Beheading of Chinese noodle shop owner ‘highlights crisis in psychiatric care’
Families weighed down by ‘unbearable burden’ to look after patients
The shocking beheading of a noodle shop owner by a former psychiatric patient on the weekend highlights a broader crisis in the mainland’s mental health care system, specialists said.
The concerns over the treatment for people with psychiatric problems surfaced after police arrested a 22-year-old migrant worker over the death of the shop owner in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Saturday.
The worker, identified only by his surname Hu, had spent six months in a psychiatric hospital before being discharged last year because his condition had improved, the West China City Daily reported yesterday.
Hu was a neat dresser, a poor communicator and easily irritated, according to a doctor’s assessment before he was discharged. Hu was classified as suffering from the second-highest level of “mental impairment” in a four-tier system but the report did not refer to a specific diagnosis.
Police arrested Hu after he allegedly cut off the shop owner’s head over a billing dispute.
Mental health specialists said Hu’s case reflected the difficulties facing patients and families struggling with psychiatric illness.