Jin Xiaoyu, the "genius son" who brushed the screen: a bipolar disorder patient like Van Gogh and Hemingway

Recently, a report "Hangzhou man called from the funeral home: can you write about our genius son" was screened on the whole network, known as the Chinese version of "Beautiful Mind". This article is a self-report of Jin Zhiyong, the father of Jin Xiaoyu, a "bipolar disorder" patient in Hangzhou, who tells about his son's tortuous experience of illness and his achievements in translation. According to Jin's account, starting in 2010, Jin Xiaoyu translated a total of 22 books in a ten-year period at the rate of two books per year. His translated works span novels, films, music, and philosophy.

What exactly is "bipolar disorder"? Physician Wu Chuangxin and Chief Physician Peng Daihui of the Department of Mood Disorders of Shanghai Mental Health Center brought answers.

It sounds like some strange illness, but it is actually related to many famous people.

In April 1885, tulips awoke in large areas in the humoronic breeze of a humid oceanic climate. Van Gogh picked up his pipe at this point and stared at the first draft of The Potato Eater on the canvas. Dim light sprinkled on the haggard faces of the peasants, and the low roof made the space inside the house more crowded and abrupt. The whole picture is dark in color, giving people a sense of oppression. He was not in a very good mood, anxious, and he was anxious to prove his talents to the people around him. But he could no longer recall the overzealousness of his missionary mission in Belgium a few years earlier, like the emotions that were about to ignite himself in the scorching summer.

Autumn 1960, across the Atlantic. Hemingway's condition worsened, and his emotional agitation still haunted him, just as it took him only 8 weeks from the beginning of the writing of The Old Man and the Sea until the first draft was completed. Unfortunately, insomnia, delusions followed, conceit, aggressiveness, behavior like a bone gangrene, he even more than once fiddled with the rifle in public, half-jokingly performed suicide scenes.

Centuries later, these masters would not have expected that the shadow of a disease called "bipolar disorder", which once hovered low and low on their heads, still affects and plagues modern society in various ways.

Bipolar disorder is a common chronic mental illness in the world today, with an average age of first attack of about 25 years. Wu Chuangxin introduced that the reports of different countries and regions are not the same, a survey covering 9 countries found that the prevalence of bipolar type I is 1.4%, the prevalence of bipolar type II is 0.4%, and the prevalence of bipolar under the threshold is 0.6%. According to the World Health Organization, the global burden increased by 14.9 in the 10 years from 2005 to 2015, with the total number of sick and disability life years (per 1,000 people) increasing.

Peng Daihui said that according to the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - 5" standards, bipolar disorder can be subdivided into bipolar type I, bipolar type II, cyclic mood disorder, bipolar and related disorders caused by substances/drugs, bipolar and related disorders caused by other internal medicine diseases, other specific bipolar and related disorders, and non-specific bipolar and related disorders. Its main clinical manifestations are alternating manic episodes with depressive episodes.

Patients with manic episodes often present with an elevated inner state, a rush of thought, and increased energy activity at a certain time. Patients feel good about themselves, self-esteem is inflated, thinking content is rich and changeable, speech increases, words are open, attention shifts with the situation; happy mood, cheerful all day, some patients are characterized by easy irritation, anger, and hostility; patients are energetic, sleep needs are reduced, and reckless behaviors accompanied by uncontrolled consumption, rash behavior, and even destructive and aggressive behaviors. Some patients may have psychotic symptoms such as exaggerated delusions, relationship delusions, and victim delusions.

Depressive episodes are common in low mood, slow thinking, decreased volitional activity, and somatic symptoms. Patients may present with persistent emotional depression, dullness and pessimism, slow response, and blocked thinking; decreased active speech, significantly slower rate of speech; memory decline, prolonged attention to response time; passive laziness in life, unwillingness to do things, and unwillingness to contact and interact with people around them. Patients with severe disease may present with negative suicidal notions or behaviors. In addition, various kinds of pain, internal discomfort, depersonalization and physical disintegration, psychotic symptoms and obsessive-compulsive symptoms are not uncommon.

At present, the consensus of the academic community on the treatment of bipolar disorder is to adopt the principles of comprehensive treatment, long-term treatment, and individualized treatment. Treatment is divided into three stages: acute phase, consolidation phase and maintenance phase. Acute phase therapy to control symptoms, usually 6 to 8 weeks; consolidation phase therapy to prevent recurrence of the disease, the duration of consolidation therapy for bipolar depressive episodes is 4 to 6 months, and the duration of treatment for manic or mixed episodes is 2 to 3 months; if there is no recurrence, maintenance phase therapy can be entered to prevent recurrence, maintain good social functioning, and improve quality of life, and the duration of treatment at this stage varies from person to person. Pharmacotherapy is predominantly a mood stabilizer, with the addition of a combination of another drug (atypical antipsychotics), as well as modified electroconvulsive (MECT) intensive therapy and psychotherapy.

The mental pain caused by bipolar disorder is enormous. In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote: "Who am I in the eyes of most people? Nothing, an empty shell, a man who has never had and will not have any social status, simply put, a complete loser. The writer Norman Mailer once said: "The real root of Hemingway's wandering life is that he struggled all his life with fear and suicidal thoughts." His inner world was like a nightmare. His nights were spent in the struggle against death. ”

It can be said that bipolar disorder patients swim in their own spiritual world, they may be enemies of themselves, deviate from reality, and constantly suffer from diseases. As Van Gogh said, "When I was delirious, everything I loved seemed chaotic and disorderly— and I would never admit that this was reality, nor would I play the role of a fake prophet." ”

However, trauma to the heart can also lead to unexpected results. Just as the public cannot know how Van Gogh rekindled his desire for life in his aversion to reality, he achieved an artistic peak that could not be crossed by future generations in the difficult time from 1885 to 1890. Churchill commented, "Because he has been fighting his despair all his life, only he can tell others that despair can be overcome." Able to transform the reality of grief into fearless words. ”

Today, Jin Xiaoyu's story has once again made the public aware of the disease of bipolar disorder, and these cases of "diseased mussels" all show that the suffering of the soul may not lead to self-destruction, but may also lead to extraordinary achievements. "If this disease is understood by more people, accepted by society, and treated rationally, patients can also have a good life." Through the shadow of the bipolar obstacle, to find the light behind it, this is the direction of our efforts. ”

Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Yong Text Editor: Huang Yangzi

Source: Author: Huang Yangzi