Spring Break
Prof and group extend care for quake victims
By: Jessica Lichter
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: News
Last update: 8/25/08 at 6:50 AM EST
Last update: 8/25/08 at 6:50 AM EST
This past Saturday, Dr. Wei Jiang, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, left on a trip to China-where she will provide volunteer psychiatric care to earthquake survivors.
For two weeks, Jiang will lead a group of four researchers who will be the first medical team to provide international psychiatric care to survivors of the earthquake that struck China's Sichuan province in May. The team will include Jian Chen, former president of Durham's Chinese-American Friendship Association, Glen Xiong, a psychiatrist from the University of California-Davis and Yin Song, a biomechanical engineer.
The earthquake, which left 69,000 casualties, 17,000 missing, 375,000 injured and 5 million Chinese homeless, likely had a profound psychological impact on many Chinese citizens who are not receiving proper care, Jiang said.
"In China, there are only 17,000 [certified] psychiatrists, " she said. "That is one-tenth of what developed countries have in terms of a physician-patient ratio."
According to a proposal submitted by Jiang, the group has been informed that there are currently between 40,000 and 50,000 severely mentally ill patients who have not received treatment. If such patients are not treated, their diseases can last for a lifetime, negatively affect health and decrease life expectancy.
On its mission trip, the team hopes to accomplish four goals: provide medical care-mainly psychiatric-to earthquake victims, train local physicians and volunteers caring for survivors, conduct a survey to comprehend the psychological impact of the disaster and determine the triggers for post-traumatic psychiatric problems for particular individuals.
Part of the project will be to see how receptive the Chinese citizens will be to foreigners providing mental health assistance, Jiang said. In a culture with a history of repressing emotions and stigmatizing psychological illnesses, disaster survivors may be more resistant to mental health care than their Western counterparts.
For two weeks, Jiang will lead a group of four researchers who will be the first medical team to provide international psychiatric care to survivors of the earthquake that struck China's Sichuan province in May. The team will include Jian Chen, former president of Durham's Chinese-American Friendship Association, Glen Xiong, a psychiatrist from the University of California-Davis and Yin Song, a biomechanical engineer.
The earthquake, which left 69,000 casualties, 17,000 missing, 375,000 injured and 5 million Chinese homeless, likely had a profound psychological impact on many Chinese citizens who are not receiving proper care, Jiang said.
"In China, there are only 17,000 [certified] psychiatrists, " she said. "That is one-tenth of what developed countries have in terms of a physician-patient ratio."
According to a proposal submitted by Jiang, the group has been informed that there are currently between 40,000 and 50,000 severely mentally ill patients who have not received treatment. If such patients are not treated, their diseases can last for a lifetime, negatively affect health and decrease life expectancy.
On its mission trip, the team hopes to accomplish four goals: provide medical care-mainly psychiatric-to earthquake victims, train local physicians and volunteers caring for survivors, conduct a survey to comprehend the psychological impact of the disaster and determine the triggers for post-traumatic psychiatric problems for particular individuals.
Part of the project will be to see how receptive the Chinese citizens will be to foreigners providing mental health assistance, Jiang said. In a culture with a history of repressing emotions and stigmatizing psychological illnesses, disaster survivors may be more resistant to mental health care than their Western counterparts.
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