Mental Health Of Expats

[Datsun240Z]

In the words of the late, great Waylon Jennings...

"I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane."

It describes me. Thnx mate.

[yeastside]

have to say my mental health has been challenged in the lst six months.

not sure if it has anything to do with Patong

[ballpoint]

I decided to go insane seven years ago and it was the best decision I ever made. I'm now a "character", with more friends than I could slap with a wet fish, which I often try to do, but have never succeeded, so it must be right. Wibble wibble.

[mahtin]

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criteria were which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalised.

Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

...

...

"No," said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a room with or without a view?"

[MJP]

My mental health issues seem to disappear when I get to Thailand !

+1

Life immeasurably better even considering recent marital cr@p.

Happy now

[Datsun240Z]

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criteria were which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalised.

Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

...

...

"No," said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a room with or without a view?"

[Briggsy]

My mental health issues seem to disappear when I get to Thailand !

+1

Life immeasurably better even considering recent marital cr@p.

Happy now

Tell us more about the marital cr@p. This thread is boring.

[MJP]

My mental health issues seem to disappear when I get to Thailand !

+1

Life immeasurably better even considering recent marital cr@p.

Happy now

Tell us more about the marital cr@p. This thread is boring.

There's a thread about 6 weeks ago on it. Funny looking back now.

Anyway, just remember, when dealing with these people use a big stick and a big carrot and you'll get your way.

[Datsun240Z]

I decided to go insane seven years ago and it was the best decision I ever made.

Love your line here !

[yogi100]

Zorro said "and lets face it if not for the bar scene and hookers there would be 5% of farang left in BKK and NONE left in Pattaya".

I 100% agree with him. I can only speak for the men in Pattaya I know. The social life for a bar hopper is second to none, you meet fellows of your own age from the same backgrounds and experiences in life. Therefore you have things in common that you can discuss, the most common topic that arises is how our native countries have gone downhill in the last few decades.

Many blokes from the European cities moan about immigration, enforced celibacy and high prices. Some of the expats who have been in Thailand a long time moan about Thailand but when they go home for a visit have had enough after about a week and can't wait to get back to LOS.

Solitude can turn you doolali but there is no reason to be lonely in Pattaya, it's easier to make friends there amongst expats and holiday makers than in our Western cities. If you want a sexual partner for the night, a girlfriend (or boy friend) or a wife they are always available. The only folk to avoid are those Dr Jekylls who turn into Mr Hyde after a few drinks.

[Garry9999]

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criteria were which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalised.

Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

...

...

"No," said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a room with or without a view?"

Nice ............. but it would have been better if you had left out the last line.

Edited June 22, 2009 by Garry9999

[Jungian]

Without breaking doctor patient confidentiality, I will tell you that there is mental illness here that I have never seen in the USA primarily delusions and justification of wrong doing. I would say the older expats that are married to a woman from their own country are the most well adjusted and simply came here to retire and live a good life. I would be happy to talk to you and give you some nonspecific details and generalizations of what I have found and dealt with in counseling and treating expats.

Ohhh so you're a doctor this week, are you?

I'm sure I never represented myself as anything other than that and quite a few members have taken advantage of the free help I offered in my office.

[fullwhenempty]

Hi,

I'm a freelance journalist currently working on a piece about the mental health of expats. It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Some people become depressed and turn to alcohol or drugs because a relationship has broken down, perhaps due to this stress or because of cultural differences. On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself. Or is there no problem at all? Are expats generally just as balanced and happy, or even more so, than those who stay at home?

It is an issue which hasn't been explored by many studies so I'm just talking to as many people as I can to get different opinions.

If anyone has any opinions on this I would love to hear them. If you want to contact me directly you can email me at email removed, contact op via pm

Look forward to hearing from you,

Best Wishes,

Nick Harvey

I'm fine here in LOS. Having a relaxed enjoyable life.

In the UK I was stressed out of my mind with marital conflict and being burned out from work. I was on anti-depressants for 3 and a half years so that I could manage.

I didn't need brain changing, libido-numbing, zombie-making, toxic potions to help me cope. What I needed to do was get away from a toxic wife, toxic government, toxic thugs, toxic employer, a toxic immoral media and go and lie in the sun. A walk in the morning and an hour in the sun are the best therapies and they are absolutely free. The quacks won't tell you that though. They will fabricate complex BS to convince you, you need their help.

The answer to most people's mental health issues is to take the jackboot off their heads! People should be uplifted, validated and taught to see themselves as divine beings, not debt slaves for fascist corporations. The wealthy don't have these problems. How many billionaires are classed as 'mentally ill'? Even though we know they are immoral sociopaths, there isn't a psychiatrist that would dare say so. Instead they act as tools for the criminal social controllers while preying on the less powerful.

A pox on all 'psychiatrists'. They do far more harm than good. Drug peddlers masquerading as 'experts', picking the pockets of the already wounded. None of us is perfect. Not one. Which means every time we are down, and there are more than enough reasons for being down these days, the quacks are only too ready to classify us as ill. I'm all for having a nice chat about my problems. A problem shared and all that. If there is no priest, friend, wife or buddy around, then maybe a session with a psychiatrist is useful. However, I've never heard of anyone actually being 'cured' by a psychiatrist. Only anecdotes from people who have been '8 years on therapy'. Nice work if you can get it.

20 different psychiatrists will give you 20 different reasons why you are the way you are. There is no consistency. It's entirely subjective. This is not medicine.

