Source: Beijing News
Atlas
The "Lamplighter" Behind The Depressed Patient
There is a growing number of supporters behind people with depression, from patients or family members and professional practitioners
The last decision of the 28-year-old actor Shang Yubo was to jump from the top of the building. Standing on the roof, he had a phone call with a friend. He said he was watching the view, and there was a beautiful view in front of him. When the fans were talking about it, my mother Mao Aizhen anxiously wanted to explain to the world that my child was sick and fell ill involuntarily.
A year later, on the same day, China's first foundation focused on mental health and depression prevention and control was established, and the founder was Mao Aizhen. In China, the supply of medical and information terminals in the spiritual and psychological fields is still in its early stages, and the community survival channel is blocked, which is Renke's judgment. After stepping out of the "little black room" of depression, she created an online community that already has 60,000 depressed people and their families.
10 October is Mental Health Day. According to the World Health Organization, more than 300 million people worldwide are currently expected to suffer from depression. It is estimated that in 2019, the number of people with pan-depression in China exceeded 95 million. Behind the huge population of about 1 million people who commit suicide every year, more and more supporters have emerged. Some of the people who light the lights for the little black room are depressed people or family members, and some are professional practitioners.
This is a disease that is more susceptible to "shame" than physical diseases. In China, less than 10% of patients receive relevant medications. Ren Ke, who had suicidal thoughts, could not stand depression as the cause of "death"; patients in her community, in order to go to the hospital to get medicine, made up many reasons for the unit such as dysmenorrhea, wisdom teeth extraction, and sterilization of cats at home.
Mao Aizhen always remembers a picture: two years before his death, Shang Yubo first mentioned to his mother that he "may" have depression in the car to the set. Then he quickly said that he had taken the medicine, all right. He curled his eyes and smiled at his mother.
Friend
In those indescribably desperate days, it was her friends who caught her. After bidding farewell to the diagnosis of "major depression", Renke established an online community of 60,000 depressed patients and their families.
Ren Ke felt that he was cured and did not relapse for two years.
Now she has hundreds of WeChat groups on her phone, and countless messages pour in from time to time. Some people "post" their own diagnostic certificates, some people show the drugs they are taking, some people consult the side effects of drugs, and some people struggle with what excuse to ask the unit for leave the next time they go to the hospital to get medicine.
The Depression Institute is an online community of about 60,000 people with depression and their families. Two years ago, Ren can establish this exchange and mutual assistance platform as a "director and a sick person", and the main topics include daily medication, mutual aid exchange, online accompaniment, etc.
"Warming up in groups and healing each other" is the initial hope of the platform. This used to be something that Renko needed. In 2017, Ren Ke obtained a diagnosis of "major depression and severe suicidal tendencies" in Beijing Anding Hospital. She described it as being drenched in a bucket of black paint, drenched from head to toe.
Every day, it is like holding a piece of red-hot charcoal in your hand, but you can't throw it away. Ren Ke could hardly start anything for the new day, breathing, drinking, and getting dressed made her feel burdened; she did not dare to quit her job and tried to play a decent adult in her circle of friends.
At the Spring Festival reunion dinner after the diagnosis, she could not help but shed tears. "I don't have a daughter like you." The father saw the diagnosis and pointed to Ren Ke.
"If you can't jump off the building, what's the use of asking for a window?" She often thinks of this sentence in the American drama "Melrose". However, rather than committing suicide due to major depression, Ren Ke prefers to experience a car accident or suffer a crash on a business trip, as if these are the "decent" ways to leave.
Ren Ke said that during those indescribable days of despair, it was her friends who caught her, and she felt like a "net" of social support. Two years ago, she set out to build an online community. Her depression diary was repeatedly forwarded in the patient group, and she wanted to let the patient know what exits and ways to try, and looked forward to the "net" she had formed with her own hands, which could hold more people.
After the death of his son, "helping more people" also became Mao Aizhen's responsibility.
Shang Yubo had a text message stored on his mobile phone. In 2011, Shang Yubo donated clothes for a pneumoconiosis patient and hid two thousand yuan in a box, and after sending it out, he texted his agent Peng Shan, saying, "I am very happy to help Zhao Wenhai, and in the future, if there is such information, you transfer it to me, and I want to help more people." ”
Mao Aizhen said that the child's departure reminds her to pay attention to this huge but not concerned group. This may be her mission in this life.
Mom
A year after his son's death. Mao Aizhen founded the country's first foundation to popularize depression knowledge. That day the son came to the dream and hugged her tightly, as if to thank her for everything she had done.
After Shang Yubo's death, her mother, Mao Aizhen, discovered that her son had another unknown timeline.
