On one hand, in the post-pandemic era, consumers' awareness of mental health is continuously increasing, and their demand for lightweight psychological counseling assistance has risen sharply. At the same time, their willingness to consume mental health services is also improving accordingly. On the other hand, thanks to the vigorous development of the internet and social media, as well as the remote interaction capabilities provided by emerging technologies, online pan-mental health service platforms can transcend time and space limitations, providing a wide range of pan-mental health services to consumers, matching the diverse needs of the consumer side.
With the gradual improvement of industry standards in the future and the efficiency enhancement brought about by relevant digital technologies for pan-mental health services, the Chinese pan-mental health service market will maintain a high-speed growth trend.
Frost & Sullivan (Frost & Sullivan, abbreviated as "Frost & Sullivan") in collaboration with Meitian, a leading provider of pan-mental health services in China, has jointly released the '2022 China Pan-Mental Health Services Industry White Paper' based on research and analysis using Frost & Sullivan's primary interviews and secondary desk research.
This report starts from the current situation of the pan-mental health service industry, specifically analyzes the development status quo of the industry, elaborates on the market scale and driving factors of China's pan-mental health service industry, and looks ahead to the future development trends of the industry.
1Overview of China's Mental Health Service Industry
01Concept and Definition of Mental Health Services
Mental health is intrinsic and important to everyone's life. It influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions, supports our ability to make decisions, build relationships, and shape the world we live in. Mental health is also a basic human right that is crucial for individual, community, and socio-economic development. Mental health has intrinsic and instrumental value, helping people connect, function, cope with, and develop.
When people are mentally healthy, they can cope with life's pressures, realize their values, and make positive contributions to their communities. Conversely, when mental health is impaired and lacking proper support, a person's health condition may deteriorate. A variety of mental health conditions can disrupt people's thoughts and emotions, change behavior, harm physical health, and undermine interpersonal relationships, educational status, or livelihood.
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
Narrowly defined, mental health services refer to activities that maintain and promote people's mental health, guided primarily by psychological theories and methods. Broadly defined, mental health services involve the use of certain principles, means, and methods to solve people's psychological and behavioral problems.According to the professional competence requirements for service providers, mental health services can be categorized into three types: psychotherapy, psychological counseling, and general mental health services.
a) Psychotherapy services:Psychotherapy services are a professional diagnostic and treatment method for patients suffering from severe mental or psychological disorders, with a high level of expertise. Service providers are mainly mental health professionals at all levels (including specialized psychiatric hospitals and psychiatry departments in general hospitals). Currently, with the development of digital therapies for mental health, some digital platforms can also provide corresponding services.
b) Psychological counseling services:Psychological counseling services are generally provided for individuals with mild psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, and pain, requiring a certain level of professional expertise. Service providers mainly include mental health professionals at all levels (including specialized psychiatric hospitals and psychiatry departments in general hospitals), as well as qualified social mental health service organizations.
c) Universal mental health services:General mental health services typically provide light-touch mental health services such as alternative psychotherapy, physical and mental wellness services, emotional counseling, career advice, child and adolescent psychological education, emotion management, meditation for sleep aid, emotional sharing, and positive psychosocial support for general users, with lower professional knowledge requirements. Service providers mainly include qualified social mental health service organizations and various digital mental health service platforms (internet-based psychotherapy and general mental health service platforms).
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
02mental health service industry industrial chain
Currently, the upstream of the mental health service industry mainly includes related drug research and development production institutions, digital therapy development institutions, and SaaS software development institutions. The midstream mainly consists of mental health professional institutions at all levels, qualified social mental health service organizations, government-established social psychological service institutions, psychological aid departments set up by schools, enterprises, and public institutions, as well as digital mental health service platforms. These cover the treatment needs of terminal patients according to their mental disorder severity, as well as various mental health services corresponding to consumers' psychological needs.
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
03Current Situation of Mental Health Service Industry
Although China's mental health services are currently in a period of rapid development, the problem of unbalanced supply and demand still persists for a long time. Among them, professional psychological treatment resources are still facing serious shortages, with a significant gap compared to developed countries such as the United States and Japan. Psychological counseling and general mental health services have gradually gained social recognition in recent years and have become one of the important supplementary means outside of professional psychological diagnosis and treatment. In the context of widespread social pressure, the market for psychological counseling and general mental health services will continue to develop rapidly in the future.