We are all mad as March hares. Anyone who has ever meditated knows that our thoughts are an endless stream of contradictory 'bubbles' floating up from the bottom of a vast ocean of experience, creating turbulence on the surface. When we placed under stress, the rate of negative and contradictory thoughts tends to increase. It's a normal fear response. Meditators simply observe these thoughts and let them go. They then lose their power.

While psychiatrists will have you latch on to any number and explore them to uncover deep wounds and blah, blah. You can spend your whole life down the rabbit hole when THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. What you are feeling is absolutely normal. Sadness, violence, separation, loneliness, depression are a normal part of human experience. Anything you give your attention to, grows. So by focussing on some past experience or hurt, you give it life and power, instead of simply shrugging it off. EVERY ONE OF US IS 'DISEASED' ACCORDING TO THESE DELUSIONAL MADMEN.

How many kids are being given dangerous Ritalin for the completely nonsensical ADD? These crooks are inventing 'diseases' for which they have absolutely no proof. Psychiatry, like the 'sickness industry' is now a money-making enterprise and the sums are VAST. Governments are seizing on psychiatry to effect repressive social control. How many children have been seperated from their parents due to psychiatric mumbo-jumbo?

I know how to 'cure' all these stressed people. Stop turning husband and wife against each other. Stop impoverishing men and denying them access to their children in divorce courts. Stop promoting selfishness and the gratification of the senses. Start developing the higher mind. Give them work and a real sense of purpose. People should be uplifted.

I like living in Asia. It has a different view to mental health and there are many approaches to recovering from trauma or prolonged stress, that don't involve toxic chemistry, peddled by pompous, ego-driven 'professionals', giving primacy to the mind.

Exercise, such as Yoga, nutritious food, good friends, giving yourself time to relax, enjoyable hobbies, all help bring peace of mind. 'Detoxing' lifts depression in 7-10 days. I've seen it many times. Flooding the body with oxygen is cleansing:- physically, emotionally and spiritually. (Research 'Art of Living').

The boozers in the bars who are completely jaded after countless empty couplings are not 'mentally ill'. They have lost reverence for life and for themselves. (If they ever had it). Or maybe they are simply bored. Thailand is no different to countless other countries where bars are full of those who opt for 'rum, bum and baccy.' They may be misfits. It doesn't make them abnormal. All they need is to be inspired. Not medicated.

Maybe there are a few who are 'self-tranquillizing'. Who are confused between 'pleasure' and 'happiness'. The former comes from outside, the latter from within. When they reach the point where pleasure no longer hits the spot, they are in trouble. Some may hurl themselves off a Pattaya balconey. Others may last until the heart attack strikes, while some may wake up from their stupor and develop the spiritual aspect which perhaps is the REAL 'hole' they are trying to fill.

100 million people worldwide are on dangerous psychotropic drugs. Their normal emotional and spiritual states reduced to a label that requires medication. There is NO test for their condition. It's just whatever the 'expert' says. Heart attacks, liver problems, immune system problems, drug-induced anxiety and suicide. These are serious side effects. How can someone who is not a doctor and cannot diagnose the cause, be prescribing toxic drugs? Especially to children?

Adderol, Zoloft, Prozac, Seroxat, Valium, Haldol, Lexapro, Clozaril, Ritalin and many more kill 3000 people every month and God knows how many are damaged by them. It's a horror show. 70% of psychotropic drugs are prescribed by general Physicians. How? Marketing. Statistical contortionism skews numbers and has nothing to do with real Science. The science is actually the art of sophisticated marketing.

Psychiatry and Pharmaceuticals are like conjoined twins. They are joined at the wallet. With over 375 'disorders' (and growing), it's a marriage made in heaven. The top 5 psychotropic drugs gross more money than the GDP of half the countries on earth. $18 billion every year. The psychiatric Industry rakes in $330 billion per year. That's a heck of a lot of yachts.

Psychiatrics and Psychologists won't admit they cannot cure you. What they do is 'manage' the 'illness'. With drugs. They use their 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders', which is just a crony collaboration to give them some kind of 'authoritative' status. They WANT to be recognized as eminent and on a par with Medical Doctors so they vote and classify lots of new 'diseases'. The quacks won't get paid UNLESS they give you a 'label'. The DSM is used as a billing tool. You have to be diagnosed with a 'bio-chemical' problem, which of course requires a synthetic chemical solution. Yet. Remember. There are NO tests.

Are you afraid of meeting new people? Afraid of public speaking? Congratulations! You are 'diseased'.

The ONLY psychiatrist I would be willing to see, is one who does NOT prescribe drugs. How many of those are around? Psychiatrists should have remained in the Nut-houses where they can do less harm to the wider society.

In countries where Doctors have gone on strike, death rates went down. I have no doubt the same applies to psychiatrists. All you drug-peddling parasitical quacks out there? You are knowingly (or unknowingly) killing and injuring to make a buck. Please go on strike and spare us your Dark Art!

Edited June 23, 2009 by fullwhenempty

[MJP]

Hi,

I'm a freelance journalist currently working on a piece about the mental health of expats. It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Some people become depressed and turn to alcohol or drugs because a relationship has broken down, perhaps due to this stress or because of cultural differences. On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself. Or is there no problem at all? Are expats generally just as balanced and happy, or even more so, than those who stay at home?

