Recently, the news that "Chinese immigrant couples in Canada committed suicide within a year and left two young children" shocked the Chinese community in North America, and many people sighed and extended a helping hand.
According to Canada's Sing Tao Daily, bad news came from Langley in Metro Vancouver, and on July 5 this year, Ms. Tan, a 41-year-old Chinese immigrant, committed suicide because she suffered from depression. Even sadder is that her husband, who divorced her last year for only a year, was also killed by depression. The two left behind two sons, aged 12 and 10, and a 67-year-old grandmother, two children who lived here on visitor visas.
Ms. Tan's mother mourned at her daughter's memorial service. (Image source: Sing Tao Daily)
Ms. Tan's Chinese friend Ning Li in Vancouver was very distressed, and she recalled that Ms. Tan had a positive and optimistic personality and never complained to her friends, so that her relatives and friends around her did not know that she suffered from depression. Sometimes Ms. Tan's mother saw her staying at home and advised her to go out for a walk so as not to suffer from depression, and Ms. Tan also said to her mother: "How can I suffer from depression?" ”
Many Chinese Canadians discussed this tragic event in forums and news posts:
1. What a pity for the kids. Before immigrating, you need to weigh your ability to withstand pressure.
2. Canada is not a paradise, and not anyone is suitable to come out and mix. It is definitely more pressure to come out than domestically, after all, it is more from scratch.
3. The propaganda is all about the positive side, and the hardships of immigrants are swallowed into the stomach.
In fact, overseas Chinese immigrants and international students have become a high-risk group for depression. As the favorite destination country for Chinese immigrants and study abroad, a number of medical studies and media reports in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have confirmed that the local Chinese have a high incidence of depression and the incidence is higher than the average of the local population.
First, the struggle of overseas Chinese
On December 1, 2018, 55-year-old Professor Zhang Shousheng suddenly fell from the teaching building of Stanford University in the United States and died unexpectedly. For his contributions to topological insulators and "angel particles", Zhang Shousheng was once praised as "the closest Chinese scientist to the Nobel Prize in Physics".
Professor Zhang Shousheng's data map. Image source: Visual China
Professor Zhang Shousheng's family fell into grief and was surprised. In the following days, a spokesman for Zhang Shousheng's family told the media, "Professor Zhang Shousheng's family did not know that Professor Zhang was diagnosed with depression. Sadly, even the closest people are often unaware of the pain of their loved ones. ”
In Canada, north of the United States, there are also unfortunate incidents of Chinese suicides almost every year. The tragedy of Jiang Guobing, a new Chinese immigrant to Canada who had a double doctorate in the United States and Canada 13 years ago, shocked the entire overseas Chinese society.
In the early hours of July 21, 2006, Jiang Guobing, a 44-year-old newcomer to China from Canada, jumped from a Highway overpass in Toronto and died. At the beginning of the incident, Jiang Guobing's family and friends were extremely shocked and could not believe that he committed suicide. Afterwards, the local police ruled out the suspicion of killing him, and Jiang Guobing did not leave a suicide note, and the real motive of his suicide became a mystery for a while. According to Canadian media reports at the time, psychological experts speculated that Jiang Guobing had a high probability of suffering from depression or anxiety at the time of the incident.
In the eyes of his relatives and friends, Jiang Guobing is undoubtedly already a "successful person", and the prospects of life are bright. As the first place in the 1979 college entrance examination in Hubei Province, Jiang Guobing became the youngest associate professor at Tsinghua University at the age of 31, and went to Purdue University in the United States in 1996 to pursue a doctorate in nuclear physics. He immigrated to Canada with his wife in 2001 and entered the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 2002 to pursue a Ph.D. degree. After receiving his Ph.D. in the spring of 2006, he worked on postdoctoral research in a fund project between Wyason University and the University of Toronto.
After the tragedy, media follow-up reports revealed Jiang's little-known hardships as a new immigrant abroad: for example, in the early days of immigrating to Canada, he could not find a suitable job for a while and worked in a paint factory; before the accident, Jiang Guobing bought a property in Canada and faced mortgage pressure, but at the same time, his postdoctoral research contract was about to expire, but he had not found a suitable teaching position and faced the risk of unemployment.
Professor Ding Zijiang of the California University of Science and Technology is an alumnus of Jiang Guobing's Purdue University in the United States, and he once wrote a recollection: According to Jiang's classmates, considering returning to China for fear of losing face, Jiang Guobing has not been able to make a decision, because some people ridiculed, only international students who can't go on to return to China. The dual pressures of life and psychology finally overwhelmed this rare talent.
