Chinese actor Qiao Renliang died by suicide on Sept. 16, just one month before his 28thbirthday. Qiao suffered from depression prior to his suicide, leading many citizens to reflection the widespread nature of depression in China.
According to those who were close to Qiao, the Shanghai-born actor was diagnosed withdepression in 2015, and was at times heavily reliant on sleeping pills. However, Qiao wasoffered few treatments and little support for his depression. On the contrary, Qiao wasreportedly told by an unnamed director during the shooting of a TV drama that he ought tobe banned from acting on television due to his illness, Beijing News reported.
According to a statement from Qiao's agency, Qiao became depressed after suffering underthe pressure of a heavy work load as well as public rumors and criticism.
Several high-profile Chinese celebrities, including Hong Kong actor Leslie Cheung, havecommitted suicide after battling depression. Estimates indicate that there are currentlysome 90 million people living with depression in China, but less than 10 percent of themget treatment for their illness. Meanwhile, the majority of the 280,000 people that die bysuicide in China every year have previously been diagnosed with depression.
Globally, the disease affects about 350 million people every year, and leads - directly orindirectly - to 1 million suicides. The World Health Organization has predicted thatdepression may become the second most widespread disease in the world by 2020.
China has vowed in a recently issued action plan to strengthen the country's detection andtreatment of mental illnesses including depression. China will also work to increase nationalinvestment in mental health, which is currently only about 1 percent of total healthinvestment. That ratio is closer to 20 percent in many other countries, according to BeijingNews.
