Aim. The main aim of presented paper is the discussion with the anti-psychiatry's and postpsychiatry's critique of psychiatric inpatient wards and their practices. Method and subject. Basing on the story of one patient, the chance for dialogue with the inpatient even in the case of actual forced treatment is presented. Is a dialogue with a patient possible in spite of the fact that a psychiatric language takes place? Discussion and conclusions. According to the authors the response to this question reveals the complexity of the reality hidden behind the locked door of a clinic. The reality of locked psychiatric wards is neither exclusively constructed by psychiatric games (as stated in the writings of anti-psychiatrists and the postmodern psychiatrists), nor it can be only the reality of running dialogue. The reality of psychiatric clinic is oscillating between the two different possibilities of contact with patients. Some ethical consequences of it will be considered in presented paper.