Mental Health: 10 million Thai sufferers and one million have Bipolar

[faraday]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

Well, having 'suffered' with an extremely bipolar Thai wife, I'd say there is some truth in his comments.  When her crazy behaviour finally broke our marriage, I refused to act on my emotions any longer, and completely ignored her weird actions.  How surprising that she suddenly stopped being bipolar when I was around.... Her new western boyfriend was at his wit's end trying to deal with her mental illness, whereas she was now no longer mentally ill when I was around...

 

In any case, I take the (perhaps harsh) view that any illness - mental or physical - needs to be considered in the context of evolution theory, that a species grows stronger with the natural removal of the weakest of it's species.  

 My comment on his post was that true bipolar caused by a chemical imbalance, would not be solved by a "slap" 

 

As for your second paragraph, that sounds a bit - or a lot, harsh, Simon.

 

In my opinion -&  this is not a Thai bash, that Thai people don't have the coping strategies to deal with emotions, due to perhaps 'face', upbringing or whatever.

 

Having said that, the West is way too combative, to say the least.

 

In farangistan, as you know we have considerable more help, & a different culture in dealing with emotions: Generally.

Talking therapies don't seem to exist here really.

 

Maybe Ryan is able to expand on this?

 

@ThailandRyan

[simon43]

I wonder whether the level of mental 'stress' is related to the level of usage of social media.  Thailand is high up in the ownership of mobile phones.  Seems to me that the demands of social media ('look at me' etc etc) are bound to invoke stress and depression in those who become obsessed with their own 'face'.

 

Take away their phones and see if their mental health improves.

 

AS to the meaning of my second paragraph, I'm a scientist and teach evolution theory, (among a million other topics!).  If you consider wild animals, it's the survival of the fittest, which is a good thing in the long run for that particular species.  But with humans, that notion is rejected, possibly because of links with the Eugenics ideas of the Nazis.  To improve the mental health of many of our young people, you would eliminate what is a major cause of that poor mental health, and I see that as toxic social media.

 

Yes, 'true' bipolar illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.  Could such an imbalance be affected by stress and toxic social media etc?  IE - Is the human born with that chemical imbalance, and only medicinal treatments (lithium etc) will alleviate the imbalance?  Or might such an imbalance be alleviated by 'positive conditioning', removal of stress etc.  (I don't know the answer....)

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by simon43

[Excel]

For once they may get it right based on those figures as Thailand may be already, "The hub of mental illness"

[faraday]

Simon, yup I certainly agree that social media is responsible for a lot of stress.

 

To a degree, we all look for self validation in a healthy way, but the 'craving' for 'likes' has become overwhelming, which in my opinion, turns into a competition almost. The desire to become better than our peers.

 

I sought counseling to address my mood swings  successfully. It taught me perspective & how to develop my coping mechanisms further. Whereas my GP just wanted to hand out SSRI's which didn't address the real issue.

 

Ofc, pharmaceutical companies want to make even more money, so promoting their compound as an easy fix, rather than counselling for example, I think appeals to those people who want instant results. A form of gratification? I dunno.