It is an issue which hasn't been explored by many studies so I'm just talking to as many people as I can to get different opinions.

If anyone has any opinions on this I would love to hear them. If you want to contact me directly you can email me at email removed, contact op via pm

Look forward to hearing from you,

Best Wishes,

Nick Harvey

I'm fine here in LOS. Having a relaxed enjoyable life.

In the UK I was stressed out of my mind with marital conflict and being burned out from work. I was on anti-depressants for 3 and a half years so that I could manage.

I didn't need brain changing, libido-numbing, zombie-making, toxic potions to help me cope. What I needed to do was get away from a toxic wife, toxic government, toxic thugs, toxic employer, a toxic immoral media and go and lie in the sun. A walk in the morning and an hour in the sun are the best therapies and they are absolutely free. The quacks won't tell you that though. They will fabricate complex BS to convince you, you need their help.

The answer to most people's mental health issues is to take the jackboot off their heads! People should be uplifted, validated and taught to see themselves as divine beings, not debt slaves for fascist corporations. The wealthy don't have these problems. How many billionaires are classed as 'mentally ill'? Even though we know they are immoral sociopaths, there isn't a psychiatrist that would dare say so. Instead they act as tools for the criminal social controllers while preying on the less powerful.

A pox on all 'psychiatrists'. They do far more harm than good. Drug peddlers masquerading as 'experts', picking the pockets of the already wounded. None of us is perfect. Not one. Which means every time we are down, and there are more than enough reasons for being down these days, the quacks are only too ready to classify us as ill. I'm all for having a nice chat about my problems. A problem shared and all that. If there is no priest, friend, wife or buddy around, then maybe a session with a psychiatrist is useful. However, I've never heard of anyone actually being 'cured' by a psychiatrist. Only anecdotes from people who have been '8 years on therapy'. Nice work if you can get it.

20 different psychiatrists will give you 20 different reasons why you are the way you are. There is no consistency. It's entirely subjective. This is not medicine.

We are all mad as March hares. Anyone who has ever meditated knows that our thoughts are an endless stream of contradictory 'bubbles' floating up from the bottom of a vast ocean of experience, creating turbulence on the surface. When we placed under stress, the rate of negative and contradictory thoughts tends to increase. It's a normal fear response. Meditators simply observe these thoughts and let them go. They then lose their power.

While psychiatrists will have you latch on to any number and explore them to uncover deep wounds and blah, blah. You can spend your whole life down the rabbit hole when THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. What you are feeling is absolutely normal. Sadness, violence, separation, loneliness, depression are a normal part of human experience. Anything you give your attention to, grows. So by focussing on some past experience or hurt, you give it life and power, instead of simply shrugging it off. EVERY ONE OF US IS 'DISEASED' ACCORDING TO THESE DELUSIONAL MADMEN.

How many kids are being given dangerous Ritalin for the completely nonsensical ADD? These crooks are inventing 'diseases' for which they have absolutely no proof. Psychiatry, like the 'sickness industry' is now a money-making enterprise and the sums are VAST. Governments are seizing on psychiatry to effect repressive social control. How many children have been seperated from their parents due to psychiatric mumbo-jumbo?

I know how to 'cure' all these stressed people. Stop turning husband and wife against each other. Stop impoverishing men and denying them access to their children in divorce courts. Stop instilling selfishness. Stop encouraging animal urges at the expense of the higher mind. Give them work and a real sense of purpose. People should be uplifted, not downtrodden.

I like living in Asia. It has a different view to mental health and there are many approaches to recovering from trauma or prolonged stress, that don't involve toxic chemistry, peddled by pompous, ego-driven 'professionals', giving primacy to the mind.

Exercise, such as Yoga, nutritious food, good friends, giving yourself time to relax, enjoyable hobbies, all help bring peace of mind. 'Detoxing' lifts depression in 7-10 days. I've seen it many times. Flooding the body with oxygen is cleansing:- physically, emotionally and spiritually. (Research 'Art of Living').

The boozers in the bars who are completely jaded after countless empty couplings are not 'mentally ill'. They have lost reverence for life and for themselves. (If they ever had it). Or maybe they are simply bored. Thailand is no different to countless other countries where bars are full of those who opt for 'rum, bum and baccy.' They may be misfits. It doesn't make them abnormal. All they need is to be inspired. Not medicated.

Maybe there are a few who are 'self-tranquillizing'. Who are confused between 'pleasure' and 'happiness'. The former comes from outside, the latter from within. When they reach the point where pleasure no longer hits the spot, they are in trouble. Some may hurl themselves off a Pattaya balconey. Others may last until the heart attack strikes, while some may wake up from their stupor and develop the spiritual aspect which perhaps is the REAL 'hole' they are trying to fill.

100 million people worldwide are on dangerous psychotropic drugs. Their normal emotional and spiritual states reduced to a label that requires medication. There is NO test for their condition. It's just whatever the 'expert' says. Heart attacks, liver problems, immune system problems, drug-induced anxiety and suicide. These are serious side effects. How can someone who is not a doctor and cannot diagnose the cause, be prescribing toxic drugs? Especially to children?

Adderol, Zoloft, Prozac, Seroxat, Valium, Haldol, Lexapro, Clozaril, Ritalin and many more kill 3000 people every month and God knows how many are damaged by them. It's a horror show. 70% of psychotropic drugs are prescribed by general Physicians. How? Marketing. Statistical contortionism skews numbers and has nothing to do with real Science. The science is actually the art of sophisticated marketing.

