Over 10,000 Thais Are Mentally Ill

[Jai Dee]

OVER 10,000 THAIS ARE MENTALLY ILL

The Department of Mental Health has disclosed that over 10,000 Thais are currently suffering from mental illnesses, in which the causes of their disorders are mostly from environmental or family-related factors.

The Director-General of the Department of Mental Health, M.R. SOMCHAI JAKRAPHAN (หม่อมหลวงสมชาย จักรพันธุ์), stated that about one person out of 1,000 people in Thailand have mental disorders. He also said that one of the main causes concern their emotional developments when they are young. He said family members have to continually observe their next of kin, and they have to give them emotional support. In addition, a person with mental illness must be continuously supervised by doctors, to prevent them from harming others.

However, The Director-General of the Mental Health Department stated that most patients do not have severe mental symptoms, which may harm people around them. As for the case of four students who were attacked by a mentally instable woman, he has asked parents and guardians not to panic over the matter, as their children may feel more paranoid.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 12 กันยายน 2548

[simon43]

OVER 10,000 THAIS ARE MENTALLY ILL

[\quote]

The Director-General of the Department of Mental Health, M.R. SOMCHAI JAKRAPHAN (หม่อมหลวงสมชาย จักรพันธุ์), stated that about one person out of 1,000 people in Thailand have mental disorders.

Oh dear, another wonderful Thai maths cock-up! If 1 out of 1000 are barmy, and the population is about 63 million (from Google), then that means about 63,000 Thai people are completely cuckoo!! That number is somewhat higher than the article headline. (I suspect the journalist had mislaid his/her calculator. Without that at hand, a simple calculation was obviously impossible! But to give them credit, 63,000 is more than 10,000, so they are technically correct.....

[Dragonman]

Either these stats are a wild guess, or thais are much more sane than every other Country in the world Statistics show that 20% of women and 14% of men in UK have a mental illness. He must be talking about those who are certifiable. Or he hasn't done much driving around Thailand, if so he would change his evaluation to 95%.

[Buff-horns]

severly underestimated. ! its like one big loony asylum out on the streets !!

[Morden]

severly underestimated. ! its like one big loony asylum out on the streets !!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Surely you're joking. How could you say that seriously? If you really think that Thailand is full of 'loonies', you must come from a very unusual place! What's your definition of 'looney'?

On topic, I think it's a bit unlikely that a government agency could produce a reliable figure for something like this. Firstly, defining the condition is rather a subjective matter. Secondly, whatever definition is being used, it must be very difficult to identify a viable statistical population from which to calculate the figure.

Perhaps the real point of the announcement is to draw public attention to the need to care for people suffering from emotional stress and other similar disorders. You know, a view that is a little more enlightened than calling people 'loonies'.

[sriracha john]

OVER 10,000 THAIS ARE MENTALLY ILL

The Department of Mental Health has disclosed that over 10,000 Thais are currently suffering from mental illnesses, in which the causes of their disorders are mostly from environmental or family-related factors.

The Director-General of the Department of Mental Health, M.R. SOMCHAI JAKRAPHAN (หม่อมหลวงสมชาย จักรพันธุ์), stated that about one person out of 1,000 people in Thailand have mental disorders. He also said that one of the main causes concern their emotional developments when they are young. He said family members have to continually observe their next of kin, and they have to give them emotional support. In addition, a person with mental illness must be continuously supervised by doctors, to prevent them from harming others.

However, The Director-General of the Mental Health Department stated that most patients do not have severe mental symptoms, which may harm people around them. As for the case of four students who were attacked by a mentally instable woman, he has asked parents and guardians not to panic over the matter, as their children may feel more paranoid.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 12 กันยายน 2548

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The world-wide incidence of schizophrenia (it varies only miniscule amounts from country to country) is 0.005 of the population... using Simon's Google number of 63 million Thais that comes out to 315,000 with schizophrenia, which can certainly be considered a major mental illness, and that's only one of many different illnesses. Again, as Simon pointed out, there are indeed MORE than 10,000 sufferers out there.

