Guangzhou has had about 5,000 people hospitalized for mental illnesses each year since 2000, the Information Times reported Monday.

Most of the hospitalized patients were between 18 to 35 years old with students accounting for 40 percent, according to Zhao Zhenhuan, the chief of the Guangzhou Mental Health Hospital.

Zhao said a system for monitoring teenagers' psychological health should be established to prevent more students from coming down with mental problems.

The number of mental patients in the country has been on the rise since the 1980s. About eight out of every one thousand people were diagnosed with mental problems in the 1980s. The number rose to 11 per thousand in the 1990s and to 15 percent in 2003.

Apart from heredity, the change of social environment was a major reason for mental illnesses, Zhao said.

"The students today are facing greater pressures than before, many college students had great pressure in finding jobs and middle school students had pressure in entering a good college," Zhao said.

Depression was more and more common among white-collars, teachers and students, said Pan Xiaoping, a doctor from the mental health department of the Guangzhou No. 1 Hospital.

Many suffering serious depression said they were contemplating suicide, according to Pan.

Monday was the nation's day for mental health and some Guangzhou hospitals held activities to promote the importance of mental health.

 (Shenzhen Daily October 11, 2005)