Three million Thais ‘mentally ill’ | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

Three million Thais ‘mentally ill’

Published: 19 Sep 2012 at 15.46
Online news:

At least three million Thais are known to suffer from some form or other of mental illness, Deputy Health Minister Dr Surawith Konsomboon said on Wednesday.

He was speaking to reporters after attending a ceremony where Boon Chartpanich donated 47 rai land to be used to build a psychiatric hospital in Phitsanulok province.

Dr Surawit said the latest study by the Department of Mental Health concluded that around 20% of Thais, or about one in every five, suffer from some form of mental illness. The most common diseases were psychosis, anxiety disorders, depression and apoplexy (a stroke), he said.

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jwatch
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Discussion 10 : 20 Sep 2012 at 11.0910
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have you guys seen the drivers on the road? They all mentally ill.
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Lazarisbk
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Discussion 9 : 20 Sep 2012 at 09.169
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Only 3 million?
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franklin
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Discussion 8 : 20 Sep 2012 at 05.138
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Lucky there is to accurate way to measure the number of people that are “Morally Ill”. This too would have a disproportionate number of politicians and government workers in its results.
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abbub
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Discussion 7 : 19 Sep 2012 at 20.177
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Defining mental health is sometimes dubious as there are those seriously ill and those who think they are normal because they adhere to the definitions created, evolved and imposed from within a given context.

For example soldiers. Soldiers must first go through basic training to make them mentally unstable enough to kill on command. But being isolated from society and with like-minded individuals they consider themselves normal. Basic training is essentially mind control because sane people would not carry out commands they cannot comprehend or would not consider before or, often after military service.

Corruption is so ubiquitous it is considered normal. But seen from the outside it shows a quite unbalanced society. A set of religious rites in one country is considered by another as unbalanced. Some people pray to figurines for luck at the lottery and sudden wealth. Others pray to a dead man and eat his body and drink his blood on Sundays. Mental illness is defined by a society's history and other factors.

A street person outside society who refuses integration could be defined as mentally ill. But from his or her POV we may be the crazy ones.
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nowayout
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Discussion 6 : 19 Sep 2012 at 19.566
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Interesting stats. I would have to say most work for the government and involved politics.
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 5 : 19 Sep 2012 at 19.385
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I wonder what the number would be if they included the skin whitening obsessed....
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 4 : 19 Sep 2012 at 19.374
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"Within 15 years most of Thai society will be urbanised, especially the eastern regions, leading to more health problems among the people."

Urbanization is not necessarily leading to health problems - if you plan the urbanization and let it happen within rules and regulations. If you let it come out like Bangkok, well, then that's a problem.
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bkk-farang
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Discussion 3 : 19 Sep 2012 at 18.123
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I think it is good news that the Shinawatra government is very active in checking the mental health of the Thai citizens. Some people receive treatment and maybe some of them will get better after a while. But the government also cares about the real sick people with no hope of recovery. They live often together in small groups because talking to other people with the same illness obviously helps them to feel better about themselves.
You never heard about these places with the terminal cases? The government does not want to call them centers for the mentally ill; they just call them red villages.
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khunbj
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Discussion 2 : 19 Sep 2012 at 17.332
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Must admit that I was a bit suspicious when I saw the data here, but after checking the facts fex in the US, 22,1 % was found to suffer from some mental illness, in the old eastern block, former soviet union, the numbers are staggering high, so that was a bit of a surprise ... I did also find that Thailand in 2006 spent 2,9% of the health budget on treating mental illnesses , this is in line with comparable countries but probably not close to be enough to treat all these people. When it comes to suicide then the article does not mention the current rate, but according to WHO the latest data is 12/100,000, where of the 8 are men. If Thailand can indeed bring this rate down to 6 then Thailand would belong among the world best countries, so it is a high goal to set.
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ricardofel
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Discussion 1 : 19 Sep 2012 at 17.191
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and most of them are politicians and government officials
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