The good doctor certainly typifies the difference between Eastern and Western theories of mental illness. In my opinion the tragic school incident would be a wonderful opportunity to discuss in an appropriate manner the dangers of modern life with your children. I would be much more concerned about them not knowing about these dangers than making them feel "paranoid."

[Nam Kao]

My whole village is a funny farm

[Thaipwriter]

OVER 10,000 THAIS ARE MENTALLY ILL

The Department of Mental Health has disclosed that over 10,000 Thais are currently suffering from mental illnesses.

My missus is one of 'em, she thinks i should put my house in her name

[helitool]

Here in the U.S. or own statistics state that every 6th person you meet has minor mental problems and 1 out of 100 has mental problems that interfer with their day to day existance. The world health organisation has voted the U.S. as the nation with the most psychosis in the world 7 years running. But look at the bright side, we have most of the nuclear weapons! Sort of puts the big picture of mental illness in perspective doesn't it?

[sriracha john]

OVER 10,000 THAIS ARE MENTALLY ILL

The Department of Mental Health has disclosed that over 10,000 Thais are currently suffering from mental illnesses, in which the causes of their disorders are mostly from environmental or family-related factors.

The Director-General of the Department of Mental Health, M.R. SOMCHAI JAKRAPHAN (หม่อมหลวงสมชาย จักรพันธุ์), stated that about one person out of 1,000 people in Thailand have mental disorders. He also said that one of the main causes concern their emotional developments when they are young. He said family members have to continually observe their next of kin, and they have to give them emotional support. In addition, a person with mental illness must be continuously supervised by doctors, to prevent them from harming others.

However, The Director-General of the Mental Health Department stated that most patients do not have severe mental symptoms, which may harm people around them. As for the case of four students who were attacked by a mentally instable woman, he has asked parents and guardians not to panic over the matter, as their children may feel more paranoid.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันจันทร์ที่ 12 กันยายน 2548

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The world-wide incidence of schizophrenia (it varies only miniscule amounts from country to country) is 0.005 of the population... using Simon's Google number of 63 million Thais that comes out to 315,000 with schizophrenia, which can certainly be considered a major mental illness, and that's only one of many different illnesses. Again, as Simon pointed out, there are indeed MORE than 10,000 sufferers out there.

The good doctor certainly typifies the difference between Eastern and Western theories of mental illness. In my opinion the tragic school incident would be a wonderful opportunity to discuss in an appropriate manner the dangers of modern life with your children. I would be much more concerned about them not knowing about these dangers than making them feel "paranoid."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rather unsurprisingly, the woman at the center of the school tragedy has now been diagnosed as schizophrenic (unsurprisingly because that is what I was supposing her problem was since the beginning and is why I chose to cite the schizophrenia incidence numbers).

Follow-on reports have the Mental Health spokesman saying this morning that there were approximately a million (1,000,000) Thais suffering from major mental illnesses...which is just about correct if you add the incidence of bipolar disorders (formerly known as manic-depressive illness) with the schizophrenia numbers. Bipolar disorder occurs at approximately 3 times the rate of schizophrenia (or 0.015) and along with schizophrenia account for the vast majority of major mental illnesses.

[sriracha john]

oh... I forgot to add... 1,000,000 is most definitely OVER 10,000 ...

I'm just glad the mental health department is finally putting out realistic statistics.

[richard10365]

The USA probably has the same proportion of mentally ill to normal people as Thailand does. Especially in Southern California.

[sriracha john]

The world health organisation has voted the U.S. as the nation with the most psychosis in the world 7 years running. But look at the bright side, we have most of the nuclear weapons! Sort of puts the big picture of mental illness in perspective doesn't it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you have a link for the WHO statistics you quote?

Disregarding your correlation isn't really necessary... as USA also has the most Redwood trees in the world too and everyone knows they share the same connection to mental health as nuclear weapons.

[OlRedEyes]

Scary thing is, its the majority, who are actually mentally ill, who defines what is normal...

I say Mama we're all crazy now...