As an overseas Chinese, whether it is a university professor or a taxi driver, whether it is a successful career or a difficult livelihood, in a foreign country, desperately working hard, re-rooted, it is easy to fall into a mental struggle. This struggle can easily induce mental illnesses such as depression at certain times, and the most tragic thing is that the deeply affected parties may not know it.
According to a study published in the American journal The Surgeon General, the incidence of depression in adult Chinese in the United States is as high as 17%, far exceeding the incidence of depression in American adults of about 7% to 10%, and in Canada, depression is also considered to be one of the 5 most common diseases for Chinese newcomers.
Recent studies conducted by the Western Australian Medical Research Association have also shown that skilled immigrants who move to Australia but cannot guarantee a job equivalent to their academic qualifications are more likely to be depressed than others after 3 years of work.
Depression can be cured
As early as 2005, China News Weekly wrote an article pointing out that various factors such as future anxiety, separation anxiety, and cross-cultural differences are the causes of depression among new immigrants. Taking Canada as an example, for Chinese newcomers, the high incidence of depression will slowly improve within one or two years after coming to Canada, and after 5 years.
Compared with the language barrier, livelihood pressure and unsociable loneliness of new Chinese immigrants, the high incidence of depression among overseas students, as well as academic pressure and lack of cultural resonance and even the special point of identity crisis.
Let's first understand what depression is all about.
According to the Definition of the World Health Organization, depression is a common mental disorder in which patients are depressed, lose interest or enjoyment, develop feelings of guilt, or lack of self-esteem, sleep and appetite disorders, physical fatigue, and difficulty concentrating.
According to a 2017 Report by the World Health Organization, about 322 million people of all ages worldwide suffer from depression, more than 4% of the global population. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of people with depression increased by 18%. In addition, on average, one in ten people has suffered from major depressive disorder at least once in their lifetime. The incidence of depression is higher in women than in men (5.1% for women and 3.6% for men).
The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020 depression could become the second-largest human disease after heart disease.
The American psychiatric community lists 9 characteristics of depression:
1． Depressed mood, depression, lack of motivation;
2． Lack of interest and joy in everyday things
3． Sleep disorders, such as insomnia, waking up early, or sleeping too much
4． Loss of appetite or excessive diet leading to significant weight loss or increase;
5． Underrated, self-blamed, or guilty
6． Inability to concentrate (e.g., reading a newspaper or watching TELEVISION) and difficulty making decisions;
7． Decreased libido;
8． Move or speak significantly slower than usual, or be restless, more active and active than usual;
9. Repeated thoughts of death or suicidal or self-injurious behavior.
If you have been depressed in the past 2 weeks and have at least 5 symptoms, that is, a high degree of suspicion of depression, you need to seek professional help from a psychiatrist and psychological institution. It should be noted that depressive states do not equal depression, and emotional symptoms that usually last more than two weeks will be diagnosed as depression.
But don't worry too much, depression can be cured.
In 2009, Canada's "Sing Tao Daily" reported that Lin Wei, a Chinese psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia (UBC), said that new immigrants have large differences in language and culture due to their departure from their hometowns, and if they add economic pressure, the proportion of depression will be higher. But Lin Wei stressed that depression can actually be treated, even if it is combined with other diseases. As for the fear that many people may need to take the drug for life once they use the drug, this is a misconception. He pointed out that if the medication is correct, it can generally be controlled in 6 to 12 months without the need to continue taking the medication.
Third, chinese depression in Canada is even higher than in the United States
In fact, with the high incidence of depression among overseas Chinese immigrants being widely recognized, many new Chinese immigrants or international students no longer think that going abroad is a "winner in life", but feel that the pressure is great, and they are fully prepared in advance. Many Chinese people also recognize that emigrating or studying abroad is only an option worth trying, and it is not absolutely suitable for everyone.
At present, the immigration threshold in the United States is constantly rising, and restrictions on student visas have also begun. The language threshold for skilled immigrants in neighboring Canada is relatively low (IELTS G class 4 6), the number of places is large, and the express channel has been opened, which has become the first choice for many Chinese immigrants and students.
However, with the frequent occurrence of tragic incidents of depression among Chinese canadians, many Canadian Chinese began to "pour cold water" in good faith.
