MrRichard2009

Are any members interested in forming some sort of informal advocacy/support group for ex-Pats down on their luck?

I know that the embassies can get involved where someone has become mentally ill, and can escort them back to their home country, but presumably only after a relative pays for all costs.

Then there are The Samaritans in Thailand. But I believe they primarily help Thai speakers, (someone correct me if this is incorrect).

I am sure here are any foreigners in Thailand who are down on their luck, or depressed, and who might consider suicide, because they feel that they have no other options. As they say, suicide is a final solution to a temporary problem, and that final action might be avoided if the person was able to talk with a fellow 'farang' and work through their problems.

Helping others in these types of circumstances is not about giving money - it is about giving a little time for others.

I for one, would be happy to give up some of my time if it helped another person in circumstances as Jeff perhaps found himself. Anyone else?

Simon

I offer to escort them to the top of the roof with my vid cam and make em famous ........ free superman suit as well !

I know, I know, don't feed the troll, but l think you have a bigger problem than the diseased. You take care.

Actually I have a lot of respect for people like this Jeff guy, he was a loser for a long long time and decided rather than being a burden on others he made a solution fitting for his situation, I wish more bums and dopers and all others who can't make a life on their own would do the right thing as Jeff did. I don't feel sorry for people like him I respect them for doing the right thing and would encourage others to follow in his responsible decision if they were as ill suited for life as he was.

Probably upset by the falling Dollar/Baht exchange rate.

That was intended as a joke, but maybe it isn't all that funny, was it?

But as for your question...what will the U.S. embessy do if you are out of money in Thailand and need their help...unfortunately the answer is not very much.

They do NOT provide free tickets home, and if they do send you back to the U.S. it is only usually AFTER they get confirmation that there is someone (relative or whatever) who will pay the fare BEFORE you travel.

And they WON'T lend you money unless the amount is already confirmed in the U.S. or vouched for by a relative or friend.

Now, somebody from the U.S. embessy....post a rebuttal here and prove me wrong.

(Some years ago I had a friend who was mugged and robbed in Bangkok. The injuries put him in to a Thai hspital. He then went to the embessy for help, since all his money had been stolen. They were willing to help him AFTER someone in the U.S. guarenteed the money for the fare AND he settled all his hospital bill from the treatment for the injuries he sustained in the mugging. Nothing before that.)

Your correct they are not the welfare office for broke tourists.

funny to see people arguing over 140 baht

That's 4-5 meals for some people here ! LOL

If I were you I would keep things liquid as possible and wait for the next market bear market and begin to take a bit more risk as your youngish, and keep working ..... NO sensible financial manager would say you have enough to retire on. No pension , no insurance outside Ca , Your options are to live a basic poverty lifestyle because you don't want to work and go broke eventually , or , use the monies 15-20 years in the future to add to your pension and be able to live a much better lifestyle. I can assure you that bills here and bills there will eat away at your nest egg until you realize it was a bad decision but your to old to do anything about it.

You could retire on 100,000 if you wanted to, the question is in 15 years when you can't change your mind would you still be happy about it.

"Safe" investments will provide larger returns in the future as rates rise, sounds like your adviser is doing the normal diversifying, if you do about average and with a little luck and a small amount in riskier stocks after the next bear market you should have about 1.6 million and a pension in your 60's ...... A lot better way to go than spending the rest of your life trying to maintain a 40,000 bht per month lifestyle that trust me will backslide over time and become harder and harder to the point of being not sensible to try unless you take more risk than is sensible for a 60 year old with no pension and your 40,000 will become 30,000 then 25,000 ..... ect

IT is possible to take that money and do just fine but the odds are against it and failure would lead to you being at the mercy of government handouts and broke instead of being more sensible and living just fine.

Why not compromise ....... take a year off then go back to work

Your decision should be based on weather or not you can afford it , not based on price speculation. The Thai economy is NOT unstable as you posted and the floods have little effect on houses that are not flooded ...... If anything the ones left untouched would be more expensive not some great deal on average. So my answer would be their is no reason to borrow extra money to rush out and buy because the prices are so low ...... So just keep saving until you can really afford it , don't find some creative way to finance and make your self believe you were smart financially because you paid the bank more than you have to and got a house sooner than you could afford.

