BroadTones China’s Stigma on Dementia Isn’t Helping Anyone
Ironically, although most Chinese lack dementia literacy, we use the word “dementia” quite often. The Mandarin word for it is chidai, but we also use this as a swearword for somebody who is dull-witted. The double-meaning of this word is indicative of the stigma toward mental health in China. In an epidemiological survey in the countryside nearby Chengdu, the capital city of southwestern China’s Sichuan province, I visited a couple who kept their mother who suffered from dementia chained to their bed. [1]
Many of the interviews I request to do with families who have a relative suffering from dementia are turned down. The ones who do agree to talk to me usually just chalk up the illness to natural aging. Internalizing the stigma, many dementia-affected families in China intentionally alienate and isolate themselves from their communities. They are afraid of being associated with chidai.
