Most believe they may fall victim but many are reluctant to seek help
High levels of anxiety and a reluctance to accept professional help were revealed by a national survey that also found an overwhelming majority believed they were susceptible to depression.
More than 82 percent of respondents thought they were inclined to develop depression but at least 45 percent refused to seek professional help, the online survey found.
The findings of the survey, conducted by World Psychiatry Association, were released on Thursday.
Nearly 13,000 people, aged mostly between 26 and 45, took part in the survey according to Si Tianmei, director of the clinical pharmacology department at the mental health institute in Peking University Hospital.
"The survey showed that the public was aware of mental disorders but misunderstandings surrounding their diagnosis and treatment were commonplace," she told China Daily.
Roughly 56 percent of the respondents believed that depression was possible when they were sad, under stress or pessimistic.
"That means that the public has some basic ideas about symptoms of depression, mostly on the mental and emotional side," Si, who works with the association in China, explained.
But she also noted that many might confuse a depressive state with depression, a medically defined mental disorder. Without intervention, sufferers would see their social and working life deteriorate and some, about 15 percent, would succumb to suicide, according to the association.
But a large majority, just under 74 percent, did not know that some sufferers would display non-emotional symptoms, including physical pain for no apparent reason, sleep disorder, constipation and weight loss, it said.