In mid-July 2011, Shang Yubo, who was new to the show, took his parents on a trip to Europe. While climbing mountains in Switzerland, Shang Yubo sang in front of him, turned to look at his happy parents, tilted his head and joked, "Am I that good?" ”
On September 30, he went on an outing to Changping in Beijing with his parents, and Shang Yubo took many lively photos of wild swimming fish.
On the morning of October 2, Shang Yubo went to Xining to participate in the Sichuan-Tibet self-driving tour, and Mao Aizhen, the mother of the plane landing, received a text message: Rest assured, I have arrived in Xining, I love you!
At noon on October 23, Shang Yubo told Mao Aizhen that there were 3 plays for him to shoot, but he couldn't make up his mind, the mother and son repeatedly discussed, and finally made a decision.
On the afternoon of October 24, Mao Aizhen drove her son to the premiere of the TV series "Yaoshan Bandits", and before parting, she brushed her son's hair on the forehead and watched him enter the studio.
At noon on October 25, Shang Yubo stood on the roof of the building and said to his friend on the phone, "I was watching the scenery, and I saw a beautiful view." ”
Mao Aizhen later saw Shang Yubo's medical records in 2009. "Can't sleep for nearly a month, emotional anxiety, depressive state". When filming, I am always sleepy, unable to remember lines, and difficult to concentrate. Side effects of the drug began to appear, and his face became more and more puffy in the camera.
He drove to the airport, got lost on the way, and even drove into the cornfield.
Before traveling with his parents to Europe, Shang Yubo's depression recurred, and it continued to worsen for the next four months.
On September 20, Shang Yubo was supposed to go to the home of agent Peng Shan to attend a party, but turned to another neighborhood and went to the top floor. After waking up suddenly, I was afraid, but I was afraid that my parents would be worried, and I didn't say anything about it.
In early October, he drove himself to Xining with his friends, and in the hot springs of Guide, Qinghai, Shang Yubo had a bipolar attack, laughed happily, and shouted "I'm fine!" I'm fine! ”。
On October 23, his son came to Mao Aizhen to decide which new play to cooperate with, when he was already severely ill and unable to make any decisions.
On October 25, 28-year-old Shang Yubo made his last decision.
Mom's timeline of starting a business starts a year later.
On October 25, 2012, the first anniversary of Shang Yubo's death, the Beijing Shangshan Public Welfare Foundation, the first foundation in China to pay attention to the prevention and promotion of mental health and depression, was established, with Mao Aizhen as the chairman. That day, the son came to the dream and hugged her tightly, as if to thank her for everything she had done.
Mao Aizhen met many companions.
While participating in filming in 2014, Mao Aizhen met Zhang Jin, who had suffered from major depression. As a media worker, Zhang Jin wrote several books on his medical experience as "Crossing", and organized the establishment of a patient mutual aid organization. The following year, Aimi, the mother of a depressed patient in Hangzhou who had read the report, took the initiative to meet at an event, and then launched the "Tulip Sunshine Club" to help more patients get out of the predicament.
In Mao Aizhen's view, at present, depression still has the problem of low awareness rate and low medical treatment rate, and it is necessary to continuously strengthen the publicity of depression knowledge.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 300 million people worldwide are expected to suffer from depression. In 2019, the number of pan-depressed people in China exceeded 95 million, becoming one of the "hardest hit areas" for mental health problems.
In recent years, public attention to depression has increased considerably. Ren Ke can see that online cloud suppression, mourning culture, social fear, etc. often appear in Weibo super talk, Douban group, some people will "challenge" in the comment area: Are you really depressed? How can today's young people be depressed at night?
In the first two years, China's earliest public psychiatric hospital - Beijing Anding Hospital, the daily outpatient volume of 2,000, has now exceeded 5,000, depression number source in short supply, even if it is an ordinary number, soon after the release will be swept away.
doctor
Sasha never felt that her patients were dangerous, and the highest frequency in the ward was, "Can you stay with me for a while?" However, the healer will also be sad, sad, and afraid, and they must also avoid "getting involved."
This is a rather difficult disease, and it is easy to contaminate "shame". After 15 years as a psychiatrist at Anding Hospital, the longer she practiced, the more Sasha was amazed at the complexity of depression.
As the ward director of the Depression Treatment Center, Sasha has been exposed to a variety of depressed patients, from new mothers who are deeply anxious and trying to commit suicide with their children, young men who are interested in being indifferent and can't leave for three years, to teenage girls who frequently hurt themselves, and media workers who have long-term insomnia and emotional loss.
Psychology can be roughly divided into two areas, psychiatrists are responsible for diagnosis, prescription, hospitalization, etc., and psychotherapists tend to psychological counseling, emotional counseling, psychoanalysis, etc. The former focuses on symptoms, while the latter focuses on the patient's experiences and feelings. Complex cases advance from two perspectives, sometimes finding the optimal solution faster.
