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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2014)
Street roots 9 * Marcii 14, 2014 HIDING, from page 8 A recent report by the Portland Police B ureau recorded 202 suicides in Portland between A pril 2011 a nd June 2013, nearly twice the num ber o f people killed in homicides or traffic accidents combined. The average age o f those who committed suicide was ju st • under 45 years old. The oldest person is . 89. Tlie youngest was 10. health, it was about two main things. I heard that people (with mental illness) in low- people recover from mental illness. And now, income countries often do better because of for the past 10 years, I’ve been doing extended families and inclusive, communities. documentaries on mental health conditions^ And I also heard that things are so different so I’ve come full circle. culturally that;we can’t understand mental illness in these countries and vice-versa. R.L.: And what inspired you to become a With that in mind, I headed to different filmmaker? countries, but ultimately the stories wére incredibly hidden because the medical D.R.: Since I was young, realistic stories systems have almost no mental health care are the ones I gravitated to. When I was 11, in them. my favorite film was “Small Change,” by The shame experienced by families facing (Francos) Truffaut. Meanwhile, I was mental illness is often quite extreme in fortunate to know documentary filmmakers countries where I filmed, such as India and growing up so I saw that doing this type of 1 China, and families may even hide the filmmaking was possible. The real clincher presence of mental illness from extended was seeing how filmmakers such as Judith family members. Meanwhile, unlike the U'S/ Helfand (“Healthy Baby Girl;” “Blue Vinyl”) and the U.K., there are no /advocacy groups were able to elevate the impact of their films , to educate and support such families. through multilayered filmmaking and Therefore, it’s a world where the main, collaboration-based awareness campaigns; message is that mental illness doesn’t exist. I realized I wanted to make documentaries And if it doe? exist, it’s hidden’ And as a that could inspire change for the better. The government, as a society, we don’t have any key is that for a film to create'change'it must responsibility to offer treatment or support. touch us emotionally. If we feel guilt, we might want to apologize. If we feel shame, R.L.: In making “Hidden Pictures” yòu we might want tó hide. And if we feel went from country to CQuntry and had extreme compassion, We may indeed want to act to difficulty finding subjects. In India, after improve a situation. several refusals, you finally met Sonai, the daughter of a doctor, and you presented her R.L,: It’s surprising too that you’re the story.' _ writer, director, narrator, producer and cinematographer of your films. And you’re a D.R.: Yes. Again, they were not excited tp skilled storyteller with an artist’s eye for be in the documentary. I ultimately found compelling images. Can you talk about doing out that they had only recently revealed to all of that? their extended family that Sonai had significant mental illness — a form of DiR.: It’s been.a curse and a blessing. It schizophrenia. When they had family allows me a lot of freedom to not have to do gatherings, they [said] that Sonai had to as much fundraising when I can do certain study, and that was a way theyhid their parts myself but that, of course, comes at a' secret for a couple of years.- It was the cost and it makes the projects .take longer. antithesis of an extended, supportive family. The upside is that I can get my gear and I’m I heard this over and over. The stories I all set to go. show are truly representative for what is - happening for many people in these R.L.: In your film, “Unlisted, ” on your dad’s countrjasA.Ina ji of Delhi, a city struggle with schizophrenia, you recount how million people, there wereonly three-day you hid from him for years, but then treatment programs and only two supportive reconnected and produced the film. How did housing units I could find. That is shocking. that come about? Also shocking is [the] fact that there are only 4,000 psychiatrists in all of India [with a D*R: I was in medical school and received . population of more than one billion]. a page that would completely change the And time and time again, I found that a course of my life. My neighbor said there complete, lack of a community mental health was a man at the door screaming about Jesus system is the norm. It means that over and and saying that he was my father. J was over one person — in Sonal’s case her shocked because this was the first time my mother — is doing all of the work and is not dad came 400 miles looking for me. getting a break fromthe repetitive, difficult I took him to the (Stanford) psychiatric and challenging behaviors that cóme: with ER right where I was a medical student. serious mental illness. They said that there was nothing they could do for him, and I tried to get him help other R.L.: In the China sequence, you mentioned places. That brought up the painful cycle that that there’s only one residential mental health many family members face. facility in Beijing, a city of 20 million people. . When I disconnected with my father, I felt a lot of shame about it, but I had to move D.R.: Exactly. I was told that the hospital, forward. Then, when l became a doctor, I where I filmed was the only one in Beijing [and] the only options for a mentally ill saw how many families are disconnected