The research on mental disorders is the biggest challenge in the study of the human brain function, which requires a combination of basic research and clinical practice and cooperation of multiple majors, medical experts told a mental health forum in Shanghai on Saturday.

The launch of the China Brain Project in 2021 provided the biggest opportunity for psychologic medicine, experts told the Forum on Psychiatry for Universal Conversation and Innovation, which covered hospital management, mental health management, public mental health, serious mental disorder diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, children's psychiatry, elderly psychiatry, addiction medicine and, brain science and brain-inspired study. Mental psychology is an important part of brain science.

"Mental disorders involve complicated brain systems and it is difficult to find the major brain circuit and assistant circuits for the problem. The ordinary mechanism, which looks for biomarkers and then developing prevention and treatment methods, is not suitable for mental disorders," according to Muming Poo, director of the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology and a leading scientist of the China Brain Project.

"Mental health and psychological problems have become important public health issues in the nation, Being approved as a leading hospital of the national mental disease medical center is a recognition and also a spur for our hospital," said Dr Xie Bin from the Shanghai Mental Health Center, organizer of the forum.

The center will further integrate medical resources to build a medical, research, education and management platform, promote the clinical application of effective technologies, set up a national cooperation network on innovation and a big data intelligent sharing and analysis platform, officials said.

It will also carry out research on major mental health problems and boost the overall improvement of the nation's capability on mental health service,they added.

"This forum will be launched regularly, as a measure to boost academic communication between top experts and scientists from home and abroad to promote innovation and collaboration," Dr Zhao Min, director of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, noted.