Beijing Children’s Hospital Struggles to Secure Appointment for “School Refusal” Clinic.

With the increasing concern for adolescent mental health issues, the “School Refusal Clinic” at Beijing Children’s Hospital has become incredibly popular, seeing nearly ten thousand patients in just 10 months, with appointments becoming extremely hard to come by. Analysis suggests that behind children’s refusal to attend school often lie complex psychological, family, and social issues, and parents should avoid using forceful methods to compel their children to return to the campus.

According to a report on CCTV News, Beijing Children’s Hospital is one of the earliest top-tier hospitals in China to establish a child psychology clinic. In June 2024, the hospital separated a “School Refusal Clinic” from the original child psychosomatic department, specifically providing psychological assessments and intervention plans for children who refuse to attend school. Within 10 months of its opening, the clinic has received nearly ten thousand visits, with appointments being in high demand.

A report by the Beijing News on April 13th highlighted that the popularity of the “School Refusal Clinic” not only reflects the increasing societal attention to children’s mental health but should also serve as a wake-up call for parents. The value of the clinic lies not only in diagnosis but also in providing systematic solutions: psychological therapy to address emotional disorders, family counseling to improve communication patterns, and school intervention to adjust educational approaches. It is only through actively seeking professional help that parents can identify the best starting point to help their children return to school as soon as possible.

The article states that there are various reasons why students refuse to attend school. Behind the high demand and scarcity of appointments at the “School Refusal Clinic” lies the anxiety and confusion of countless families facing their children’s school refusal crisis. As more and more children use “not going to school” as a desperate cry for help, parents must first let go of the insistence on forcing their children back to school.

When children refuse to attend school, parents often believe that “no school means no future,” resorting to a mix of soft and hard approaches, even using force to compel their children to return to school. However, this “quick-fix” and brutal intervention directly hits the psychological “minefield” of children—since the prefrontal cortex of teenagers’ brains is not yet fully developed, high-pressure environments can trigger the amygdala’s stress response, leading to emotional breakdowns or behavioral withdrawal, exacerbating the school refusal issue and potentially laying the groundwork for future mental health issues in adulthood.

In October last year, a photo taken at Beijing Children’s Hospital sparked heated discussions on the internet.

A report by Sanlian Life Weekly in October last year highlighted the harsh reality – the proportion of minors under the age of 18, including children, suffering from mental illnesses is on the rise. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and President of Peking University’s Sixth Hospital, Lu Lin, pointed out that the overall prevalence rate of mental and psychological disorders among Chinese children and teenagers aged 6 to 16 is 17.5%, higher than the lifetime prevalence rate of 16.6% for various mental disorders in adults. Behind each registration form for “school refusal” lies a story woven with tears and helplessness.

Before the establishment of the “School Refusal Clinic” in Beijing, cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai, and Tianjin had already set up clinics for issues like “learning difficulties” and “school refusal.”

The Beijing News report highlights that the essence of education is to nurture growth, not to “enforce on track.” The high prevalence of school refusal reflects profound issues in the contemporary educational ecosystem: excessive competition turning children into “learning machines,” the absence of emotional support making campuses a “stress field,” and misaligned family communication causing children to shut themselves off. Parents should reflect on whether they have genuinely paid attention to the emotional needs of their children.