Fewer than 33% of Hong Kong secondary school pupils will seek help for mental health issues: poll

Fewer than a third of Hong Kong secondary school students say they will seek help for their mental health issues, a situation researchers have attributed to a lack of safe spaces for discussions and insufficient mental health literacy.

A poll by the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong whose results were released on Sunday showed that among 826 pupils between Form One and Form Six interviewed in July and August, nearly half said they “would not necessarily” seek help, while more than 20 per cent indicated they “would not seek help at all”.

Only 32.5 per cent of respondents said they would seek help when dealing with mental health problems.

Simon Ho San-moon, research officer at the association, said students with lower willingness to seek help exhibited significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, along with poorer resilience in their overall mental health.

A Form Five student named Christy said at a press conference she had once considered suicide after falling out with her mother, and would often burst into tears when she was overwhelmed by the amount of homework she had to do.