The Public Health Ministry reports a severe shortage of psychiatrists with just 845 specialists nationwide, impacting mental health services. This equates to 1.28 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, significantly below the WHO's recommended 10 per 100,000. In response, the ministry prioritizes expanding psychiatric training to address this urgent issue.

Get today's headlines by email

The cabinet has approved a five-year plan (2023–2030) to improve the mental health system, aiming to train about 30 psychiatrists annually. This initiative seeks to increase the ratio to 1.7 per 100,000. During a recent meeting, Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat emphasized collaboration between hospitals and the Department of Mental Health (DoMH) to enhance training capabilities.

Dr Kittisak Aksornwong, DoMH director-general, highlighted that 13.4 million Thais face mental health challenges, with 2.9 million receiving services in 2023. Depression has increased by 1.7 times since 2015, especially among youth aged 18–24, with a suicide rate of 7.94 per 100,000.

The country's current output of 83 psychiatrists per year is hampered by limited teaching staff and heavy professional demands. The DoMH aims to address this by expanding residency training between 2027 and 2028, aiming to add 82 new psychiatrists, including specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry. Hospitals will collaborate as co-training institutes to address the critical demand for mental health professionals, reported Bangkok Post.

Join the discussion?

Already a member?

  Adapted by ASEAN Now · Bangkok Post · 06 Mar 2026

View full record

Thai people have to learn to talk and not keep all their issues for themselves.. I se it everywhere that people are stressed, but nothing is ever a problem till it gives an outburst in killing or fighting.. or speeding... I know there are more people for mental ealth needed, but it is just still a thing nobody talks about. Kids in school are already learned to shut their mouth, don't ask questions and if they are emotional they have to be strong and not cry ... I know a former sister in law was a psycho therapist, but she could not find a job.. I said that I know a lot of people around me who needed one so if she wanted to work come to live near me.. but she is just not interested or w o w too lazy to something....

7 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Thai people have to learn to talk and not keep all their issues for themselves.. I se it everywhere that people are stressed, but nothing is ever a problem till it gives an outburst in killing or fighting.. or speeding... I know there are more people for mental ealth needed, but it is just still a thing nobody talks about. Kids in school are already learned to shut their mouth, don't ask questions and if they are emotional they have to be strong and not cry ... I know a former sister in law was a psycho therapist, but she could not find a job.. I said that I know a lot of people around me who needed one so if she wanted to work come to live near me.. but she is just not interested or w o w too lazy to something....

OK, I'll say it.....I have not met too many locals here who don't need a psychiatrist!

If the Ministry of Public Health had more qualified clinical psychologists it would help.

Sadly, many of the overseas qualified psychologists in Thailand end up working for business or in the advertising/marketing industries, where they make a lot more money that they world working for the government.

1.2 shrinks per 100,000 in Thailand compared with America's 18.5 shrinks per person (they need more too.)
That said, I find Thais to be considerably less neurotic than my fellow Americans.

Buddhist monks attempt to fill the gap, but they aren't really trained in psychiatry. In US there are about as many counselors as there are 7/11's.... here, scarce as hen's teeth

I have a BSc in Psychology. My take on this is that because Thais are taught to accept their lot in life and not to challenge authorities, throw-in the face-saving nonsense and subservience, Thai women, in particular, are prone to keeping stress, discontent and bad experiences locked up within themselves. I have seen how the lack of affection between Thai family members, parents and their children, can lead to additional mental health challenges. For example, when I met my first Thai wife, she already had a 4-year-old daughter. There was no affection between them (which is normal). My wife demanded obedience and she wanted her daughter to crawl around us, bowing in a subservient way. When I started tucking her into bed, her eyes lit up and she accepted any and all hugs. If she had to go to the dentist, only I could go with her and hold her hand. Her cousin had two grown sons. When we visited, they had to bow their heads lower than my head. If I sat on the floor during dinner, and they had to pass me, they literally crawled on all fours to meet the silly subservient criteria. Thai men appear to destroy Thai families while Thai women try to hold them together to save face.