Psychiatry and Pharmaceuticals are like conjoined twins. They are joined at the wallet. With over 375 'disorders' (and growing), it's a marriage made in heaven. The top 5 psychotropic drugs gross more money than the GDP of half the countries on earth. $18 billion every year. The psychiatric Industry rakes in $330 billion per year. That's a heck of a lot of yachts.

Psychiatrics and Psychologists won't admit they cannot cure you. What they do is 'manage' the 'illness'. With drugs. They use their 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders', which is just a crony collaboration to give them some kind of 'authoritative' status. They WANT to be recognized as eminent and on a par with Medical Doctors so they vote and classify lots of new 'diseases'. The quacks won't get paid UNLESS they give you a 'label'. The DSM is used as a billing tool. You have to be diagnosed with a 'bio-chemical' problem, which of course requires a synthetic chemical solution. Yet. Remember. There are NO tests.

Are you afraid of meeting new people? Afraid of public speaking? Congratulations! You are 'diseased'.

The ONLY psychiatrist I would be willing to see, is one who does NOT prescribe drugs. How many of those are around?

In countries where Doctors have gone on strike, death rates went down. I have no doubt the same applies to psychiatrists. All you drug-peddling parasitical quacks out there? You are knowingly (or unknowingly) killing and injuring to make a buck. Please go on strike and spare us your Dark Art!

You and me would get on very well.

Same as that.

[wefearourdespot]

It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed.

OMG how could you put so much bullshit in just two lines

Most people in the West are stressed, anxious and depressed just by their family (nagging wife), friends (which friends?) and culture (= wank yourself cause you cannot afford even a prostitute).

Support systems ? Call them extortional taxes making your life miserable and you get the real picture.

[G54]

It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed.

OMG how could you put so much bullshit in just two lines

Most people in the West are stressed, anxious and depressed just by their family (nagging wife), friends (which friends?) and culture (= wank yourself cause you cannot afford even a prostitute).

Support systems ? Call them extortional taxes making your life miserable and you get the real picture.

yeah, £30 for a few drinks on a night out in the hope 'she' will drop her knickers at the end of it and we do not develop even greater right arm muscles. Then they tell us to p*ss off at the end of the night

That much here will guarantee no further development of the right arm - unless you are a cuddy wifter.

[MJP]

It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed.

OMG how could you put so much bullshit in just two lines

Most people in the West are stressed, anxious and depressed just by their family (nagging wife), friends (which friends?) and culture (= wank yourself cause you cannot afford even a prostitute).

Support systems ? Call them extortional taxes making your life miserable and you get the real picture.

yeah, £30 for a few drinks on a night out in the hope 'she' will drop her knickers at the end of it and we do not develop even greater right arm muscles. Then they tell us to p*ss off at the end of the night

That much here will guarantee no further development of the right arm - unless you are a cuddy wifter.

Gave up with all that. Married (now separated), haven't had any in at least 18 months. Don't miss it, don't care.

[Datsun240Z]

Hi,

I'm a freelance journalist currently working on a piece about the mental health of expats. It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Some people become depressed and turn to alcohol or drugs because a relationship has broken down, perhaps due to this stress or because of cultural differences. On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself. Or is there no problem at all? Are expats generally just as balanced and happy, or even more so, than those who stay at home?

It is an issue which hasn't been explored by many studies so I'm just talking to as many people as I can to get different opinions.

If anyone has any opinions on this I would love to hear them. If you want to contact me directly you can email me at email removed, contact op via pm

Look forward to hearing from you,

Best Wishes,

Nick Harvey

I'm fine here in LOS. Having a relaxed enjoyable life.

In the UK I was stressed out of my mind with marital conflict and being burned out from work. I was on anti-depressants for 3 and a half years so that I could manage.

I didn't need brain changing, libido-numbing, zombie-making, toxic potions to help me cope. What I needed to do was get away from a toxic wife, toxic government, toxic thugs, toxic employer, a toxic immoral media and go and lie in the sun. A walk in the morning and an hour in the sun are the best therapies and they are absolutely free. The quacks won't tell you that though. They will fabricate complex BS to convince you, you need their help.

The answer to most people's mental health issues is to take the jackboot off their heads! People should be uplifted, validated and taught to see themselves as divine beings, not debt slaves for fascist corporations. The wealthy don't have these problems. How many billionaires are classed as 'mentally ill'? Even though we know they are immoral sociopaths, there isn't a psychiatrist that would dare say so. Instead they act as tools for the criminal social controllers while preying on the less powerful.

A pox on all 'psychiatrists'. They do far more harm than good. Drug peddlers masquerading as 'experts', picking the pockets of the already wounded. None of us is perfect. Not one. Which means every time we are down, and there are more than enough reasons for being down these days, the quacks are only too ready to classify us as ill. I'm all for having a nice chat about my problems. A problem shared and all that. If there is no priest, friend, wife or buddy around, then maybe a session with a psychiatrist is useful. However, I've never heard of anyone actually being 'cured' by a psychiatrist. Only anecdotes from people who have been '8 years on therapy'. Nice work if you can get it.

20 different psychiatrists will give you 20 different reasons why you are the way you are. There is no consistency. It's entirely subjective. This is not medicine.

