Breaking the chains: Anto’s journey from confinement to advocacy

Anto, Indonesia

Growing up in East Java Province, Indonesia, Anto never expected his life to be shaped by mental health. Yet when he started to struggle and needed the most support, he instead found himself the survivor of pasung. Pasung is the practice of physically restraining or confining people with mental health conditions using chains, ropes, shackles or wooden structures, often by family members, reflecting the combined impact of stigma, fear and limited access to mental health care in parts of Indonesia.

“In my case, it was literally a chain on my feet,” he recalls. In 1999 and again in 2000, Anto told us that he spent approximately one month in chains while receiving treatment at a government-run health-care centre. He recalls that other people at the time were also chained. The experience left life-long wounds. “Being chained was not only a loss of freedom, but also of dignity," he said.

At that point, the future became impossible to imagine. Anto’s world had shrunk to surviving one day at a time, confined and alone, punished instead of protected.

Reclaiming his life

But being chained did not define the rest of his life.

Recovery took time. As Anto learned more about mental health, including through continuing education, and reflected on the different diagnoses he had received, he began to see himself beyond them. “I finally learned that I’m not defined by those experiences,” he says. “The experience enriched me in many ways, positive and negative. Now, if someone asks me what I am, I can say: I’m a human.”

For Anto, recovery has meant more than managing symptoms or moving beyond a diagnosis. It has meant building a meaningful life on his own terms and understanding his limitations and challenges. It has been gradual and non-linear, shaped by the things that matter to him – art, painting and making batik, and being around his family and community. Today, Anto is 48 years old and happily married. He speaks proudly about his daughter and his desire to be a good father. The man whose future once seemed impossible to imagine now has a life he can call his own.

Living beyond stigma

Rebuilding a life also meant navigating the attitudes and behaviours of others. Anto experienced stigma in his community, although he says not everyone treated him this way. "Not all of my neighbours stigmatized me,” he says. “There are some who accept who I am. But [even] the ones who stigmatized me, I understand – it's about a lack of knowledge on the issue.”

From lived experience to advocacy

Anto’s world began to expand. He connected with other people with lived experience of mental health conditions, first in Indonesia and later across the world. “They are my people” he said.

What began as personal recovery gradually evolved into advocacy. He earned his Bachelor of Education from Universitas Bhinneka PGRI in Indonesia. Later, he was awarded a scholarship to study in Australia where he received a Master of Health Promotion from Deakin University, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Clinical Research from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Anto began contributing to decision-making discussions about mental health policy and human rights at national, regional and global levels – something he once could not have imagined.

Anto’s articulate depiction of his lived experience and his capacity to transform it into powerful advocacy led to a documentary called Breaking the Chains.

A painting by Anto of an eye, inside of which is a pair of hands cuffed, and a pair of feet chained. Creating art has been an integral part of expressing and navigating Anto’s mental health journey over the years.

Yet he is cautious about how people with lived experience are included. Anto believes that too often, advocates are invited to share personal stories without adequate support and treated as champions.

Meaningful engagement, he argues, requires practical support, fair payment and opportunities for more advocates to participate. It must also allow advocates to protect their own well-being and step back when they need to.

Above all, Anto wants mental health systems to recognize the humanity in all people.

“Stop chaining people,” he says. “We are human. If we are given the chance to recover and equipped with skills and knowledge, we can contribute to changing mental health systems everywhere.”

Anto describes his painting: "I did not exist anymore. I had no dignity; it had been torn apart by stigmatization. Chains really destroyed me, dragging me back into a deeper depression.”  

When asked what it means to him to be an advocate as part of WHO’s World Mental Health Day campaign, Anto replied, "It's beyond what I was imagining as someone who has been in chains. It’s my contribution to global mental health advocacy. The chance to share it with the world is very valuable."

The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the individuals featured and do not represent the views of WHO.