Most of the patients detained here are schizophrenics, and most of them are in the recovery period of the disease. After contact with them, I found that they were not the same as the patients I imagined.

The producer of this sound documentary is Beijing girl Liu Dou:

When I was a child, on my way to and from school, I often met an aunt with mental disorders. She always wears colorful clothes, walks unsteadily and curses in the air. I'm afraid of her. I walk around every time I see her. At that time, ordinary people's understanding of mental patients was very limited, and insulting words such as "madman" and "fool" almost became synonymous with them. Even today, mentioning mental illness will still attract people's discrimination or panic. In 2009, The Lancet, a medical journal, published a paper speculating that about 17.5% of adults in China have different degrees of mental disorders. In the same year, China CDC released data showing that the number of people with various mental diseases in China has exceeded 1 100 million. What is this huge invisible group like? What kind of life does a real mental patient live? I went to a private psychiatric nursing institution in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and chatted with mental patients there. -The following is the text version of this story-

First, the daily life of mental patients.

This psychiatric care center is located in Sujiatun Village, Chaoyang District, Beijing. There are bungalows around, and there are not many pedestrians. It takes nearly half an hour's drive from the nearest subway station. Enter through the security door with access control. There are two small yards connected together, surrounded by bungalows and a small garden in the middle. When I arrived, I just caught up with Director Yang's rounds in the center, so I walked into the patient's dormitory with her first. The scene in the dormitory suggests that you feel 02'42 through audio.

I had fried cake for dinner that day, and it smelled delicious. Several patients said it was delicious after eating. It can be seen that the patient has a very good relationship with Director Yang. Just asking "Have you eaten?" is like a family. The cat in the dormitory in the women's area just gave birth to kittens these two days. The patient invited us to see them. The little cat's eyes are not completely open, they are all small and furry. One of them is a little orange cat with charming eyes. It is said that it looks like another cat named Mary in the yard. The Psychiatric Custody Service Center is located in Sujiatun Village, Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Established in 1999, this psychiatric nursing center is the first private psychiatric rehabilitation nursing institution in Beijing. Founder Huang Zheng is a psychiatrist. At that time, he found that many mental patients went home after discharge because they could not get good care during their rehabilitation, which led to repeated attacks, so he established this rehabilitation trusteeship center as a "halfway house" for patients to transition from hospital to family. In 2004, Dr. Huang died of a heart attack, and his wife took over the management of the center.

At present, the center has about 200 patients and 40 medical staff. The monthly cost of each patient is 2400 yuan, including accommodation, basic medical care and various rehabilitation activities. Most of the patients detained here are schizophrenics, and most of them are in the recovery period of the disease. After contact with them, I found that they were not the same as the patients I imagined. If you don't specify, you can hardly feel that they are mental patients.

Patients in the trusteeship center can move freely, chat, enjoy the cool and play chess in the yard.

I met a big brother with bare arms and a belly in the garden. An old man next to me strongly recommended me to talk to this big brother and said, "That fat man is particularly interested. Maybe you two will become friends by chatting. " So I chatted with my eldest brother for a while. My brother's tone is hard to understand just by reading words. You can turn on the audio 04' 14.

Brother shirtless: We patients regard leaders and doctors as family members. We can joke and chat. You know that, right? There is no such concern in the hospital, saying, alas, this is the dean, and something needs to be done. There is no such thing at all. You see, I am getting fatter and fatter now. When I first came here, I weighed 140 kg, and now I weigh more than 200 kg. This is also related to taking medicine. If you increase your appetite, you will always want to eat. I was very fragile when I first came here, when I was still young. Just turned 3 1 this year. I have been here for more than five years, and I am in my twenties. Can't stand it, just stand here, howling and screaming, can't stand it. After the illusion came out, no one could stand it and could not control it. Second, "because you are a mental patient, you will be discriminated against."

I stayed in this psychiatric care center for several days in a row, and patients who have recovered well here usually take on some work that they can. One day, I met Xiaomei who was making noodles in the kitchen. She told me that patients in all districts would make buns together in the future. At first, I thought she was a chef hired by the center. Later, the doctor introduced me, and I realized that she was also a patient here. Xiaomei was born in 1977. She is in her early forties and looks very young. Before coming here, she was a nurse in a hospital in Beijing. I talked to her. See Audio 05'38 for details.