We are all mad as March hares. Anyone who has ever meditated knows that our thoughts are an endless stream of contradictory 'bubbles' floating up from the bottom of a vast ocean of experience, creating turbulence on the surface. When we placed under stress, the rate of negative and contradictory thoughts tends to increase. It's a normal fear response. Meditators simply observe these thoughts and let them go. They then lose their power.

While psychiatrists will have you latch on to any number and explore them to uncover deep wounds and blah, blah. You can spend your whole life down the rabbit hole when THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. What you are feeling is absolutely normal. Sadness, violence, separation, loneliness, depression are a normal part of human experience. Anything you give your attention to, grows. So by focussing on some past experience or hurt, you give it life and power, instead of simply shrugging it off. EVERY ONE OF US IS 'DISEASED' ACCORDING TO THESE DELUSIONAL MADMEN.

How many kids are being given dangerous Ritalin for the completely nonsensical ADD? These crooks are inventing 'diseases' for which they have absolutely no proof. Psychiatry, like the 'sickness industry' is now a money-making enterprise and the sums are VAST. Governments are seizing on psychiatry to effect repressive social control. How many children have been seperated from their parents due to psychiatric mumbo-jumbo?

I know how to 'cure' all these stressed people. Stop turning husband and wife against each other. Stop impoverishing men and denying them access to their children in divorce courts. Stop instilling selfishness. Stop encouraging animal urges at the expense of the higher mind. Give them work and a real sense of purpose. People should be uplifted, not downtrodden.

I like living in Asia. It has a different view to mental health and there are many approaches to recovering from trauma or prolonged stress, that don't involve toxic chemistry, peddled by pompous, ego-driven 'professionals', giving primacy to the mind.

Exercise, such as Yoga, nutritious food, good friends, giving yourself time to relax, enjoyable hobbies, all help bring peace of mind. 'Detoxing' lifts depression in 7-10 days. I've seen it many times. Flooding the body with oxygen is cleansing:- physically, emotionally and spiritually. (Research 'Art of Living').

The boozers in the bars who are completely jaded after countless empty couplings are not 'mentally ill'. They have lost reverence for life and for themselves. (If they ever had it). Or maybe they are simply bored. Thailand is no different to countless other countries where bars are full of those who opt for 'rum, bum and baccy.' They may be misfits. It doesn't make them abnormal. All they need is to be inspired. Not medicated.

Maybe there are a few who are 'self-tranquillizing'. Who are confused between 'pleasure' and 'happiness'. The former comes from outside, the latter from within. When they reach the point where pleasure no longer hits the spot, they are in trouble. Some may hurl themselves off a Pattaya balconey. Others may last until the heart attack strikes, while some may wake up from their stupor and develop the spiritual aspect which perhaps is the REAL 'hole' they are trying to fill.

100 million people worldwide are on dangerous psychotropic drugs. Their normal emotional and spiritual states reduced to a label that requires medication. There is NO test for their condition. It's just whatever the 'expert' says. Heart attacks, liver problems, immune system problems, drug-induced anxiety and suicide. These are serious side effects. How can someone who is not a doctor and cannot diagnose the cause, be prescribing toxic drugs? Especially to children?

Adderol, Zoloft, Prozac, Seroxat, Valium, Haldol, Lexapro, Clozaril, Ritalin and many more kill 3000 people every month and God knows how many are damaged by them. It's a horror show. 70% of psychotropic drugs are prescribed by general Physicians. How? Marketing. Statistical contortionism skews numbers and has nothing to do with real Science. The science is actually the art of sophisticated marketing.

Psychiatry and Pharmaceuticals are like conjoined twins. They are joined at the wallet. With over 375 'disorders' (and growing), it's a marriage made in heaven. The top 5 psychotropic drugs gross more money than the GDP of half the countries on earth. $18 billion every year. The psychiatric Industry rakes in $330 billion per year. That's a heck of a lot of yachts.

Psychiatrics and Psychologists won't admit they cannot cure you. What they do is 'manage' the 'illness'. With drugs. They use their 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders', which is just a crony collaboration to give them some kind of 'authoritative' status. They WANT to be recognized as eminent and on a par with Medical Doctors so they vote and classify lots of new 'diseases'. The quacks won't get paid UNLESS they give you a 'label'. The DSM is used as a billing tool. You have to be diagnosed with a 'bio-chemical' problem, which of course requires a synthetic chemical solution. Yet. Remember. There are NO tests.

Are you afraid of meeting new people? Afraid of public speaking? Congratulations! You are 'diseased'.

The ONLY psychiatrist I would be willing to see, is one who does NOT prescribe drugs. How many of those are around?

In countries where Doctors have gone on strike, death rates went down. I have no doubt the same applies to psychiatrists. All you drug-peddling parasitical quacks out there? You are knowingly (or unknowingly) killing and injuring to make a buck. Please go on strike and spare us your Dark Art!

You and me would get on very well.

Same as that.

In the eyes of the "normal" society, we are the sick ones gentleman. We now we are the smarter ones en we are perfectly healthy. We just think out of the pack. But since we do not fit into the brainwaves of the masses, we are called not normal.

[G54]

It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed.

OMG how could you put so much bullshit in just two lines

Most people in the West are stressed, anxious and depressed just by their family (nagging wife), friends (which friends?) and culture (= wank yourself cause you cannot afford even a prostitute).

