Desperate callers to a suicide-prevention hotline are the tip of the iceberg for China's fledgling mental health services. The challenge lies in delivering effective treatment. Talking people out of committing suicide is an important part of Meng Mei's work.

Working on a suicide prevention hotline in Beijing for eight years, she has a record of success in helping those afflicted with various types of mental problems but refuses to use the word "save."

A psychologist (right) provides consultancy service for a resident in Xuhui District's Kangjian Community during a free psychological consultation event in Shanghai. [Shanghai Daily]

"I am not God. I cannot save anyone but only help them with their problems," Meng says.

Mental disorders span various light mood and anxiety disorders, such as clinical depression, panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder. They can also develop into more serious problems such as bipolar disorder (previously called manic depression) and schizophrenia.

The hotline Meng works for is run by the government-funded Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center (BSRPC) at Huilongguan Hospital, which specializes in mental illness.

The hotline, which takes calls 24 hours a day seven days a week, has received more than 570,000 calls since it started in 2003.

"Based on my experience, many people who want to attempt suicide are suffering from mental problems to different degrees but do not realize it," Meng says. The number of calls often peaks just after midnight.

Research on suicide levels in China carried out by doctors at the center in 2007 found a high correlation between suicide and mental illness - out of 287,000 people who committed suicide each year, 63 percent suffered mental disorders.

In this sense, the hotline provides a screening service by evaluating callers' mental health. Operators try to help the mildly affected, but severe cases will be referred for hospital treatment.

There are 173 million people in China estimated to be suffering from mental disorders, roughly one in every seven people, according to a research report put together by a BSRPC team headed by Michael Phillips, the center's executive director.

The team conducted random sampling of 113 million individuals aged above 18, about 12 percent of China's adult population, from 2001 to 2005.

They concluded the prevalence of any mental disorder in China was 17.5 percent, substantially higher than the 7 percent announced by the Ministry of Health earlier this year.

Their report was published on the June 13 issue of the prestigious international medical journal The Lancet.