In Hidden Pictures, her new documentary about mental health, Delaney Ruston travels around the world and realises the first step towards treatment is admitting the problem. Hamari Jamatia reports
Watching her father struggle with schizophrenia is what prompted filmmaker Delaney Ruston, a doctor herself, to start learning more about mental health problems.
She travelled, researched and video-taped doctors and patients. In every city she went, Ruston found a silence surrounding the issue; most families shied from coming on record because admitting this, meant opening up one’s family to criticism.
“Global mental health remains underexposed for some reason and has not grabbed the attention it deserves. During my work, I found it difficult to find families willing to talk. This project is from the heart,” said Delaney who worked on the documentary for five years.
Ruston’s movie, which deals with one case study each from India, China, Africa, France and her father in America, has an underlying theme — break the silence, because admitting is the first step towards treatment and removing misconceptions.
Her film focusses on “the underexposed world of global mental health,” and premiered at American Centre on Thursday where many of the seats were occupied by high school students. According to Ruston, it is a welcome sign of change. She explained that “everywhere in the world, importance given to mental health remains low. In the Indian context, only one per cent of the annual health budget is spent on creating awareness and treatment. That is not all. There are only about 4000 odd psychiatrists registered in the country, making it one of the lowest per-capita counts in the world.” Ruston added, “There may be a time when future generations look back at history and wonder why mental health problems were given so little importance in the past,” she added. In her documentary, the protagonists all struggle to lead a ‘normal’ life despite odds. One character stands out — Jeff from China, who was admitted to an institution by his father. For eight years, he has been running a ‘Crazy Bake,’ which has its kitchen within the institution premises. In the documentary, when the author tells him the term ‘crazy’ is shunned in the US, where people prefer to club mental problems with being “emotional”, he immediately retorts, “In America you can call it ‘Emotional Bake.’” Jeff does not have complaints about his stay at the institution, but like other inmates, dreams about the day when his father will allow him to leave its confines. “If a person suffers from diabetes, or say, misses a limb, neighbours will not think twice before sending their children over. But when they learn that he/she is suffering from mental problems, the walls go up,” said one of the people interviewed.
A section of the film talks to people, who through continuous care and therapy, have been able to control their ailment. Delaney’s own father sadly, wasn’t one of them. Richard Ruston succumbed to the voices in his head and committed suicide by jumping off a pier some years ago. Through the film, Delaney highlights that mental health forces members to hide from family pictures. With acceptance of mental health problems though community participation, one day all family members may be in a picture together, she hopes.