“疯狂的面包”| Bake on track: Mental patients run bakery in Beijing

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十二年

一间小小的面包坊

在面团发酵的温度与烘焙的香气中

成为精神病患找回自我价值的治疗室

这些“疯狂的面包”

被销往北京的几所国际学校

吃到面包的人说

这些面包和他们家乡的面包味道一样

这样的认可和鼓励诚然可贵

对于患者来说

真正的康复也意味着

回归家庭、融入社会

而这条路的实现还有更长的一段路要走

Would you like to try some bread made by mentally ill patients?

Unfortunately with the stigma surrounding mental illness the answer to that simple question can all too often be “no”. But one bakery in Beijing is challenging stereotypes and using baking to help people with mental illness on the road to recovery.

Nine patients from a privately run institution for people with mental illness in a suburb of Beijing are running a bakery producing different types of bread ranging from cinnamon rolls, croissants, to baguettes.

The patients were hesitant about taking up baking at first when two foreign volunteers first suggested it back in 2004 as a way of rehabilitation. They were worried that they wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure of working in a bakery and due to the stigma and lack of understanding surrounding mental illness no one would eat anything made by them.

Twelve years later and the bakery has become a daily routine for many of the people receiving treatment at the Chaoyang District Mental Health Service Center.  Some of the patients have worked in the bakery since it started while others are new recruits. And as for the fear that no one would buy bread they produced? The bread has found a market, being sold to international schools and upmarket homes nearby.

The bakery project is part of the work of the Chaoyang District Mental Health Service Center. Around 40 mental health professionals and caregivers work here at the service center, which spans some 4000 square meters and houses 202 boarded patients with a wide range of chronic psychiatric disorders and without families to rely on. The patients chosen to work in the bakery have already gone through treatments in the hospital and are assessed to be in a stable condition most of the time.

According to the hospital’s chief Yang Yun, people working in the bakery are the ones who are in a rather better recovery process and have the willingness to challenge themselves a bit more.

An academic paper in 2012 in the British medical journal Lancet estimated that China has only about 20,000 psychiatrists, and just 4,000 of those are “adequately trained and qualified”. Stigma and misunderstanding also persist, causing many patients not to get the treatment they need.

But the bakery can be seen as part of a big shift in the way mental illness is treated in China. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 100 million Chinese people suffer from “psychiatric handicaps,” with more than 16 million registered as “seriously” afflicted. And in May 2013, China’s first law to guard the medical privacy of people seeking treatment for mental illness came into force. The American Journal of Psychiatry hailed the new law as “a high-water mark for Chinese psychiatry, and potentially for global mental health.”

    十二年来，坐落于北京郊外的朝阳区精神病托管服务中心，一直坚持用面包烘焙的方式，帮助患者重新回归社会。

    每天早晨八点，小小的面包烘焙坊启动，九名患者在中心厨师的带领下开始制作面包。从肉桂卷、牛角到法棍，每个人都有条不紊的忙活着。烘焙的香气一点点晕染开，飘到外面的四合院活动区里。

    2004年，两名在中心工作的外国志愿者，娜塔莎和伊冯想到可以通过制作面包来帮助病人恢复。这个想法得到了院长杨云的认可，但病人们却说，“我在家连饭都不做，能会做面包吗？”“我们做的面包会不会没人吃？”带着忐忑和不确定，六名病人陆续加入了这个项目，开始缓慢的尝试。

    十二年过去，面包房已经成为康复中心的一个招牌项目，10名左右的病人参与到面包制作中，有人一直坚持下来，有人新近加入，也有人发病离开。

    每天中午，新鲜烘焙的面包会被送去德国驻华使馆学校和幼儿园。对于这些特别的面包师来说，生活也因此有了微妙的变化。

    坐落在朝阳区一个小村庄里的朝阳精神病康复中心，是院长杨云的丈夫、精神科医生黄峥于1999年创立的民营机构。2004年，黄医生突发心脏病去世后，杨云接管了中心。

    从面包烘焙、树木种植、到街道清扫，这个4000平方米的院落正在尝试用不同的方式给200多个患者一个在医院和家之间的避风港，逐渐形成一个自食其力的康复环境。

    根据中国疾病预防控制中心精神卫生中心公布的数据显示，中国各类精神障碍患者人数在1亿人以上，其中严重精神障碍患者超过1600万人，通过定期检查遵医嘱用药，95%的精神病患者都可以通过治疗和定期服用相关药物回归社会。但是对于一户户个体家庭来说，如何妥善的照料患病后的家人是他们面临的最棘手的问题。

Story by Tian Yi, Xu Jiye and Wang Andi