Mental health has captured much public attention lately, and for good reason. The Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists convened the 2025 HK College of Psychiatrists International Mental Health Congress in June. Another international conference, the Hong Kong International Mental Health Conference 2025 will be held in early November. In April, an announcement was made by China’s National Health Commission stating that all clinical departments at medical institutions on the Chinese mainland will be required to incorporate mental health screening as part of their routine diagnosis and treatment processes.
In December 2023, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government introduced a three-tier school-based emergency mechanism to ensure early identification of high risk students and to offer them support. The following year, the Education Bureau launched the 4Rs Mental Health Charter, reminding us of the importance of rest, relaxation, relationships, and resilience. Schools participating in the charter were encouraged to organize activities to help students develop healthy habits, provide opportunities for them to relax and reduce stress, foster positive interpersonal relationships, and enhance their well-being and resilience. Schools should also organize parent education courses or parent-child activities to promote positive parent education every year, sharing ways to realize the 4Rs.
Various surveys indicate that progress is being made. The HK Children Happiness and Life Education Index Survey 2024-25, conducted jointly by the STEAM Education and Research Centre, the Paediatrics Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Paediatric Society, found that 75.7 percent of teachers are interested in life education, up from 67.8 percent the previous year, while 47 percent of teachers have had training in life education, up from 39.1 percent the previous year. The Life Education Index for secondary schools has gone up noticeably. Regrettably, though, it has fallen for primary schools. The Life Education Index reflects the intensity of activities promoting love, insight (wisdom), fortitude, and engagement. With the rise in the Life Education Index for secondary schools, secondary school students have shown a noticeable increase in both the student happiness index and student self-assessment of life worth living. We suspect that the decline in primary schools may have to do with the pressures on these schools to attract enrolment in Primary 1, in order to avoid being closed down.
I notice that in the news release for the 4Rs charter launch, there was reference to “healthy habits”. In my view, forming “healthy habits” is really the key to reviving mental health.
In my latest book, Economics and Psychology of Happiness: the LIFE framework and Sustainable Development, I explained that love, insight, fortitude, and engagement are all healthy habits that need to be accumulated to immunize one from the “pathogens” that erode mental health. When one has accumulated sufficient healthy habits and has disposed of unhealthy habits, one will have no trouble relaxing and falling asleep; one will have good friends and better relations with family members; and one will have more resilience.
One problem that bothers many young people is pressure from peers, teachers, and parents. Our survey shows that bullying is quite prevalent in primary schools, where as many as one in four students has reported having been bullied in the past year. More than 28 percent of Primary 6 students reported having been verbally bullied and over 25 percent reported having been physically bullied. It is interesting to find that students with high love and insight are less likely to be bullied. Another interesting finding is that a higher Life Education Index is associated with less bullying. One reason why this is the case is that those with a large store of LIFE mental capital are confident. They will not engage with people who try to bully them.
An important aspect of insight or wisdom is a correct understanding about success. Success is all about doing the best one can to improve oneself over the long haul. If we focus on this, we will not be bothered too much by setbacks. Indeed, resilience or fortitude does not come about fortuitously. It requires reflections and self-corrections; it also requires focusing on what we can do and not worrying about what is beyond us. We do not have to compare with others but we can learn from others. Wisdom is also about having a good sense of balance and a good understanding of priority. Wise people know the need to “cut losses” and not be overly upset by things that have happened.
Eric Stryson recently wrote in China Daily about workplace mental health. Interestingly, the LIFE framework also applies to the workplace. If an employer shows care for an employee’s well-being (corporate love), sees the big picture in planning the company’s strategy (corporate insight), and offers a vision that workers can identify with, while also offering staff the room to make suggestions and feel respected as team members of the company, workers will find it easier to feel engaged (corporate insight and engagement).
The theme of the 2025 HK College of Psychiatrists International Mental Health Congress was, “Towards Mental Health for All: Translating, Transforming and Transcending”. Love, insight, fortitude, and engagement are all about transcending: giving up fixations on instrumental goals (such as getting good grades) and transcending the narrow self to think more about striving for the good of all.
The author is an honorary research fellow at the Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan University, and an adjunct professor at the Academy for Applied Policy Studies and Education Futures, the Education University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
