they “never ask for help.”
Only 32.5% of respondents said they would seek help to cope with mental health issues.
Simon Ho San-moon, a researcher at the association, said students with a lower willingness to seek help had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, as well as less overall mental health resilience.
A Form 5 pupil, named Christie, told the press that she had considered suicide after a falling out with her mother and was often reduced to tears because she was overwhelmed by the amount of homework.
