Medicine for the mind

These incidents have exposed loopholes in the medical care system, with many mentally ill people slipping through the cracks. Reports on the incidents have also served to widen the gap between the general public and the mentally ill, who are often the target of discrimination in the country.

According to statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China has more than 16 million people with serious mental disorders.

The country's first Mental Health Law, which took effect on May 1, is intended to boost public participation in caring for the mentally ill by calling for local governments to support and encourage individuals and organizations that wish to provide services for such patients.

The law has been good news for mental hospitals and patients, but it will take time for society to rid itself of discrimination, hospital manager Li says.

"Drug therapy is a basic but very small part of the recovery process. Receiving care from relatives and community members can reshape patients' perceptions of society, and thus is helpful for them to return to normal life," Li says.

In this sense, Li says, the volunteers have helped change the hospital's environment and are playing an important role that drugs cannot fill. "When the patients see people among them in the hospital who aren't in white gowns, they feel differently."

Doctors and nurses have found that patients who have participated in the volunteer therapy program have shown less hostility to the people around them, including hospital staff and relatives, Li says.

Some of the more movement-oriented therapy sessions have also helped improve patients' use of their limbs, which are often affected by the long-term use of drugs.

Li says the volunteers are setting a good example for the public in terms of the attitudes they have displayed toward the patients.

"The patients have self-awareness, self-esteem and emotions just like you and me. They need the embrace of their families and society," Li says.

Wang Yu, the traditional Chinese painting student, may serve as an illustration to Li's comments.

When asked why she likes painting, the woman says that Jia is a good teacher. "She would come to teach us even when she has a fever."

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