Support systems ? Call them extortional taxes making your life miserable and you get the real picture.

yeah, £30 for a few drinks on a night out in the hope 'she' will drop her knickers at the end of it and we do not develop even greater right arm muscles. Then they tell us to p*ss off at the end of the night

That much here will guarantee no further development of the right arm - unless you are a cuddy wifter.

Gave up with all that. Married (now separated), haven't had any in at least 18 months. Don't miss it, don't care.

I miss it!!!!!

My Avatar doesn't

But, maybe, just maybe, I'm gonna get a lot more as long as I do not let the lady go back to BKK. Love making is sooooo good for my physical stress. All that stroking and kissing and cuddling is good for my mental health too - honest !

[MJP]

Gave up with all that. Married (now separated), haven't had any in at least 18 months. Don't miss it, don't care.

I miss it!!!!!

My Avatar doesn't

But, maybe, just maybe, I'm gonna get a lot more as long as I do not let the lady go back to BKK. Love making is sooooo good for my physical stress. All that stroking and kissing and cuddling is good for my mental health too - honest !

That just put me off even more.

[JR Texas]

Hey........you talking to me? You talking to me? I'm the only one hear. You must be talking to me? You talking to me?

[MJP]

Hey........you talking to me? You talking to me? I'm the only one hear. You must be talking to me? You talking to me?

Are you an American?

[G54]

But, maybe, just maybe, I'm gonna get a lot more as long as I do not let the lady go back to BKK. Love making is sooooo good for my physical stress. All that stroking and kissing and cuddling is good for my mental health too - honest !

That just put me off even more.

Horses for courses and Stallions for Mares

[tim armstrong]

Hi,

I'm a freelance journalist currently working on a piece about the mental health of expats. It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Some people become depressed and turn to alcohol or drugs because a relationship has broken down, perhaps due to this stress or because of cultural differences. On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself. Or is there no problem at all? Are expats generally just as balanced and happy, or even more so, than those who stay at home?

It is an issue which hasn't been explored by many studies so I'm just talking to as many people as I can to get different opinions.

If anyone has any opinions on this I would love to hear them. If you want to contact me directly you can email me at email removed, contact op via pm

Look forward to hearing from you,

Best Wishes,

Nick Harvey

Hi Nick,

I work in mental health and provide a service to expats. I would be happy to talk to you sometime. PM me and we can arrange a meeting. Regards, Tim

[cmike1980]

Hi,

I'm a freelance journalist currently working on a piece about the mental health of expats. It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Some people become depressed and turn to alcohol or drugs because a relationship has broken down, perhaps due to this stress or because of cultural differences. On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself. Or is there no problem at all? Are expats generally just as balanced and happy, or even more so, than those who stay at home?

It is an issue which hasn't been explored by many studies so I'm just talking to as many people as I can to get different opinions.

If anyone has any opinions on this I would love to hear them. If you want to contact me directly you can email me at email removed, contact op via pm

Look forward to hearing from you,

Best Wishes,

Nick Harvey

On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself.

I quite agree with that remark.

Actually, regardless of the fact that there tend to be more and more better mental health medications with greater curative effects and far lesser harmful side effects getting invented from time to time nowadays for the beter and better health cares of the mentally-ill people, lots of psychiatrists nowadays would still indiscriminately and purposefully dispense all those outdated and inferior medications, such as the longly outdated first-generation antipsychotics etc with harmful and irreversible neurological / neuromuscular side effects like Tardive Dyskinesia, Dystonia, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome etc to their patients. And such a practice is repeated over and over again mainly for their own cost-saving and profit-maximising reasons totally at the expenses of the health cares of their patients.

Hence, my opinion is that the since it is the health cares of the ones taking such medications that are at stake, the patients themselves should be at least be positively well-informed enough to be aware of the risk and benefits of the medications dispensed to them by their respective doctors.

If possible and affordable, the ones needing such mental health medications should make the necessary efforts to identify and look for the the best and latest medications ever invented and available to best serve their respective health care interests.

http://forum.zhapalang.com.my/index.php?topic=1261.0

[CrossBones]

Well I can see how people could be sad here. I find Bangkok to be the loneliest place on earth. Hard for most of you to imagine I know. If you don't like hookers and would like to make real friends it is a very sad place. The level of racism and negativity towards falangs makes it hard to meet and befriend people, the ones that are interested in befriending you land up becoming a liability and/or want money. The answer I guess is to meet Thai people that don't need money but then that goes back to the racism issue which is very real, most of them dont want to be friends with a falang. If you want to make friends with other falangs you need to be careful as it seems like everyone that lives here has some sort of psychological issue or they themselves are scared to make friends with other falangs as they think the same thing about you. I assume men that sit around pubs drinking all day and then sleeping with hookers all get along fine together but if that is not your cup of tea it is hard to find people you can relate to of any nationality in this city.

Mate, get out of Bangkok. And wear a smile on your face you will make many Thai friends. Remember Thais often have very large circle of friends... but only a few are considered to be "real friends".

Go and live in a Thai community and try to be part of it, bring your neighbor some fruit or a nice western dish for them to try. Smile, look happy.. you will be surprised.

Dont expect special treatment for being a foreigner... only BGs and people who want your money give you special treatment.

Some effort is required!!

