Abstract: The epidemiological research on mental health in China has undergone decades of development, transitioning from multi-regional surveys to nationally representative studies. In 1982, Academician Shen Yucun led a team to complete the first national survey in 12 regions, revealing a point prevalence rate of 10.54‰. In 1993, the point prevalence rate in the second national survey in 7 regions rose to 11.18‰. In 2002, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI)-3.0 and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fouth Edition (DSM-Ⅳ) standards were first applied in the surveys in urban Beijing and Shanghai to achieve international standards, but the representativeness of urban samples was limited. Subsequent regional studies contributed methodological insights toward a nationally representative survey. From 2013 to 2015, a research team led by Professor Huang Yueqin, in collaboration with 43 institutions, completed the China Mental Health Survey (CMHS), covering 32 552 community adults in 157 counties/districts in 31 provinces/autonomous. This study represents the first nationally representative epidemiological survey of mental disorders in China. The main results showed that the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders among adults in Chinese communities with depressive disorders was 16.6%, including 7.4% for mood disorders and 7.6% for anxiety disorders. Only 9.5% of patients with depressive disorders received treatment, and the full treatment rate was as low as 0.5%. Further surveys based on the CMHS framework in regions such as Ningxia, Urumqi, and Inner Mongolia confirmed the high risk of disease among rural women in western China and the widespread phenomenon of inadequate treatment. The results of CMHS methodology was transformed into the national Guidelines and Technical Standards for Epidemiological Investigation of Community Mental Disorders (2015 Edition) and software copyright, and the main data had been published in The Lancet Psychiatry. It has been used to guide the formulation of policies such as the Healthy China Action (2019-2030). CMHS establishing a complete process from scientific investigation to policy translation, filling the data gap at the national level, providing a replicable paradigm for the world, especially for developing countries, and marking a new stage of evidence-based decision-making in China's mental health epidemiological research.

Key words: Mental disorders, Epidemiology, Disease burden, Service utilization