© Mona AbouissaA suicidal painting by a psychotic patient. After putting his suicidal thoughts into a painting a patient said he was relieved
He split from the other inmates and approached me holding flowers in his hand, looking awkwardly happy. "Hello!" he said. I shook his hand. My mention of Russia moved something in him. He smiled, "I went to Moscow a year ago. I will have a wedding in California this year, you are invited." He gave me a flower. A social worker intervened and escorted my interlocutor away to the rest of the psychiatric patients. From the other corner of the gym, situated among other residents of Behmen Mental Hospital, he shouted to me in Russian, "you are beautiful. Natasha. Valentina. I love you." Was he really in Russia? Dr. Magdy Refaat, his art therapist, said, "Never take a word they say at face value." 25 inmates were concentrating, painting their realities. It was quiet. "He was a talented engineer," Dr. Refaat pointed at a man in his 50s who hastily drew his hallucinations, "his condition has worsened over the past two years." Palm trees, Muppets, cigarettes, primitive portraits, labyrinths, and demons. One by one, they eagerly showed their painted realities to Dr. Refaat.