Two posts in another "am I an alcoholic" type thread that are quite pertinent here are:

"Heavy drinking and alcoholism are not the same you will probably be a heavy drinker but alcoholism is defined by the inability to stop when the booze is harming your life and you chose the booze, that doesn't mean heavy drinking is healthy ! ....... However if you can maintain your life without any troubles you may just fine." - MrRichard2009

"Only question you need to ask yourself does your life focus on alcohol? If yes - you will have a problem. If no then no worries." - britmaveric

I think there is alot of wisdom in those simple statements.

My 2 cents in your situation is this ....... Your inability to stop before your drunk is most likely going to continue to be an on and off problem as long as you keep drinking in the same manner and attitude as you do now, you will get drunker than you wanted to and regret it off and on pretty much forever, the longer it goes on the more normal to you it will become and the harder to stop ....... Eventually you WILL want to stop because it will just become more of a pain than it's worth. So my advice is to fix the problem now by setting some limits and guidelines for yourself so the blackouts stop. Just because you have not harmed yourself or someone else while blacked out doesn't mean you won't someday. ..... eventually you will, and then if you don't stop you will be an addict, ....... So just avoid that whole can of worms by limiting your use to the buzzed stage not the blackout drunk stage.

Is your drinking normal ? ..... Yeah if your 20 maybe, I don't mean to be overly rude but I hope it will help you avoid many years of on and off drinking regret and blackouts ect.......... Just grow up and act like a 30 year old adult, not a teenager out sucking down on a bottle of Jack Daniels after the prom. I'm sorry to tell you but "normal" drinking doesn't involve blackouts on a regular basis, It involves people moderating their intake so they can both get a buzz and control themselves at the same time. Being a drunk is not normal and even in Thailand surrounded by other drunks eventually that will set in ..... So once again either stop or control yourself OR ....... eventually your abnormal drinking will lead to the same place it takes everyone else, .........

In the end you will have just as much if not more fun if you learn to drink responsibly and avoid the crash landing, ....... If you can't do that you have a bigger problem than you think even though it has not become obvious enough yet.

A heavy drinker is only 1 car crash away from being an addict or having to quit. ........... more or less

The US through fraudulent mislabeling of junk housing assets sent the world into a tailspin ...... a few years later people want to blame China and their exchange rate ...... Classic typical smokescreen nonsense, to divert blame. ......... Who ever told you the US values it's gold at 43$ an ounce was pulling your leg LOL

I was afraid I would be looked at as the crazy dog hating farang when I complained about a few to many dogs in my private village, but they actually agreed and removed them all ....... so if it's really annoying and a problem at least in my case something might get done. If the dogs are pissing off to many people the dogs will go.

Didn't you figure this would happen someday ? It's a loss, happens in business all the time. That's what insurance is for.

You need to negotiate a better settlement is all ........ Not every bad accident needs to result in someone going to jail especially in Thailand. I really don't see the police corruption you speak of. They are just middle men, if your really unhappy that's what courts are for, but just because your unhappy at the first stage of settlement doesn't mean the police are being corrupt. As far as your story goes all they have done so far is to allow the parties involved to settle things in Thai style. That's not corruption that's the Thai way. But you can go to court if you want to but for 15K I doubt you will be any better off in the end.

The problem with your idea is that it will fail. Just the fact that you ask the question indicates you don't know good investments from bad ones, so expecting a 10% return each and every year is not sensible. The main problem however in your idea is that your going to give a large sum of money to an uneducated person and hope they will do well. Pretty much ALL uneducated lottery winners are bankrupt in 10 years, this is a similar situation. So in the end they lose the money however slowly and have no education to speak of to do something else and end up working for minimum wage ...... great job dad.

If your kid was smart the first thing he would spend his 6 mill on would be an education

ok ok I will post the beta blocking links tomorrow geeze ...its 1130 I am going to bed

Bitter! Table for one! Your table by yourself is right over there in the corner

Please tell us all about these "studies' that you state exist and where we can all read yp on them

I think so yes, but it's not just Thai related, many people in the world have this internet problem. Most of the time it's because of a social disorder, they have trouble in social situations, making friends, keeping friends, thinking people are out to get them so they can't get the interactions all humans need. So they find a captive group like the internet where even the most extreme person can have a friend to get the social interactions they need. Interestingly negative responses feed the same need, so often times those kinds of people become pestering or harassing and say people are picking on them. They often create controversy so it can be all about them. What happens in the end studies show is that other like minded people come along and some chat room becomes dominated by these types of people in the end and those who speak out against them get run off or banned.

