China’s first mental health law doesn’t solve the problem of getting “mentally ill-ed"

Which is to say the problem of people using involuntary commitment as a social weapon.

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In China, mental illness isn’t just a condition. It’s also used as an excuse—by relatives, the police, and the government—to lock people in institutions against their will. It happens frequently enough that there’s a phrase to describe it: “getting mentally ill-ed.”

Take one of best-known cases, Chen Guoming, whose wife and relatives drugged, bound, and committed him to a psychiatric ward in 2011 afer he refused to loan money to his father-in-law. Even after doctors overturned a diagnosis that Chen had a paranoia disorder, he wasn’t released until his sister vouched for him. In all, he was held for 56 days.

China began implementing its first mental health law on April 30, which should in theory prevent more people from suffering Chen’s fate. The new law, which took 27 years to draft, bars people with mental health problems from being forced into inpatient treatment, except for “severe cases” or when a person endangers him or herself, or others.

It’s a step forward in the rights of Chinese people, mentally ill or not. Some say the law could stop the use of mental illness to repress dissent. Police and local government officials often offer hospitals money to lock away “troublemakers,” Maya Wang, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, tells Quartz. These are usually political political dissidents, activists, or petitioners—residents attempting to formally complain against local governments.

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http://qz.com/80268/chinas-first-ever-mental-health-law-doesnt-solve-the-problem-of-getting-mentally-ill-ed/