The plight of a 24-year-old man in China who was detained against his will in a psychiatric hospital by his parents who have poor mental health, has gripped the nation and highlighted irregularities in psychiatric institutions.
Mo Nan, not his real name, said he had been arguing with his parents since he was a secondary school student, leading them to conclude he was mentally ill, according to Huashang News.
They took him for treatment at a psychiatric hospital in Zibo, Shandong province in eastern China, where doctors prescribed medication.
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Mo was admitted to a mainland university in 2017, where he studied well and was praised by teachers for helping others.
However, his parents were adamant he was mentally ill after he argued with them, and they asked doctors to increase his medication.
According to the son, his parents decided he was displaying “abnormal behaviour” if he played mobile games, slept late or disagreed with them.
When he did not want to talk to them, they accused him of being “in down spirits”, yet when he became emotional, they said he was “too excited”.
“My only shortcoming is that I obeyed their orders. Even after I went to study at university, I still followed their instructions and swallowed the drugs they gave me,” Mo said, adding: “I resisted too late.”
He became obese and said his memory had deteriorated due to the long-term consumption of psychiatric drugs.
On July 28, 2021, Mo said he was “cajoled” by his parents into attending Zibo Mental Health Centre.
He said without any examination a nurse there just told him he would be hospitalised for three months.
“I was held down on a bed by medical staff and a rope was used to bind me. I was given an injection and an electric shock. My head was so painful it felt as though it would explode,” he said.
Mo said he later found out, from reading his medical documents, that his parents had exaggerated his mental health problems, which led doctors to reach the conclusion that he was seriously ill.
When he was discharged from hospital after 83 days, he tried to persuade his parents to check their own mental health with psychiatric doctors, hoping they would lose the right to supervise him when they were found to be unwell.
Last year, both parents were diagnosed with schizophrenia at Shandong Provincial Mental Health Centre.
However, the diagnosis from Beijing Anding Hospital, a leading psychiatric institution in China, showed they had depression and anxiety, but their situation did not constitute serious psychogenia, doctors concluded.
The report did not say if Mo’s parents were hospitalised.
China’s Mental Health Law stipulates that hospital admission should be voluntary.
However, if a patient is found to have serious mental disorders and has hurt himself or others, the hospital can confine him after obtaining permission from his family.
Cases of people incorrectly hospitalised at psychiatric institutions frequently make headlines in China.
In July, there was a public outcry when it was revealed that a 34-year-old woman had been confined to a psychiatric hospital in southeastern China’s Fujian province for more than 10 years, despite recovering, because her family refused to sign her release document.
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