This book uses an economic approach to empirically analyze the socioeconomic causes and consequences of mental health problems such as depression in China. Based on a nationally representative dataset, it investigates the prevalence and distribution of depression and depressive symptoms among China’s adult population. It uses several econometric methods to estimate the multi-dimensional disease burden of the mental disorder, such as its direct medical costs, its indirect economic costs, and its hidden costs on social trust and life satisfaction. It addresses the relationship between wealth inequality and mental health by examining how the relative and absolute economic status may determine people’s mental health status. Last, it provides an analytical framework to evaluate the four major hurdles that cause the treatment gaps of mental health care and discusses the policy options to overcome such hurdles in China and other developing countries.This book helps the readers to understand the complex socioeconomic determinants and impacts of mental health problems, which is becoming the important and often neglected non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in developing countries like China. In addition to students, teachers, and researchers in the fields of health economics and public health, this book is also of great interest to health policy makers and non-government agencies who are concerned with addressing the global mental healthcare challenges, which include the growing prevalence of diseases, the high treatment costs, the large unmet medical needs, and the profound implications on the economic development and social inequality.weiterlesen