Fast forward, my current Thai wife also has a daughter. She's much older than my first ex-wife's daughter. Both suffer depression. My current wife divorced her previous husband more than a decade ago but the marriage was already over a decade before that. My wife never told her children about this until a few years ago. This caused a major mental episode in each child. Every time my wife's ex-husband misbehaves, and we hear about it, it triggers depression or an irrational response from everyone. Keeping reality from children and faking that life is "good" makes those already predisposed to mental health issues susceptible to mental health episodes. When reality comes crashing down, it affects those more who are desperate for the fake reality to continue.

I've tried to explain how Thai societal expectations can trigger underlying mental health issues, and while it may be true that there is a lack of mental health professionals in this country, perhaps a rethink of how Thai people are boxed-up, indoctrinated and crushed with unrealistic, subservient expectations, may alleviate the onset of mental health issues. Thais are not happy. They are forced to smile, lie that everything is good, just to save face. My ex-wife left me when our son was 12 years old. Just like that. Yet, she refused a divorce. In fact, she'd call me every now and again to tell me that a friend was coming around. She'd then show up, hold my hand and pretend that we're still together. How sick is that?

I spoke to a Thai friend recently who has lived in Australia for 6 years. She said that Thai people don't understand the concept of freedom and that she'd never leave Australia. I heard similar phrases from my now ex-wife. Freedom is important in any context. All these things affect a person's mental health.

Sorry things did not work out for you. But what a bunch of hooey. Just because these situations occurred in your life does not mean this is typical of Thai society. In your case its more the choices you made. Try not to paint Thai society with such a broad brush as you are well off the mark in my opinion.

5 minutes ago, marin said:

Sorry things did not work out for you. But what a bunch of hooey. Just because these situations occurred in your life does not mean this is typical of Thai society. In your case its more the choices you made. Try not to paint Thai society with such a broad brush as you are well off the mark in my opinion.

What would you know?

Lots of Thai nut jobs out there just look at the local papers

Ooooh gosh! What irony!

Talking about nut jobs - just look towards West Asia - the real nut jobs are in action and none have the strength to oppose!

😄 Complaining about Thai nut jobs and ignoring the true nuts who are destroying life slowly on this planet!

11 minutes ago, ZigM said:

I have a BSc in Psychology. My take on this is that because Thais are taught to accept their lot in life and not to challenge authorities, throw-in the face-saving nonsense and subservience, Thai women, in particular, are prone to keeping stress, discontent and bad experiences locked up within themselves. I have seen how the lack of affection between Thai family members, parents and their children, can lead to additional mental health challenges. For example, when I met my first Thai wife, she already had a 4-year-old daughter. There was no affection between them (which is normal). My wife demanded obedience and she wanted her daughter to crawl around us, bowing in a subservient way. When I started tucking her into bed, her eyes lit up and she accepted any and all hugs. If she had to go to the dentist, only I could go with her and hold her hand. Her cousin had two grown sons. When we visited, they had to bow their heads lower than my head. If I sat on the floor during dinner, and they had to pass me, they literally crawled on all fours to meet the silly subservient criteria. Thai men appear to destroy Thai families while Thai women try to hold them together to save face.

Fast forward, my current Thai wife also has a daughter. She's much older than my first ex-wife's daughter. Both suffer depression. My current wife divorced her previous husband more than a decade ago but the marriage was already over a decade before that. My wife never told her children about this until a few years ago. This caused a major mental episode in each child. Every time my wife's ex-husband misbehaves, and we hear about it, it triggers depression or an irrational response from everyone. Keeping reality from children and faking that life is "good" makes those already predisposed to mental health issues susceptible to mental health episodes. When reality comes crashing down, it affects those more who are desperate for the fake reality to continue.