Sasha has a dual identity. Sometimes she is a psychiatrist, diagnosing, prescribing, and hospitalizing patients; sometimes she is a psychotherapist, listening to the trauma of a client and helping them analyze and understand their own motivations and personalities.
She found that patients who often knew and accepted that they had mental illness and were willing to go to the hospital for treatment could get effective treatment, mothers returned to calm, children received bottles, and young people regained their normal work ability. But many more are unable to seek medical support because of a lack of knowledge or a fear of the outside world's vision.
When the outside world looks at depression in a different way, it is also difficult for depressed patients to treat their diseases normally. Sasha participated in a program recording as a psychologist. Before the show started, someone laughed and asked her, depressed people think about suicide every day, is it not uncomfortable for you to stay with them? I'm healthy, but there are people around me who really want to die, and they're crazy.
She put up with it for a moment, didn't hold back, and said, you probably have a misunderstanding of depression, depression is not the same as crazy suicide.
Sasha has been asked countless times about similar questions. She will try to explain that depression is not made up of extreme behaviors, but of complex symptoms.
Most of the time Sasha spends her days in closed wards, managing more than sixty patients with mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder. For the closed psychiatric ward, the outside world is full of tension, danger, crazy reverie, and in her eyes, there is a group of people who suffer from disease all the time. She said that I never felt that my patients were dangerous, on the contrary, they were very painful and vulnerable.
She often has to deal with acute onsets. When the pain cannot be relieved, the patient will swallow the drug, hit the wall, and hurt herself by all means, and she will return to calm through drug treatment and other means in a very short period of time. But even if it is an emergency attack, the patient tries to hurt himself, not others.
More often, patients show helplessness. When anxiety, fear, and the thought of dying came pouring in, one of the most common phrases in Sasha's hospital room was, "Can you stay with me for a while?" ”
Will psychotherapy become an emotional trash can and be hurt by overloaded negative information? Li Jiuju, a psychotherapist at Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, has experienced many such questions. In her opinion, psychotherapists will also have sadness, sadness, fear, especially immature young therapists, always avoid experiencing the situation of being "involved" by the client, so psychotherapists need professional training, theoretical training, personal analysis, case supervision, etc.
When Li Jiuju was just practicing, she had a failed psychotherapy experience. In order to get a better education, a young man was raised in a relative's house in Beijing. Psychotherapy went well at first, when suddenly he asked Li Jiuju to touch his head.
Li Jiuju felt offended, she refused, and the treatment stopped. The boy left the treatment room and smashed a flower pot on the windowsill, tried to commit suicide with fragments, and failed, bleeding to the ground.
Li Jiuju applied for supervision. The supervisor asked her, what was the reason for his request? What is your association? After analyzing, she realized that the other party at that time had regressed to a young child who longed for maternal love, rather than an adult male who had made a request for sexualization.
After years in the industry, Li Jiuju felt that this job allowed her to understand the reasons behind many behaviors and emotions. In the past, the negative emotions of the people around her would affect her, but now, she can understand peacefully and calmly help the other party to accept and digest the emotions.
child
Sometimes Li Jiuju tries to "pull" young patients out of their original families, replacing their parents who cannot play a role properly, and provide a safe dependency relationship that lasts up to 13 years.
Li Jiuju felt that psychotherapy was like a safe house with a mirror in it.
In her "safe house", most of the people who kept coming and going were depressed teenagers with different symptoms. Obsessive-compulsive, school-averse, depression, anorexia, addiction, self-harm, suicide... She receives five or six visitors a day, and her work schedule is scheduled in minutes.
Li Jiuju has received many teenagers who are suffering from mental and psychological problems. "Their depression is like a silent cry, with a hidden desire to be seen, to be accepted, to be loved."
Younger age is a clear trend in the incidence of depression in recent years. In Ren Ke's mobile phone, there are more than ten "suspension groups", all of which are children temporarily suspended from school because of depression, covering all school ages and age groups from primary school to university, teenagers to young people, and the suspension time is from a few months to a full year, and she has also set up a group for parents alone.
Sasha has a 13-year-old patient, Qin Yueyue (pseudonym), who learned to swim competitively since childhood, and the teacher was extremely strict with her, and she suppressed a lot of anger and dissatisfaction in her heart. She has tried to swallow drugs, swallow various objects, and jump off buildings to commit suicide in order to "attack" the outside world and find pleasure in the panicked feedback around her. When a little girl in the same ward is discharged from the hospital, she will pretend to hurt each other with words of concern, "Are you not afraid that after you are discharged, they will look down on you and bully you?" ”
The healers took the time to cut off her circuit of pleasure from "aggression"; telling her the rules, what was not allowed, what would be restricted, what would be encouraged. After three months of treatment, Qin Yueyue no longer tried to manipulate and lie, and would confess to Shasha that he had secretly swallowed something. When she was discharged from the hospital, she wrote in a message to the ward: Dare to tell the truth, even if it may not sound good.