According to data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, as of 2020, there were 653,000 psychiatric beds in Chinese hospitals, with the number of beds increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.9%. The number of psychiatric beds per 100,000 people in China is 46.2. Nature-related research suggests that a psychiatric bed capacity of 60 per 100,000 people is considered the optimal situation, with 30 being the minimum level, 25-30 being a mild shortage, 15-25 being considered a moderate shortage, and less than 15 being considered a severe shortage.
Source: National Health and Family Planning Commission, Frost & Sullivan report
The resource of psychotherapists in China is in a severe shortage. According to data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, in 2020, there were only 40,490 practicing psychiatrists and 45,432 practicing assistant psychiatrists in China, with only 6.1 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, which is still a significant gap compared to the United States' 12.7 and Japan's 11.9 psychiatrists per 100,000 people.
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, issues such as economic downturn and health concerns have brought immense mental pressure to people around the world. The incidence of various mental and psychological disorders has risen rapidly. At the same time, depression and anxiety disorders, which are already prevalent, have seen a surge due to the pandemic. Among them, in the first year of the pandemic, the global growth rate of cases of depression and anxiety disorders reached 25%, corresponding to an additional 530 million and 760 million severe cases, respectively.
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
In addition to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to World Health Organization data, one in every eight people globally suffers from mental health problems. Among them, 71% of patients with mental disorders have not received any mental health services, and global mental health service expenditures only account for 2% of total health expenditures. Currently, mental health problems are widespread globally, but the penetration rate of mental health services is still low, and the supply-demand relationship is still not matching.
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
2Overview of China's Mental Health Services Industry
The scope of pan-mental health services is quite broad, mainly providing lightweight mental health services such as alternative psychotherapy, physical and mental health services, emotional counseling, workplace counseling, child and adolescent psychological education, emotion management, meditation for sleep aid, emotional sharing, positive psychology socialization, etc.
The current demand for mental health services in China is widespread, but the supply is severely insufficient. Pan-mental health services, in addition to professional psychological treatment and counseling services, meet the needs of Chinese consumers for addressing common social anxiety. They provide mild solutions such as alleviating mental stress and offering proactive early interventions.
Mr. Zhang Xinhua, co-founder of Panpsych Online Service Platform Meitian, stated, "For populations in need of screening, prevention, and mild intervention, Panpsych services can avoid the possibility of minor to moderate troubles evolving into severe disorders through proactive early intervention. Through social collaboration, market-oriented cooperation mechanisms, and public welfare auxiliary measures, the integration of society and industrial chain can be achieved, thus forming a relatively complete (social) psychological service mechanism."
On one hand, in the post-pandemic era, consumers' awareness of mental health is continuously increasing, and their demand for lightweight psychological counseling assistance has risen sharply. At the same time, their willingness to consume mental health services is also rising in tandem. On the other hand, thanks to the vigorous development of the internet and social media and the remote interaction capabilities provided by emerging technologies, online pan-mental health service platforms can transcend time and space limitations, providing a wide range of mental health services to consumers that match the diverse needs of the consumer side.
At present, the pan-mental health service market in China is undergoing a period of rapid development, but it also faces challenges. There are still issues such as insufficient systematization within the industry, and the relevant industry standard system requires further exploration and establishment by enterprises.It is expected that with the gradual improvement of industry standards in the future and the efficiency enhancement brought about by relevant digital technologies for pan-mental health services, the pan-mental health service market in China will maintain a high-speed growth trend.
3Market scale of general mental health services
The market scale of pan-mental health services in China increased from 280 million yuan in 2015 to 3.18 billion yuan in 2020, with an annual compound growth rate of 62.9%. According to Frost & Sullivan, the market scale of pan-mental health services in China is expected to reach 104.1 billion yuan by 2025, with an annual compound growth rate of 34.5%. The pan-mental health service industry entered a period of rapid development after 2019, mainly due to the surge in demand from a larger population with high mental stress driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, the matching value provided by the emergence of relevant pan-mental health service platforms on the supply side, and the impetus from related capital.
In the future, with further popularization of mental health services and the efficiency improvement brought about by digitization in general mental health services, the market for general mental health services in China will continue to maintain rapid growth.