Xiaomei: I came here during the summer vacation from October to March, and I have been to other hospitals before. At that time, I was also very depressed, and my personal emotional problems were not handled well. But not as long as this one. My initial diagnosis was paranoia, and later I was diagnosed with emotional disorder before I came here. Because the first year of work was not smooth. At that time, layoffs increased efficiency and I was laid off. And I happen to be lovelorn. I remember it very clearly. One rainy night, I slept at home after the night shift. My mother pushed open the door and called me, saying that his parents had brought him. I can't remember anything else. The only sentence is that his father said, "It's too far away, don't associate with me in the future." I didn't say anything at that time. His father's words really hurt me. Then for a while, I seemed to be out of my mind. Actually, I didn't want to see a doctor at that time. It was a colleague of my father who suggested that my father give me the number of an old expert. Later, I was hospitalized for no reason. This hospitalization really hurt me. I lived in Huilongguan for ten months and in Daliushu for ten months. The more you live, the worse you feel. I wrote a lot of letters to my mother, and the hospitalization fee was quite expensive. I may have spent nearly 100 thousand in Huilongguan for ten months, and tens of thousands in Daliushu, but it was useless. Then in July of 20 13, I came here. I have participated in many activity groups here. Working in the league, you can find many advantages of yourself, so you don't stay there. Now I look down on many things. I have met many patients who have recovered particularly well like Xiaomei in the trusteeship center. If you are not in the ward, it is difficult to tell whether you are a patient or a staff member. However, these patients in convalescence and stability will still be discriminated against.

In the first half of this year, a report on "Bread Crazy" brought this hosting service center into public view.

In July this year, there was a news on the Internet. The owners of a residential area in Baoan District of Shenzhen jointly issued an open letter, resolutely opposing the local Housing and Construction Bureau to centralize 17 "families with mental retardation" in a set of affordable housing in the same residential area, believing that they would "threaten the security of the public area of the residential area" and "be detrimental to social stability". Although it was later learned that 15 households were minors and autistic people, many owners persisted.

Director Yang also told me that although many patients with stable conditions look no different from us, being labeled as "mental patients" will always be treated with prejudice.

Director Yang: For example, once we have a meeting, we can't compete with others mentally. It is not as easy to carry out activities as others. For example, autistic children or "mentally retarded" children are cute and easy to package and publicize. But mental patients can't do it because our patients are quite old. Whenever there is any activity, say that mental patients can't attend, for fear of an accident, then there is no way out. In fact, mental patients are more pitiful than other disabled people, so we mental patients will not talk about it. Instead, he is willing to shut himself up for fear that others will know. He will feel ashamed or inferior. Third, there are two "fiancee" paranoid patients.

Most rehabilitation centers are hosted by schizophrenics. Schizophrenia is a common serious mental illness in China and the world. This disease often occurs in young people, which may lead to lifelong disability and affect patients' lives. The main symptoms are insanity, delusion, auditory hallucination, hallucination, abnormal thinking and behavior, and decreased emotional expression. However, insisting on taking medicine can obviously alleviate the symptoms of most patients and greatly reduce the recurrence rate of the disease. Generally speaking, the earlier the treatment, the better the prognosis.

Wang Dafu of the center told me that the patients who recovered well here had no obvious symptoms for more than ten years. However, I also met a patient whose recovery was not ideal. He got sick for the first time in prison, and even today he still has very serious delusional symptoms, because the treatment was not timely enough. Director Yang told me his story.

Director Yang: I have a German journalist friend named Katrina. I took her to an interview at that time, and this patient took a fancy to her. He asked me to introduce him to someone, and he wanted to marry her. He said, "You must tell Katrina that I love her to death! Tell her to call me, I have 654.38+0 million. " I said yes, yes, I promised him. Then that Katrina was also very interesting, so I told her, and she said, "OK, I'll go and see who he is." There she goes again. I told the patient that this is a foreign friend, and you can't be too, uh, anything. As a result, after she left, he forgot all the things I warned and said, "You have to call her! Later, I met the patient that Director Yang said. Now he has shifted his goal and has another object he wants to marry. This time, his delusional fiancee is a female patient who is also receiving treatment at the center. I suggest you turn on the stereo 14'36.

Patient: Let me tell you something. My family sent me 300,000 yuan to get married in Dai Meng, do you know? I am an egg, you know? Never married! Our family will say, if you marry Dai Meng, it's all over! Say what to eat, please eat braised beef! I told you to do it. Well, I'd rather tear down ten temples than ruin a marriage, right? Wang Dafu told me that every mental patient's situation is different. Some people's condition can be obviously improved after treatment and drug control, while others' prognosis is not very optimistic. Therefore, after the hospital diagnosis and treatment, how to carry out scientific care for patients in the rehabilitation stage is a very difficult problem for many family members:

Outside hospitals or rehabilitation institutions, it is difficult to ensure that these mental patients are always in a stable state. There is indeed too much uncertainty in this. One question is whether family members, as guardians, can let patients take medicine on time and in quantity as in medical or rehabilitation institutions; Another is that mental patients are particularly susceptible to infection. It is difficult to predict how long a patient will last. They, as a special group, should be accepted and warmed by society and family. However, after returning to the family seriously, some uncertain factors may appear, making the disease easy to relapse and more difficult to recover. Our institution is a foster care and rehabilitation institution for mental illness, not a medical institution. Since its establishment nearly 20 years ago, there are indeed too many patients who have been recovering here, and their condition is relatively stable, and there is basically no recurrence. In the background of the photo, there is a bakery that produces "crazy bread", and in the frame, there is a photo of "baker".

