Citation

Hou WK, Hall BJ. Lancet Psychiatry 2019; 6(12): 982.

Affiliation

Global and Community Mental Health Research Group, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao Special Administrative Region, China; Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: brianhall@um.edu.mo.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30382-7

PMID

31777345

Abstract

The Hong Kong Special Administration Region of China is in the spotlight because of ongoing large-scale protests. On June 12, 2019, a bill was to be voted on to establish an official extradition channel to Mainland China and other countries for individuals accused of crimes. On June 9, a large demonstration of more than 1 million people assembled to express concern over the bill's threat to Hong Kong's independent judiciary system, under the one country, two systems constitutional principle. On June 15, the Hong Kong Chief Executive announced their intention to suspend the bill indefinitely, and on September 4, to withdraw the bill completely. However, clashes with police on June 12, led to a larger demonstration of nearly 2 million people on June 16. The protests, now in their 17th week, show no sign of abating. The escalating use of physical force and riot-control measures by Hong Kong Police, including tear gas, rubber bullets, and bean bag rounds, is becoming a humanitarian crisis. Youth despair and hopelessness might, in part, explain how once peaceful demonstrations escalated to violence and vandalism, and the alarming four documented suicide cases, with fears of further associated suicides to follow.

These events are consequential to population mental health. Political unrest and uncertainty are associated with increased psychiatric morbidity. The prevalence of anxiety and depression 2 months after the 2015 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong were 47% and 14%, respectively.2 The prevalence of depression was at least eight times higher than population norms. Awareness of common mental health reactions to extreme stress should be increased, and intense emotional reactions should be normalised, following expert guidelines in emergency response ...

Language: en