I am not sure if it is good or bad .... I am glad these people have" places to go " but studies show that the behavior and the disorder actually becomes worse, in real life people would walk away or maybe punch someone, so the person would have to change his personality disorder, on the internet they end up actually taking a large amount of control of the situation and that feeds and increases the ego and disorder making the people falsely believe it's everyone else who is "crazy". They may dominate a chat room and make numerous complaints over the years about numerous things and people and rather than being made to know that they are the root of all these problems and the cause they mistakenly feel like the chat room hero and the problem worsens.

It is very rare for this type of person without actually getting medical help to be able to overcome this. Over time it gets worse and worse and harder and harder to cure, the patent will without proper help almost never be able to reenter a world of human interaction with ease. This is because people face to face don't have moderators and you can't ban john from the local coffee shop because he used a racial slur in the grocery store, and people face to face don't tolerate sarcasm or or other rude behaviors that they are in the habit of doing, just because it falls within the chat room rules.

The real problem is that the reason people spend each and evey day in a chat room is because they were already a failure outside of it so going back when your habits, behaviors and expectations are now worsened is very hard. ..... Saying all that I think keeping people like that or at least giving them, an opportunity to have these "places to go" is better for everyone outside of the chat rooms so as to not have to deal with them. And since they will probably never be all that happy anyplace else I am glad they have somewhere to go.

The bottom line is the normal or non addicted person only comes and goes and can take it or leave it so it's no big thing to them ........Sso lets not belittle the disabled person who has very few other options barring medical help

Are you serious ? another poster just posted over a million web pages on this issue ....... after you get done reading those if you have questions just ask ! ROFL

Internet addiction disorder (IAD), or, more broadly, Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use, is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life.^[1] These terms avoid the distracting and divisive term addiction and are not limited to any single cause.

IAD was originally proposed as a disorder in a satirical hoax by Ivan Goldberg, M.D., in 1995.^[2] He took pathological gambling as diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as his model for the description^[3] of IAD. It is not however included in the current DSM as of 2009. IAD receives coverage in the press, and possible future classification as a psychological disorder continues to be debated and researched.

Online activities which, if done in person, would normally be considered troublesome, such as compulsive gambling or shopping, are sometimes called net compulsions.^[4] Others, such as reading or playing computer games, are troubling only to the extent that these activities interfere with normal life. Supporters of disorder classification often divide IAD into subtypes by activity, such as excessive, overwhelming, or inappropriate pornography use,^[5] gaming,^[6] online social networking, blogging,^[7] email^[8], or Internet shopping.^[9] Opponents note that compulsive behaviors may not themselves be addictive.^[10]

Like I said I am an expert in the results of this issue not the treatment of this or any other addictions .......... I am not suggesting any form of treatment or offering any diagnosis either . ..... my expertise and studies are in the results of the problem not the cure

Their is tons of research available you could just google it and spend a month reading about it ......... what did I not answer ?

well, for some reason I can't seem to find a lot of the stuff that you are going on about - but then maybe I have been hanging around in the wrong paces for the last few years. I have asked you to put a reference up, why are you so reluctant?

Because anyone can do a search and find a million hits ? a reference for what Internet Addiction ? Beta Blockers ? .... come on dude who are you trying to kid your search engine is so bad it can't find anything ? Who do you think believes that ?

maybe its the beta blocker thing ..... beta blockers are mostly used for the heart .... they reduce stress hormones and are used by some for addiction Dopamine blockers are also used as dopamine is what feel good drugs and behaviors produce ...... it's quite common to be used but I personally thing treating addictions with drugs is silly

You seem a little argumentative ........ the reason they would be used by people other than me is because it reduces stress hormones, I am not going to find research for you sorry.

You don't seem like you have a disorder to me but I am not a Doctor ...... most people would say that if you think you might have a problem it's best to find out for sure

My suggested therapy would be the same for all addicts .......... just stop doing it, and if you can't go to an addiction treatment specialist

My focus has always been on the results of this issue not the treatment of it so I am not really interested in or qualified to advise what treatment is better than another .......... their are plenty to chose from for sure

Not at all, I am genuinely interested in what you are saying. There is no need for you to research for me at all. I have asked a simple question, which you seem reluctant to answer.