[wilsongbrown]

Well I can see how people could be sad here. I find Bangkok to be the loneliest place on earth. Hard for most of you to imagine I know. If you don't like hookers and would like to make real friends it is a very sad place. The level of racism and negativity towards falangs makes it hard to meet and befriend people, the ones that are interested in befriending you land up becoming a liability and/or want money. The answer I guess is to meet Thai people that don't need money but then that goes back to the racism issue which is very real, most of them dont want to be friends with a falang. If you want to make friends with other falangs you need to be careful as it seems like everyone that lives here has some sort of psychological issue or they themselves are scared to make friends with other falangs as they think the same thing about you. I assume men that sit around pubs drinking all day and then sleeping with hookers all get along fine together but if that is not your cup of tea it is hard to find people you can relate to of any nationality in this city.

I totally agree with the above..

It's virtually impossible to have a meaningful 'friendship' with Thais..

Our ways are not their ways and WILL NEVER BE..

..hence the retreat of most farangs to small , hard-drinking cliques and woe to anyone who is left outside..

I have been here for 8 years and I have no Thai(male) friends..

My only 'friend' is the Mrs...but that's a different ball game.

I second also that we are deeply hated by the Thai male..

You can bleet all you want(...no it's not trueee etc...)

So there

(Slightly off topic but what the heck..)

Well, first off, Thais rarely have 'deep and meaningful' relationships with each other let alone someone who doesn't share the same cultural background and most of whom they can't have a conversation with.

Secondly, WHAT is it with this (basso profundo ......) 'we are deeply hated by the Thai male ...' I see this stupid line copied over and over again, suggesting The Thai Male is Jealous Of The Big White Man's Dick and Material Status and am of the belief those subscribing to this particular skewed view are paranoid upon entering a local karaoke joint containing a load of lao khao'ed up locals out on a whisky circle and the 'pull' and have never met a Thai Male in any 'conventional' setting other than the staff at the local orborjor/utility company office? There lies some research material, OP

[stevymac]

The voices in my head make them stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrHammer]

Hi,

I'm a freelance journalist currently working on a piece about the mental health of expats. It seems that being away from the comforts and support systems from back home, being away from what we know, our friends and family and culture, can cause some expats to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Some people become depressed and turn to alcohol or drugs because a relationship has broken down, perhaps due to this stress or because of cultural differences. On top of this some may feel that the psychiatric/medical services are not adequate out here or the cultural gap between themselves and the mental health professionals creates a problem itself. Or is there no problem at all? Are expats generally just as balanced and happy, or even more so, than those who stay at home?

It is an issue which hasn't been explored by many studies so I'm just talking to as many people as I can to get different opinions.

If anyone has any opinions on this I would love to hear them. If you want to contact me directly you can email me at email removed, contact op via pm

Look forward to hearing from you,

Best Wishes,

Nick Harvey

I'm fine here in LOS. Having a relaxed enjoyable life.

In the UK I was stressed out of my mind with marital conflict and being burned out from work. I was on anti-depressants for 3 and a half years so that I could manage.

I didn't need brain changing, libido-numbing, zombie-making, toxic potions to help me cope. What I needed to do was get away from a toxic wife, toxic government, toxic thugs, toxic employer, a toxic immoral media and go and lie in the sun. A walk in the morning and an hour in the sun are the best therapies and they are absolutely free. The quacks won't tell you that though. They will fabricate complex BS to convince you, you need their help.

The answer to most people's mental health issues is to take the jackboot off their heads! People should be uplifted, validated and taught to see themselves as divine beings, not debt slaves for fascist corporations. The wealthy don't have these problems. How many billionaires are classed as 'mentally ill'? Even though we know they are immoral sociopaths, there isn't a psychiatrist that would dare say so. Instead they act as tools for the criminal social controllers while preying on the less powerful.

A pox on all 'psychiatrists'. They do far more harm than good. Drug peddlers masquerading as 'experts', picking the pockets of the already wounded. None of us is perfect. Not one. Which means every time we are down, and there are more than enough reasons for being down these days, the quacks are only too ready to classify us as ill. I'm all for having a nice chat about my problems. A problem shared and all that. If there is no priest, friend, wife or buddy around, then maybe a session with a psychiatrist is useful. However, I've never heard of anyone actually being 'cured' by a psychiatrist. Only anecdotes from people who have been '8 years on therapy'. Nice work if you can get it.

20 different psychiatrists will give you 20 different reasons why you are the way you are. There is no consistency. It's entirely subjective. This is not medicine.

We are all mad as March hares. Anyone who has ever meditated knows that our thoughts are an endless stream of contradictory 'bubbles' floating up from the bottom of a vast ocean of experience, creating turbulence on the surface. When we placed under stress, the rate of negative and contradictory thoughts tends to increase. It's a normal fear response. Meditators simply observe these thoughts and let them go. They then lose their power.

While psychiatrists will have you latch on to any number and explore them to uncover deep wounds and blah, blah. You can spend your whole life down the rabbit hole when THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. What you are feeling is absolutely normal. Sadness, violence, separation, loneliness, depression are a normal part of human experience. Anything you give your attention to, grows. So by focussing on some past experience or hurt, you give it life and power, instead of simply shrugging it off. EVERY ONE OF US IS 'DISEASED' ACCORDING TO THESE DELUSIONAL MADMEN.

How many kids are being given dangerous Ritalin for the completely nonsensical ADD? These crooks are inventing 'diseases' for which they have absolutely no proof. Psychiatry, like the 'sickness industry' is now a money-making enterprise and the sums are VAST. Governments are seizing on psychiatry to effect repressive social control. How many children have been seperated from their parents due to psychiatric mumbo-jumbo?

