Mental Health

The Department of Mental Health of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, is a comprehensive department integrating clinical care, medical research, teaching for the three clinical departments, and the National Standardized Residency Training Base. A specialized psychiatric outpatient clinic was established in November 1997, with psychosomatic disorder beds (15 beds). Since the Department of Mental Health was established in 2011, it has developed rapidly and achieved outstanding success in medical care, research, teaching, and management. The discipline currently has 42 members, including specialist physicians, professionals in psychotherapy and psychological assessment, and medical researchers. Among them are 11 staff members with senior professional titles (including 2 Zhejiang University “Clinical Hundred” researchers and 1 associate researcher), 14 with intermediate professional titles (including 4 assistant researchers), 10 with junior professional titles, 7 psychometricians, and a 22-member nursing team with internationally advanced concepts. There are 21 doctoral degree holders, 15 master’s degree holders, and 6 bachelor’s degree holders. There are 3 doctoral supervisors and 4 master’s supervisors.

In 2023, the Department of Mental Health of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital recorded 2,037 discharge occurrences/person-visits, had an annual outpatient volume of 85,000 visits, and had an average length of stay of 7.34 days in 2023 (among the leading figures nationwide). The discipline is a doctoral and master’s degree program in Psychiatry and Mental Health at Zhejiang University and the responsible unit for international student education; it is the Zhejiang provincial branch center of the National Clinical Medical Center, a National Standardized Residency Training Base, a National Drug Clinical Trial Base, the National Health Commission’s “Demonstration Center for Digital Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Health and Cognitive Disorders,” the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s “Demonstration Center for Standardized Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Health and Cognitive Disorders,” the “Advanced Psychosomatic Medicine Integrated Diagnosis and Treatment Center” of the Psychosomatic Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, the lead institution of the Zhejiang Provincial Quality Control Center for Standardized Psychiatric Training, and the forensic psychiatry branch center of the Judicial Appraisal Center of Zhejiang University.

Technical Strengths

The discipline focuses on the subspecialties of cognitive disorders, affective disorders, sleep disorders, schizophrenia, addictive-behavior intervention, and psychotherapy. It is characterized by “early diagnosis of mental disorders, efficacy assessment using biological/imaging markers, and individualized physical-therapy interventions.” Advanced examination, assessment, and treatment methods are comprehensively applied in clinical practice, including PET, functional/structural magnetic resonance imaging, near-infrared brain functional imaging, ERP electroencephalography, pharmacogenomic/metabolic-genomic analysis, noninvasive physical therapies (transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial electrical stimulation, music, etc.), as well as digital psychometrics and VR digital treatment systems. These approaches make the diagnosis of mental disorders “visible and tangible” and promote patients’ rapid recovery.

Academic Status

Zhejiang Provincial Branch Center of the National Clinical Medical Center

National Standardized Residency Training Base

National Drug Clinical Trial Base

National Health Commission “Demonstration Center for Digital Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Health and Cognitive Disorders”

National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine “Demonstration Center for Standardized Diagnosis and Treatment of Brain Health and Cognitive Disorders”

Psychosomatic Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association “Advanced Psychosomatic Medicine Integrated Diagnosis and Treatment Center”

Lead Institution of the Zhejiang Provincial Quality Control Center for Standardized Psychiatric Training Forensic Psychiatry Branch Center of the Judicial Appraisal Center of Zhejiang University

Research Achievements

The department has established five major clinical research teams focusing on cognitive disorders, affective disorders, sleep disorders, schizophrenia, and addictive-behavior intervention. With “early diagnosis and biological technology-based assessment” as its distinctive feature, and with the development goal of becoming a first-class institution in China and reaching internationally advanced standards in some areas, it applies various advanced laboratory examination technologies to clinical practice, making the diagnosis of psychiatric diseases “visible and tangible” and promoting patients’ rapid recovery. Over the past five years, it has obtained 7 National Natural Science Foundation of China grants (including 1 key project under the Regional Fund), 1 Young Scientist Project under Science and Technology Innovation 2030—“Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Research,” 3 projects and subjects under the National Key R&D Program, 1 key R&D project of Zhejiang Province, and 1 major project of the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, among others.

The Cognitive (Memory) Disorders Research Team is an important base in China with distinctive characteristics. It developed China’s first computer-assisted screening scale for mild cognitive impairment and conducted research on transcranial magnetic stimulation for Alzheimer’s disease based on individualized localization using functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging. It established a complete standardized process for dementia screening, diagnosis, and intervention; participated in 16 international and domestic multicenter Phase I, II, and III clinical drug trials; obtained 3 national invention patents and 2 software patents; and filed 2 invention patent applications.

The Affective Disorders Research Team is a core member of the National Clinical Medical Center for Mental and Psychological Diseases (Beijing Anding Hospital). It was among the earliest in China to apply neurofunctional imaging analysis/localization combined with neuropsychological assessment and biological sample analysis to evaluate the treatment efficacy and prognosis of depressive and bipolar disorders and guide the optimization of clinical practice; in recent years, it has combined repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment to explore feasible physical-treatment plans for improving outcomes in treatment-resistant depression. It has participated in multiple multicenter clinical drug trials. In 2022, as a core member, it participated in the major project “Prospective Clinical Cohort Study of Depression” under Science and Technology Innovation 2030—“Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Research.”

The Sleep Disorders Research Team was the first in Zhejiang Province to establish a sleep laboratory with the highest standard of supporting technology and, in cooperation with the Departments of Neurology, Respiratory Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology, and other departments, established the Sleep Center of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital. Based on the discipline’s characteristics, it conducts prospective research on rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and insomnia; carries out research on cognitive behavioral therapies such as stimulus control; and participates in multiple domestic multicenter clinical drug/device trials.

The Schizophrenia Research Team focuses on whole-course intervention and individualized treatment for schizophrenia and conducts clinical and basic research on people at high risk in the early stage, first-episode schizophrenia, and treatment-resistant schizophrenia. It has led 3 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects and achieved good treatment outcomes in early intervention and individualized treatment. In 2021, it was successfully approved for the key special project “Artificial Intelligence-Based Schizophrenia Subtyping Research” under the National Key R&D Program’s “Intergovernmental International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation” initiative.

The Addiction Medicine Research Team focuses on research into the mechanisms of substance addiction and the development and validation of individualized intervention methods. The team was the first to report brain structural and functional damage caused by chronic ketamine use. It developed an innovative comprehensive smoking-cessation method based on text messages, WeChat, and smart apps; compiled scientific smoking-cessation training books and operation manuals; and provided smoking-cessation training for healthcare workers. In 2022, “Research on Drug Addiction and Relapse Mechanisms Based on Multimodal Neuroimaging and Multi-omics Integration Technologies” received support from a key project of the Regional Joint Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, while “Research on the Brain Mechanisms, Diagnosis and Treatment, and Early Prevention of Gaming Addiction in Children and Adolescents” received support from the Young Scientist Project under Science and Technology Innovation 2030—“Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Research.”