As for the rest, thanks, but I am more interested in the Beta Blockers and the types of Therapy that you are suggesting (as an expert)along with the quantified research that you are suggesting is available.

Like I said I am an expert in the results of this issue not the treatment of this or any other addictions .......... I am not suggesting any form of treatment or offering any diagnosis either . ..... my expertise and studies are in the results of the problem not the cure

Their is tons of research available you could just google it and spend a month reading about it ......... what did I not answer ?

An interesting and well constructed post, MrRichard.

Is there a name for the specific therapy such addicts would be advised to undertake, and is any particular form of medication prescribed ?

It's called Internet Addiction ..... you can find many centers and websites for help ......... the therapy is pretty similar to other addictions and I would not advise drugs to solve addiction like using methadone for example, but yes some doctors would advise that mostly in the from of beta blockers the theory being that while the internet addiction stimulus is removed the beta blockers fool the brain into not noticing.

But once again internet addiction is most often simply a result of another condition like Anti Social Personality Disorder ........... A Doctor would try and find out WHY they had an internet addiction and treat the root cause

I'm intrigued, what medication or therapy would you suggest? Also curious as to the use of Beta Blockers in Addiction? Please put up some quantified research on that. Thanks.

P.S. I have over 7,000 posts, does that mean I have a Personality Disorder?

You seem a little argumentative ........ the reason they would be used by people other than me is because it reduces stress hormones, I am not going to find research for you sorry.

Dopamine blockers would be used by some as well for the same basic reason of fooling the brain ... not to reduce the stress hormone ..... I am not condoning any drug use to solve addiction just saying what others sometimes do

You don't seem like you have a disorder to me but I am not a Doctor ...... most people would say that if you think you might have a problem it's best to find out for sure

My suggested therapy would be the same for all addicts .......... just stop doing it, and if you can't go to an addiction treatment specialist

My focus has always been on the results of this issue not the treatment of it so I am not really interested in or qualified to advise what treatment is better than another .......... their are plenty to chose from for sure

An interesting and well constructed post, MrRichard.

Is there a name for the specific therapy such addicts would be advised to undertake, and is any particular form of medication prescribed ?

It's called Internet Addiction ..... you can find many centers and websites for help ......... the therapy is pretty similar to other addictions and I would not advise drugs to solve addiction like using methadone for example, but yes some doctors would advise that mostly in the from of beta blockers the theory being that while the internet addiction stimulus is removed the beta blockers fool the brain into not noticing.

But once again internet addiction is most often simply a result of another condition like Anti Social Personality Disorder ........... A Doctor would try and find out WHY they had an internet addiction and treat the root cause

I think so yes, but it's not just Thai related, many people in the world have this internet problem. Most of the time it's because of a social disorder, they have trouble in social situations, making friends, keeping friends, thinking people are out to get them so they can't get the interactions all humans need. So they find a captive group like the internet where even the most extreme person can have a friend to get the social interactions they need. Interestingly negative responses feed the same need, so often times those kinds of people become pestering or harassing and say people are picking on them. They often create controversy so it can be all about them. What happens in the end studies show is that other like minded people come along and some chat room becomes dominated by these types of people in the end and those who speak out against them get run off or banned.

I am not sure if it is good or bad .... I am glad these people have" places to go " but studies show that the behavior and the disorder actually becomes worse, in real life people would walk away or maybe punch someone, so the person would have to change his personality disorder, on the internet they end up actually taking a large amount of control of the situation and that feeds and increases the ego and disorder making the people falsely believe it's everyone else who is "crazy". They may dominate a chat room and make numerous complaints over the years about numerous things and people and rather than being made to know that they are the root of all these problems and the cause they mistakenly feel like the chat room hero and the problem worsens.

It is very rare for this type of person without actually getting medical help to be able to overcome this. Over time it gets worse and worse and harder and harder to cure, the patent will without proper help almost never be able to reenter a world of human interaction with ease. This is because people face to face don't have moderators and you can't ban john from the local coffee shop because he used a racial slur in the grocery store, and people face to face don't tolerate sarcasm or or other rude behaviors that they are in the habit of doing, just because it falls within the chat room rules.

