Over 50pc students who encounter mental health issues do not necessarily seek help

A survey focused on the mental health quality among secondary school students in Hong Kong revealed that many students are reluctant to discuss their mental health problems with others.

Nearly half of the students surveyed indicated that they would not necessarily seek help if they experienced mental health issues, and over 20 percent of the students stated they would not seek help at all.

The findings also highlighted that students with a lower willingness to seek help exhibited significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress and had notably poorer resilience and health status.

The Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong polled 826 secondary school students on Hong Kong Island from July to August this year.

Despite more than half of the students describing their health status as good, very good, or extremely good, around 16 percent were rated as suffering from symptoms related to depression.

A secondary five student shared his experience, noting that his emotions fluctuated due to various factors such as school workload and family issues. Despite communicating these feelings to his seniors, he felt misunderstood.

Ahead of the Policy Address to be announced on October 16, the YMCA called for the authorities to include student mental health measures such as regularizing the three-tier school-based emergency mechanism and establishing a special fund to support the mental health of secondary school students.