Surging price of food blamed for anxiety disorder; Families with a household income of less than HK$10,000 a month are eight times more likely than others to suffer from inflation-linked anxiety
April 15, 2013 Leave a comment
Surging price of food blamed for anxiety disorder
Winnie Chong
Monday, April 15, 2013
Families with a household income of less than HK$10,000 a month are eight times more likely than others to suffer from inflation-linked anxiety.
The finding by the Chinese University of Hong Kong points to food prices as the main worry among 84.8percent of 5,000 respondents to a survey who believe varying degrees of anxiety are set off by inflation.
One out of five with a family income of less than HK$10,000 month experience anxiety. And the risk of “generalized anxiety disorder” in those affected significantly by inflation is 7.9 times higher than for other income groups.The cost of food is the main concern of those in the lowest family income group who suffer from a disorder that affected about 205,000 adults – 4percent of the population – in 2006 when the study started to 5percent (255,000 adults) in 2011.
A 52-year-old woman named Lee, who lives with her son earning HK$10,000 as an elevator technician, lost the ability to work after suffering a head injury six years ago.
She was anxious going to a market as “a catty of vegetables costing more than HK$10 one day can soar to HK$20 or even HK$30 on another day. I felt worried and could not afford to buy anything even if I walked around a market twice a day. I couldn’t sleep and felt exhausted. I was moody and reluctant to go out so I’d avoid spending.”
A woman named Kam, 60, with the same disorder, even thought about killing herself when her anxiety level was high.
The director of the CUHK Hong Kong Mood Disorders Centre, Lee Sing, said if not handled properly generalized anxiety disorder leads to more serious mental illnesses such as depression.
“The pressure of inflation is not accumulated over the years,” he said. Sufferers “have to face this pressure every day.”
Other worries on top of the prices-linked concerns can cause more severe problems, he added, so people with anxiety symptoms should seek treatment as soon as possible.
A chief economist at the center, Law Ka-chung, said individuals cannot solve inflation.
Some ways out of it, he suggested include the government delinking the Hong Kong dollar from the greenback and increasing the supply of homes.
But Kathleen Kwok Pik-san, a clinical psychologist at the center, said a change in perceptions may help shake off anxiety.
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