‘It’s like someone’s hit pause on life’: China turns to therapy amid virus lockdown

Travellers wearing face masks as they sit on benches at Changsha railway station in Changsha, Hunan province, bordering Hubei province. Therapists, counselling hotlines and online wellness groups in China are struggling to cope with surging demand for emotional help as the coronavirus outbreak upends normal life. — AFP

BEIJING: Therapists, counselling hotlines and online wellness groups in China are struggling to cope with surging demand for emotional help as the coronavirus outbreak upends normal life.

A shortage of mental health providers is exacerbating the problem in the country where unprecedented measures to contain the deadly outbreak have left tens of millions in lockdown and many more fearful to go outside.