Source: Frost & Sullivan report
4Market Drivers of the General Mental Health Services Industry
With social development, the promotion by governments and various platform institutions, and the sudden pandemic challenges, the public has increasingly placed more emphasis on mental health issues. The number of people seeking psychological services has gradually expanded. In modern society, with its fast pace of life and high pressure, being troubled by psychological problems is a common phenomenon, and there is a vast potential demand market for general mental health services.
"Demand is widespread, and the potential market is huge.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization, the cumulative number of depression patients worldwide exceeded 350 million in 2021. The latest epidemiological survey data estimate that there are currently 200 to 300 million people with psychological problems in China, including over 54 million suffering from depression, with a total of up to 95 million people having general psychological problems, and a lifetime prevalence rate of depression as high as 6.9%.
In addition, the 'Healthy China Initiative (2019-2030)' indicates that the prevalence rate of depression in our country has reached 2.1%, and the prevalence rate of anxiety disorders has reached 4.98%. It can be seen that mental health issues are very common in today's society, which also means that there is a huge potential consumer and market for mental health services in our country.
"Mental health crisis under the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has persisted for three years, has not only made the public pay more attention to physical health but also significantly increased their focus and investment in mental health.
According to a report released by the World Health Organization in March 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased mental stress among people around the world during the global pandemic. In 2020, the prevalence of anxiety and depression globally increased by 25%, with the most significant impact on young people.
According to an online survey initiated by Peking University Sixth Hospital, during the outbreak of the epidemic from February to March 2020, 27.9% of people experienced depressive symptoms, 31.6% had anxiety symptoms, 29.2% suffered from insomnia, and 24.5% exhibited acute stress symptoms.
Baidu search big data shows that since 2020, the popularity of search terms related to psychological assistance has reached a peak in nearly a decade. The popularity of searching for 'depression treatment' by post-2000s individuals has also increased by as much as 59% year-on-year compared to 2019.
In addition, the female population has been more severely affected than the male population, and those with underlying health conditions are more likely to experience mental health problems. The social isolation caused by this pandemic has created unprecedented pressure, limiting the public's ability to work, seek support from family members, and participate in community activities.Therefore, the public's demand for psychological counseling assistance has risen sharply, especially due to the low time and cost of online psychological counseling, as well as its non-regional limitations. This has led to a continuous climb in the market demand for pan-mental health services in China.
"The trend of user consumption upgrading is strengthening, and their willingness for pan-mental health services is gradually emergingenhance
With the steady increase in per capita disposable income of residents in our country, their consumption level is also continuously improving. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the Engel coefficient of residents in China has decreased from 33.0% in 2012 to 29.8% in 2021, a reduction of 3.2 percentage points. This indicates an even further improvement in the living standards of Chinese residents and a continuous optimization and upgrading of the consumption structure.
Therefore, consumers' willingness for pan-mental health services is also continuously increasing. Although the current proportion of such consumption is small, the trend will remain upward in the future, with significant room for growth and broad prospects ahead.
"National policies promote the continuous and healthy development of the mental health service industry
Mental health is an important part of the public health system and one of the key directions of the Healthy China strategy. In recent years, driven by policies, all sectors have been encouraging and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of mental health services. The mental health industry has increasingly attracted the attention of entrepreneurs, investors, and the public.
Meanwhile, with economic development and social transformation, mental health work has become increasingly widespread in scope and sensitivity has been rising year by year. The relevance of mental health issues to social safety and stability, public well-being, etc., is becoming increasingly evident, and the demand for mental health services from the public continues to rise.
5Future development trend of the pan-mental health service market
Currently, online healthcare in China is taking initial shape, with services such as internet registration and appointment gradually taking form. Hospital information systems are being established, and the online mental health service industry is in its infancy. Frost & Sullivan believes that the onlineization of mental health services and the widespread dissemination of general psychological knowledge can narrow the gap between demand and supply, integrate talent resources, increase public awareness of mental health, and lower treatment thresholds.
In addition, with the advancement of policies and the intervention of capital, China's pan-mental health service industry will continue to drive the process of scale-up, contributing to the rapid development of the pan-mental health service market.
01The popularization of universal mental health services
Mental illness remains a widely criticized social topic in China, with most people prone to evading, denying, and resisting when facing psychological problems.
Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of cases of mental and psychological disorders globally has risen sharply. The Chinese government has gradually placed emphasis on promoting the specialization, standardization, and systematization of mental health services to improve the current low coverage rate of China's mental health service system. Measures taken by Chinese residents to cope with mental health issues have evolved from self-regulation to actively seeking early intervention. Their awareness of pan-mental health services has gradually increased, and the popularity of mental health services in China continues to rise.
Current alternative mental health services, such as emotional counseling, workplace consultation, and meditation for sleep assistance, have become widely recognized consumer services. Other services, such as child and adolescent psychological education, emotion management, emotional expression, and positive psychological socialization, are also continuously gaining popularity, attracting more people in need of help.
02The number and professionalism of practitioners are constantly improving
China has a large base of people in need of mental health services, but there is a significant gap in the industry supply side. Compared to developed countries, China's mental health industry is still developing slowly, with a shortage of professionals in related mental health service fields, and a lack of detailed regulations and supervision related to psychological counseling. In the future, with the gradual standardization of the industry, the cultivation of mental health service counselors, and the development of digital mental services, this gap in professionals can be partially filled, promoting remote development.
03AI will subvert traditional mental health services
Thanks to the booming development of the internet and social media, as well as the remote interaction capabilities provided by emerging technologies, the mental health service industry is embracing new development opportunities. Artificial intelligence psychological counselors, driven mainly by technologies such as deep learning, intelligent interaction, emotion analysis, and robotic process automation (RPA), are challenging the traditional mental health service industry.
RPA technology can replace manual processes for initial pathology organization and summarization in consultations, allowing consultants to directly provide targeted treatments, thereby saving some labor costs. AI consultants work three times as long as humans and can conduct one-on-one consultations with multiple people simultaneously. Additionally, the emergence of AI consultants has alleviated the issue of trust difficulties between clients and consultants to some extent. Empirical findings show that compared to real-life consultants, clients are more likely to share embarrassing information with virtual consultants. Clients do not feel pressured by being evaluated by others and also shed their image management burdens and inhibitions when interacting with people.
Although, based on current AI interaction technology and data volume, AI mental health counselors still cannot provide sufficient emotional support and language comprehension capabilities to clients like humans, some industry pioneers such as Meitu have demonstrated the feasibility of achieving fully automated AI mental health services in the future.
6Best practices for universal mental health services
The pan-mental health service industry is in a state of transformation characterized by both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, with policies and capital focusing on psychological counseling and mental health, the industry is experiencing rapid development. On the other hand, the industry still faces the dilemma of insufficient systematization. In the future, the industry needs to establish a standard system for psychological services and develop in the direction of enhancing the standardization, accessibility, and inclusiveness of mental health services.
China's pan-psychological services have a vast user base, and the cognitive awareness of users for psychological services is growing rapidly. However, at present, China's pan-psychological service market is still in its development stage, and a multi-level mental health service system needs to be improved, which requires the joint efforts of the market, society, and government.
Digital means are helping to precisely match mental health services, improving the full lifecycle of psychological services including screening, intervention, psychological counseling, psychotherapy, and follow-up, forming a precise closed loop of the diagnosis and treatment system. With the development of technology, digital mental diagnosis and treatment will further integrate artificial intelligence, VR virtual reality, and other technologies, expand diagnostic and treatment scenarios, innovate methods of psychotherapy, and combine offline services to further improve the effectiveness of psychological treatment.
"Pioneer in the pan-mental health service industry: Meitai
Digital pan-mental health services have enriched the 'toolbox' of mental health services, significantly improving their efficiency, accessibility, and accuracy, thereby further meeting users' personalized needs. Meitian is a pan-mental health online service platform dedicated to empowering technology to promote the improvement of the pan-mental health service industry, providing users with scientifically quantified yet warm and interesting pan-mental health services.
Meitian focuses on prevention and counseling, providing users with membership services such as psychological popular science, psychological assessment and reports, emotional counseling, 3D psychological sand tables, and alternative psychological service tools through three major sections: tools, community, and online consultation. Currently, Meitian's AI virtual counselor 'Yu Jinjin' can make appropriate analyses based on user situations through its built-in AI model, and in an interactive manner, build psychological service scenarios for them, providing corresponding psychological healing services and empowering pan-mental health services through AI.