person are a big government hospital or because of silence in the family or not home. To me, that lack of options is getting support from the medical system. I shocking. decided that when I reconnected with my The fact is that 60 percent of countries father I would make a documentary. don’t have well-thought-out mental health That launched my becoming a mental legislation. I hope that [the World Health health advocate and that’s how the film Organization] putting mental health high on changed ihe. As I did it, so many people its agenda will give voice to people and came forward and shared their stories. It’s protect their human rights and stop only through talking about these things that discrimination. , we can learn the ways to get treatment and support. R.L.: Your subject “J e ff in Beijing is - confined to a mental hospital until his family R.L.: How did you move from your dad’s agrees to release him, and there’s no legal story in “Unlisted” to your new film on global review of his status. It seems he was mental health, “Hidden Pictures?” misdiagnosed and displayed no signs of a mental disorder when you saw him. Your D.R.: As I worked on thè film about my concern for him was palpable. father, it bothered me that there was no documentary on global mental health. There D.R.: Whatever led Jeff’s father to was a bizarre silence, particularly being (commit Jeff) — people speculate that it based in Seattle, which is a mecca for global might have been Jeff’s sexual orientation — I health. was shocked that Jeff didn’t just leave. One I learned from the story about my father thing is that his father had his identity card, the j)ower of honest storytelling to elicit and you really have to have it in China. conversation and compassion. And, as I grew Without this card, Jeff would have a hard up, I was very much interested in other time functioning in this society. I really was cultures, so the combination made me frustrated, but I appreciate that there’s so interested in the topic. much that’s kept silent about hard issues in Before starting the film, if I heard families in certain cultures; anything at all related to global mental R.L.: You stress that housing creates stability and is very important in addressing mental illness. D.R.: There’s great evidence now that housing-first works. Even in a poor mental state, getting housing and other supports can be transformational to the point where [the mentally ill] seek counseling and medication and the array of support. R.L.: To illustrate your point on housing, you tell the story of Patricia in the Seattle area. She met Jeff, a homeless man, and she took him into her home and provided a caring environment. How did you find that story? D.R.: I met them when they came into the Pike Market Medical Clinic (in Seattle). She was so unassuming and so sweet (and) was very new in helping to care for him. For many years he had been homeless on the street, and he w ld e n e spent his days in the th a t housing fir s t works« library. She’d also see him yelling into a E v e a ln a poor m e a ta l stated phone, talking to no g e ttin g ke n sla g a iii. o i l i e r one, or pacing and s ii» o r t s -can be agitated. He had Ira a slo rm a tio B a l to the p o in t extreme mental whore (the ffie a la lly fill} seek illness (but) he did come to live with her counseling and m e d ica tio n and was stable. Patricia is one of those angel people doing the work. R.L.: 7« your film, you mention programs in the schools to build this awareness of mental disorders and combat the stigma of mental illness. D.R.: It’s such a missed opportunity that most schools across the globe do not teach about mental health and mental illness. When I show my films in elementary and high schools, the level of curiosity of the human brain, of our behavior, and of mental illness is remarkable. Teaching about mental health and mental illness in schools, using real life personal stories, can have a big impact, particularly in two areas. The first is to educate students to help themselves and their families and friends. And second, by teaching in a way that inspires compassion, students will develop empathy that can translate to a future inspired to help improve lives. As a science- driven country, why not incorporate education around mental health into the science curriculum? R.L.: Do you see hopeful developments? D.R.: I’m always looking for solutions. I’ve never been into making documentaries that just show hard reality. I spent last year as . a Fulbright Scholar in India doing stories on community mental health workers. Many nonprofit organizations are training people to be out in the community in India to find people and give them support, around mental health. What’s interesting recently is that our federal government also believes that we need more community mental health care workers and has given a lot of money for implementation research. A fewweeks ago, I met with one of the recipients in Seattle to learn about what care coordinators are doing here, and many of them use the counseling technique called behavioral activation for treating depression. I saw the same technique being used successfully in a village of India (and) research; shows the tool is effective in all sorts of settings. Indeed, one of my key take-home points from making “Hidden Pictures” is that, unlike the myth that our experiences globally are too diverse to understand and help, in fact, our experiences at the very core are much more similar than different, and global solutions are possible. Reprinted from Real Change News, Seattle, Wash.