I've tried to explain how Thai societal expectations can trigger underlying mental health issues, and while it may be true that there is a lack of mental health professionals in this country, perhaps a rethink of how Thai people are boxed-up, indoctrinated and crushed with unrealistic, subservient expectations, may alleviate the onset of mental health issues. Thais are not happy. They are forced to smile, lie that everything is good, just to save face. My ex-wife left me when our son was 12 years old. Just like that. Yet, she refused a divorce. In fact, she'd call me every now and again to tell me that a friend was coming around. She'd then show up, hold my hand and pretend that we're still together. How sick is that?

I spoke to a Thai friend recently who has lived in Australia for 6 years. She said that Thai people don't understand the concept of freedom and that she'd never leave Australia. I heard similar phrases from my now ex-wife. Freedom is important in any context. All these things affect a person's mental health.

Well said, and exactly what I've experienced here, both in my ex and the ex's family and other friends. They hold things inside and it causes anger misdirected towards anyone who's around at the time. I rarely see hugs to children over age 6 or so, and my daughter is hug loving because of this. I didn't see any closeness between my ex's second daughter but only control and anger when she did something wrong.

Your first sentence is what I was thinking right off before I read your reply. Keeping things in, especially for the ones suffering from any form of depression, only exacerbates their problem.

I saw depression once I started to live with my ex, after moving here. She would lie on the floor, staring at the ceiling for hours. When I tried to get her to do something she wasn't interested. Later she would act like nothing happened, which I know is a the mood swing changing, as it does throughout the day. I saw this in my ex back home, and she tried to help herself by following my advice and seeing a doctor. tried medication and the first didn't work, but the second did. Then she felt better and stopped, and from then on things were much the same as always, until she gave me custody of our daughter when I asked, because she couldn't handle a child along with herself.

Your third paragraph further explains why this happens, and I've seen it with a close friend here. Some love the idea of having someone close, but much of the time they'd rather be alone on their phone or sleeping, as thinking too much is a major deterrent to their situation, and anyone can cause them stress, even if you're only trying to help by talking. Being alone reduces the amount of stress, but isolation is the worst thing a person with depression needs. Of course this isn't a big problem with those not having depression here. Just that it makes things a lot worse when they do.

Going to the hospital with my girlfriend for the dentist a couple times I've seen many lining up to see the mental health doctor, so some are trying, but that stigma around the disease hurts many, just like all over, and with a lot less doctors here, it doesn't help those that might be willing but don't want others to know, as going to see the doctor has that gossip talking. The subservient culture as far as women are concerned also does not help those suffering.

Just now, marin said:

Sorry things did not work out for you. But what a bunch of hooey. Just because these situations occurred in your life does not mean this is typical of Thai society. In your case its more the choices you made. Try not to paint Thai society with such a broad brush as you are well off the mark in my opinion.

Marin, I have plenty of experience. As I already said, this is "my take" on the situation based on actual experience and discussions with Thais who have managed to free themselves from the shackles of Thai conformity and subservience. That includes my ex-wife, my own Thai children (who are now adults) and Thai family and friends. Of course, I have no idea whether every single Thai is affected, and obviously, the higher up in the hierarchy they are, the more freedoms they enjoy, and most likely have less mental health triggers. Many mental health issues are hereditary but are triggered through negative events. But instead of throwing around insults and blaming everything on me, where's your evidence that I made bad choices? Where's your evidence that Thai society is not affected by the things that I mentioned in my post. You need to learn to discuss and debate things without aggression.

9 minutes ago, ZigM said:

18 minutes ago, ZigM said:

You need to learn to discuss and debate things without aggression.

If you feel this way then I apologize. I too hold a BA in Psychology and was simply trying to say my experience here has been nothing like yours I married a young Thai business woman 35 years ago and have never experienced anything like you describe. We have 27 year old daughters who went to university in America and now live there. They were never in anyway like that.

Admittedly I have only lived in Bangkok so my vision may be obscured. I do think Thai society and culture is quite different in say Bangkok than the Isaan region.

Again I did not mean to offend, but to simply let people know its not always the way you stated. Have a good one.