Let's take a look at the typical statements of Chinese immigrants and international students in Canada in forums and articles:
1. Getting depressed, or unhappy about living in a big house, is also related to the education we received when we were young. Chinese people are generally introverted, thin and not cheerful, happy and discolored, and suppress their emotions. I am very disgusted with my introverted personality now, and now I think it is best to be a big fool, smirking at the world every day.
2. Vancouver's winters are rainy and cloudy, making it a high incidence of depression. [Winter depression] sounds poetic, but he's depression. I experienced two times of depression, and the pain of life is worse than death. The doctor advised me to move out of Vancouver and come to Sunshine State to live a happy life.
3. People should follow the work, and there is no appetite for the scenery to appreciate without income.
4. If you run to Canada, loneliness first comes from the lack of social life, family dinners are prevalent abroad, and there are few opportunities to eat and drink outside. Of course, most Chinese men are not accustomed to focusing on the family, when they go to Canada, they do not have the opportunity to drink and brag outside every day, and they cannot afford to hire a nanny at home, so they can only be honestly busy with housework, which is indeed not cool.
In fact, Chinese canadians have even higher rates of depression than in the United States. One of the main reasons is that Canada is a country at a high latitude, and the dimension of Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and other cities where the Chinese are mainly concentrated is equivalent to northeast China or even more north. Due to the long duration of winter, short sunshine hours, and cold winter weather, it is more likely to cause "winter depression".
According to Statistics Canada, about one in ten Canadians suffered from depression in 2012, and 35 per cent of Canadians complained that the long winter affected their mood.
Some Canadian Chinese joked: winter is cold and frozen all day at home, every day at four o'clock in the afternoon it is dark, not depressed to blame. In winter, even the family dog can be depressed.
There are also Chinese who say: North American depression, just go back to China. Yes, it is not always popular to say: good mountains and water abroad are lonely, and domestic is dirty and chaotic and happy. Indeed, compared with the deserted nightlife overseas, the country often comes out in the middle of the night to drink beer and skewers, and the streets are still full of people late at night.
But, you think too much. A harsh fact is that the incidence of depression in the country is also rising, and the treatment rate of patients is less than 10%.
At present, the psychiatric special depression clinic of The Beijing-Shanghai-Guangshen Hospital in China is often overcrowded. Fierce workplace competition, desperate struggle to achieve "a small goal", heavy mortgage and baby pressure, increasingly fierce competition for small ascension, 150,000 square meters of degree housing, domestic middle-class parents are also struggling.
In a word, the developed countries overseas are not a paradise, and the domestic is not a quiet nest of good years.
Then again, if you do suffer from depression, the proportion of psychiatrists with extensive training and practice experience in China is much lower than that of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and Europe.
Fourth, sunshine and exercise are the best ways to prevent depression
The horror of depression is the high suicide rate.
Medical statistics at home and abroad show that 15% of patients with severe depression will choose suicide to end their lives, 2/3 of patients have had suicidal thoughts, and the number of suicide deaths due to depression is as high as 1 million every year.
Moreover, people with depression have the highest risk of suicide in the early hours of the morning. Because many depressed patients have insomnia symptoms, they can't sleep all night, they are in great pain, they are prone to collapse, and it is difficult to endure the torture of the sun rising and setting for another day.
In Chinese culture, it is simply a shame to say that people have neurological diseases, or do not listen to the doctor's advice, think that depression is really like a cold, take a week or two of medicine to feel better and stop the drug, but do not know the big mistake, did not continue to take medicine according to the doctor's advice (the drug treatment of depression often lasts more than half a year), so as to delay the disease. There are also some overseas Chinese who use their bodies to resist hard, and it is easy to recur or even aggravate depression when they encounter some setbacks.
A number of medical studies at home and abroad have proved that sunshine and exercise are the best ways to prevent depression.
Dr David Goldbloom, a psychiatrist and senior medical consultant at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said there was ample evidence that exercise was a treatment route for people with mild to moderate depression, according to Canada's anxiety treatment guidelines.
Many Chinese people say that if you like sports, fresh air, invincible scenery, rich facilities, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is simply a sports paradise.
In fact, many Chinese people are desperately going abroad, just to change their way of life. Moreover, going abroad itself is an opportunity to start a new life, the courage to change, the courage to try, may wish to start from the love of sports. Even in Canada, where it is often snowing in the cold, there are some Chinese who have fun in winter: ice fishing, ice skating, cross-country skiing, and the amount of exercise is no less than in summer.
In this way, depression will naturally be relatively less.