I know how to 'cure' all these stressed people. Stop turning husband and wife against each other. Stop impoverishing men and denying them access to their children in divorce courts. Stop promoting selfishness and the gratification of the senses. Start developing the higher mind. Give them work and a real sense of purpose. People should be uplifted.

I like living in Asia. It has a different view to mental health and there are many approaches to recovering from trauma or prolonged stress, that don't involve toxic chemistry, peddled by pompous, ego-driven 'professionals', giving primacy to the mind.

Exercise, such as Yoga, nutritious food, good friends, giving yourself time to relax, enjoyable hobbies, all help bring peace of mind. 'Detoxing' lifts depression in 7-10 days. I've seen it many times. Flooding the body with oxygen is cleansing:- physically, emotionally and spiritually. (Research 'Art of Living').

The boozers in the bars who are completely jaded after countless empty couplings are not 'mentally ill'. They have lost reverence for life and for themselves. (If they ever had it). Or maybe they are simply bored. Thailand is no different to countless other countries where bars are full of those who opt for 'rum, bum and baccy.' They may be misfits. It doesn't make them abnormal. All they need is to be inspired. Not medicated.

Maybe there are a few who are 'self-tranquillizing'. Who are confused between 'pleasure' and 'happiness'. The former comes from outside, the latter from within. When they reach the point where pleasure no longer hits the spot, they are in trouble. Some may hurl themselves off a Pattaya balconey. Others may last until the heart attack strikes, while some may wake up from their stupor and develop the spiritual aspect which perhaps is the REAL 'hole' they are trying to fill.

100 million people worldwide are on dangerous psychotropic drugs. Their normal emotional and spiritual states reduced to a label that requires medication. There is NO test for their condition. It's just whatever the 'expert' says. Heart attacks, liver problems, immune system problems, drug-induced anxiety and suicide. These are serious side effects. How can someone who is not a doctor and cannot diagnose the cause, be prescribing toxic drugs? Especially to children?

Adderol, Zoloft, Prozac, Seroxat, Valium, Haldol, Lexapro, Clozaril, Ritalin and many more kill 3000 people every month and God knows how many are damaged by them. It's a horror show. 70% of psychotropic drugs are prescribed by general Physicians. How? Marketing. Statistical contortionism skews numbers and has nothing to do with real Science. The science is actually the art of sophisticated marketing.

Psychiatry and Pharmaceuticals are like conjoined twins. They are joined at the wallet. With over 375 'disorders' (and growing), it's a marriage made in heaven. The top 5 psychotropic drugs gross more money than the GDP of half the countries on earth. $18 billion every year. The psychiatric Industry rakes in $330 billion per year. That's a heck of a lot of yachts.

Psychiatrics and Psychologists won't admit they cannot cure you. What they do is 'manage' the 'illness'. With drugs. They use their 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders', which is just a crony collaboration to give them some kind of 'authoritative' status. They WANT to be recognized as eminent and on a par with Medical Doctors so they vote and classify lots of new 'diseases'. The quacks won't get paid UNLESS they give you a 'label'. The DSM is used as a billing tool. You have to be diagnosed with a 'bio-chemical' problem, which of course requires a synthetic chemical solution. Yet. Remember. There are NO tests.

Are you afraid of meeting new people? Afraid of public speaking? Congratulations! You are 'diseased'.

The ONLY psychiatrist I would be willing to see, is one who does NOT prescribe drugs. How many of those are around? Psychiatrists should have remained in the Nut-houses where they can do less harm to the wider society.

In countries where Doctors have gone on strike, death rates went down. I have no doubt the same applies to psychiatrists. All you drug-peddling parasitical quacks out there? You are knowingly (or unknowingly) killing and injuring to make a buck. Please go on strike and spare us your Dark Art!

Quoted, so no one misses this post. Psyciatry is a quack science and is NOT medicine. Their entire assumption of 'chemical imbalances' has never been proven. There is simply no way to physically tell the brain or body of an 'insane' person from that of a 'normal' person.

I don't agree with you on psycology. I think there are many therapists who truly care and can help people without medication.

[kuma]

perfect

I think expats...those who live in Thailand as well as other countries...must be self-oriented personalities. Those that need a "society" that gives them a cultural "safety net" to live in may tend to have problems. If your view of the world is that of groups to join, you may not be happy unless you can't be a member of a local "group' to identify with. If you have to be an American, or a Brit, or a Scot, (or whatever)....you may feel uneasy living as an expat....because you can't identify a "home group" for yourself to join. If you are a person who doesn't feel the need to join a group, but would rather be your own individual person, then Thailand or any other country is all the same to you. If you learn to accept people you meet as individuals, not part of a "group", (either Thai, Farang, or some other group) then you can live and enjoy your time in Thailand or any other country.

In my 45+ years since I left my home in the U.S., I have lived and worked in countries from Denmark, to Puerto Rico, to Saudi Arabia, to Vietnam, to Thailand, to Turkey and Greece. I can honestly say I had friends in all those countries. Of course, there were those people that I didn't like, and those who didn't like me. in all those countries. But I never paid too much attention to that...because I am really emotionally centered in my own world...which includes my friends. my family, and those I care for.

Whether that is "well adjusted" or not is something that doesn't bother me. It's just the way I live.