Four, the plight and development of psychiatric rehabilitation trust center

Because mental illness is easy to recur, it is necessary to take medicine on time and in quantity, which requires careful care. Many family members find it difficult to provide professional care for patients. However, the social function of patients who have just been discharged from hospital has declined, and they cannot adapt to society, work and life completely like ordinary people. This makes the "halfway house" connecting hospitals and families particularly important.

Regrettably, there is no such public rehabilitation trust in Beijing so far, and private institutions are in short supply. This institution has received more than 200 mental patients, and new patients are put on the waiting list every month. In order to alleviate the financial pressure of patients' families, the center only charges 2,400 yuan per person per month, and as long as the basic operation can be guaranteed, there will be no price increase.

However, they have not received substantial help from relevant departments in operation, and even face many problems. Because of the policy of relieving the function of the capital, the place currently rented by the hosting center has to be vacated. Empty houses can be understood as a kind of "new demolition", that is, public collective houses are taken back by the state. Because it was a rented house, there was no subsidy from the center in this process, and Director Yang was forced to find a suitable place for these 200 mental patients in a very short time. In addition, even the application for welfare institutions, the center has been hindered, and eventually it will go away. You can listen to audio 2 1'00 about the experience of being "kicked" by relevant institutions.

In addition, how to return to society for mental patients in convalescence has always been an important topic. Director Yang said that they visited the "Freshmen Rehabilitation Association" in Hong Kong:

Director Yang: They were founded more than six years ago, 50 years earlier than us. But their initial process is also very difficult, which is a process to go. The buildings in their center are all given by the government and supported by the foundation, and they are doing very well now. Hong Kong has adopted a rehabilitation liaison program for mental patients that meets international standards. The Social Welfare Department of Hong Kong provides different types of accommodation and basic medical services for patients. At the same time, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority implemented the "Easy Living Plan" on 200 1 to provide intensive rehabilitation training for mental patients who are able to return to community life. Patients can choose to work in a sheltered factory and produce handbags. Or make coffee or grow organic vegetables, and then take them to the supporting shops in the subway station to sell.

At the end of the interview, I chatted with Director Yang about the news mentioned before. I want to know what she thinks about the owner's boycott of 17 families with mental retardation living in the same community. As a mental illness care worker for many years, Director Yang told me that her ultimate dream is to build a semi-open community for mental patients. Please listen to audio 24'25 for details.

Director Yang: I can understand that this resident rejects the presence of mental patients in the building. I think that's really understandable, because when he comes home, if he keeps thinking about what to do if there is a mental patient next to him who is sick, he may not sleep well. I have a big dream, that is, whether we can make a rehabilitation community. Because it is a community, it can be more socialized, for example, there are restaurants, laundries, libraries, cinemas, vegetable markets, supermarkets and medical institutions, and then patients live in this community, become self-sufficient, find jobs and contribute their own strength. But at the same time, because they are mental patients, they should be supervised, rehabilitation files should be established, and doctors should regularly evaluate patients. Volunteers can also come to this community regularly to help them. In this way, we can build a platform for them Because he is a mental patient after all, you can't deny it. Discrimination is wrong, but you can't deny that he is a mental patient. To face this correctly, it is not necessary to integrate them into society. We should put ourselves in others' shoes and think of others from another angle. In fact, similar to developed countries such as Britain and the United States, Hong Kong has also made a long-term exploration on the rehabilitation treatment of mental patients, and they have also experienced the development process from unmanned management to the establishment of private rehabilitation institutions, and then to semi-open community rehabilitation. As far as the development of the mainland is concerned, it is still far away to realize director Yang's dream. Because there are about130,000 patients with severe mental illness in China, only about 5% of them have received professional psychiatric treatment, and even fewer of them can get help from rehabilitation institutions after treatment.

To outsiders, the suffering of mental patients and their families is totally unimaginable. Compared with other physical diseases, patients with mental illness also bear great discrimination and pressure from society. In fact, there is no essential difference between them and us, except that their original life was cut off when they were sick, and the sense of shame imposed made treatment and rehabilitation more difficult.

/Narrator/Chaoyang District Psychiatric Trusteeship Service Center

/Anchor/@ Jingjing Jingjing Jingjing Jingjing

/Producer/@ Liu Dou

/Sound Design/@ Story FM Han Peng

/BGM list/

0 1. The main theme of the story FM (original version) (unpublished)-Han Peng (opening song)

02. Way out (unpublished) (Xiaomei, Director Yang, Dr. Wang, everyone)

This article is reproduced with the authorization of "Story FM", which is a sound program produced by the Elephant Association and told by the witnesses. It is broadcast simultaneously on WeChat official account (ID: story _ FM) and major audio platforms every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Source: story FM

Editor: Zheng Huaju