In Li Jiuju's view, to cope with adolescent depression, medical means alone are far from enough.
Sometimes, patients need to expand from individual treatment to family therapy. Sometimes, Li Jiuju will try to "pull" young patients out of their original families, and even provide a safe dependency relationship in place of their parents who cannot play a role correctly. The special relationship she experienced lasted up to 13 years.
In 13 years, Li Jiuju repeatedly tried to talk to the mother of the patient Lin Hong (pseudonym). Lin Hong is the first depressed patient Li Jiuju has come into contact with since she started her career. She grew up in a broken family, and her mother attributed the divorce to the birth of her daughter. When she was four or five years old, once her mother knelt in front of her and scolded Lin Hong for bringing tragedy while prostrating herself.
Whenever she receives psychological treatment, Lin Hong's state will improve, but back in the original family environment, depression will recur. Lin Hong's mother did not agree to receive treatment together, and Li Jiuju used the conversation to guide her to realize her motives and emotions, and to help her self-awareness and healing.
More than a decade has passed, and the situation of both mother and daughter has improved. This long psychological treatment "long run" has continued to this day, and Lin Hong has not sought help from Li Jiuju for a year.
Since last year, Li Jiuju has begun to participate in the early development of children's psychology in the Beijing Maternal and Child Health Association, helping the prevention of children's mental illness in the maternal and child health hospitals in various districts of Beijing, and the early identification and intervention are more standardized. She hopes that in the near future, when the child is still a fetus, parents can learn how to support, interact, understand, establish a sound parent-child relationship in the mental health center of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and help more and more children grow up in a healthier family environment.
Another phenomenon also made Li Jiuju happy. In recent years, short-term psychological treatment has been increasing, more and more adolescents with mild diseases or who have not reached the level of illness have come to seek help, and the attention paid by the outside world to adolescents' mental health has been significantly improved.
wish
"Hopefully, people will accept depression like they would have a cold," and one day there will never be a day when a depressed person will end their life because of a sense of shame.
Mao Aizhen is 65 years old this year. The 9th year of his son's death, he devoted himself to the 8th year of disseminating knowledge on the prevention and treatment of depression. She felt that her work had seen the light of day.
In September this year, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued the "Work Plan for Exploring Special Services for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression", which determined that by 2022, the public's awareness rate of depression prevention and treatment will reach 80%, the rate of depression treatment will increase by 50%, the treatment rate will increase by 30%, and the recognition rate of depression by non-psychiatric hospital physicians will increase by 50%.
This means that more people with depression can be "recognized" and receive professional treatment as early as possible.
As a professional physician, Sasha doesn't think the outside world needs to have a professional grasp of depression, but she feels that sometimes people need a little more "practical" knowledge. She has seen a depressed patient in the media industry. Her symptoms seemed atypical, manifested by memory loss, decreased reflexes, inattention, changes in physical functions that prevented her from completing her work normally, Sasha prescribed medicine for her, and soon she returned to her normal working state.
Soon after, the patient brought in a colleague who was suffering from long-term insomnia, often sleeping only two hours a night, which led to mental malaise, grumpiness, and family relations. Sasha's consultation found that the latter's depression was even deeper than the former's, and after giving medication, it also achieved a significant improvement.
"Modern people work intensively and endure stress for a long time, but it is easy to regard poor physical and mental state as commonplace, and many people will not think of depression." Sasha said. Studies have shown that even though the rate of depression visits has increased in recent years, the vast majority of patients have not yet received medical help, and public awareness of them still needs to be improved.
What Sasha wants to see most is that one day people will be able to accept depression like a cold, and treat people with depression as well as they can tolerate people with physical diseases. When you have emotional problems, you are willing to seek the evaluation of a psychiatrist and the company of a psychotherapist. "Let this 'advanced configuration' become a 'basic configuration' at your fingertips."
Ren Ke is more and more aware that depression is like the emotional flu, it will be contagious and flowing, like a cold or allergy, it will definitely appear in our lives, we must learn to accept depression, to prevent from developing from emotions into diseases.
Ren Ke had a hope in his arms. Through time, standing in the next 5, 10 or even 20 years, she can share with everyone on a certain occasion. She'll say, you know what? 10 years ago we still had a stigma because of depression, and many patients even chose to end their lives, but now this is no longer the case. (Reporters Dai Xuan, Jiang Huizi, Ma Jinqian)
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Wei