The real problem is that the reason people spend each and evey day in a chat room is because they were already a failure outside of it so going back when your habits, behaviors and expectations are now worsened is very hard. ..... Saying all that I think keeping people like that or at least giving them, an opportunity to have these "places to go" is better for everyone outside of the chat rooms so as to not have to deal with them. And since they will probably never be all that happy anyplace else I am glad they have somewhere to go.

The bottom line is the normal or non addicted person only comes and goes and can take it or leave it so it's no big thing to them ........Sso lets not belittle the disabled person who has very few other options barring medical help

Fantastic post, very accurate, it reminds me of a couple of members 1 more than most. i almost feel sorry for them!

I was am a bit of an expert in this ....... I have always wondered how chat rooms would effect the shut in's or anti social which of course gravitate to them in great numbers, Mentally ill people with very little money or friends use chat rooms in great numbers ...... The studies and results are pretty clear at this point.

One note I would make is it's not the number of posts a person makes, someone who posted 10000 posts might only spend 20 min a day over years, it's a matter of TIME and how much internet time vs time spent in other social situations, so even if it was only 20 min on the net but 0 elsewhere it might be a problem, but most of the time it's on the net unless they have to buy food or go to work or sleep ect.

Well as far as being sorry .... you might not be sorry today but as I have stated it gets worse and worse .... if you almost feel sorry today in 10 years that person with the same pattern of behavior will be in real trouble while making up stories about his golfing buddies or parties he has gone to ect. The over the top kind of behavior is just like when an alcoholic lies about drinking they start to lie about all the fun things off the internet they do. They are already living in a fantasy world on the net and then it extends to making up a non net fantasy world to show they are really just like everyone else but just a really fast typist !

In the beginning people thought that it could just be another safe alternative to drinking addictions or some other obsession and would have no impact on the overall mental health of someone if they just chatted all day every day in a healthy appropriate manner, that has been shown to be false except in VERY rare situations, mostly involving work not entertainment, the reason being on the net even a nice otherwise friendly person can lose their temper much more easily and begins to develop new habits and behavior over time. They become less tolerant more aggressive they begin to dismiss people who their friend says is unfriendly and become much more group controlled rather than an individual. In the real world you might just ignore someone because they are a nut ..... on the net you can get some feel good reaction in the brain by saying ...YOUR ON IGNORE ..... So the nice little old lady who would never have said that face to face now begins a habit of new behavior because it makes her brain feel good. And it's complemented when her friends say good job or agree. Sometimes chat rooms even escalate to people calling the police because the overall chat behaviors become so crazy ...... the police become involved not because anyone was harmed but are used as a chat room patsy for some addicted chatter, this in much more common than you might think, addicted chatters calling the police to try and retaliate against some chatter, or even making up stories to the chat room and saying they called the police when they know that would be nonsense.

I think their is a problem with that, it's my understanding that some ladyboy and ladyboy related men have a gang that does that as a source of income, same types that pester and harass people in\from that area. The kind that hangs out on the boardwalk ect.

If someone asks to be my friend, I always check out what they have had to say before agreeing.

I never check my profile ( unit this thread piqued my interest ) and notice I have one friend. They never asked to be my friend. How'd that happen if they have to ask first?

The same thing happened to me .... you're not alone trust me

The Thai bank ... otherwise you end up exchanging it 2 times next time you come ...... unless it's some huge amount and you want to invest it at a higher rate than you would lose

I sometimes go and check out sites after getting emails or messages of support ...... I have got a LOT of those lately and then become chatting friends , I think the social private functions when they are not being used by abusive people in an abusive or phony annoying way, are a just another nice element to the site. Sometimes people can say what they really want to say in pm to each other where as in public they might get a complaint from someone who was offended.......... Most of the non , abusive intentionally annoying ones I get fit in that category ..... people venting a little I guess ....... But I have got a few a while back who were freaking out over what I said about passports ... it was crazy , but I didn't feel the need to tattletale so I think it's good for someone who is really angry at someone to ... he vented and felt better I guess ...... Just be aware that some people get their panties in a wad over nothing and whine to the mods so don't use bad language or it will get ya a 5 day vacation, if you made a more serious really crazy one you would get banned for a long time or forever. But 5 days for rude language is pretty common.