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Lack of psychiatrists leaves Thailand grappling with rising suicides, depression
21 Sept 08:22 Key points summarised by AI
- Thailand faces a rapidly escalating mental health crisis, with reported cases soaring from 1.3 million in 2015 to 2.3 million last year, accompanied by a concerning rise in suicides, particularly in the northern region.
- A severe shortage of mental health professionals plagues the country, with only 845 practicing psychiatrists serving a population where one in every 2,721 people requires counseling, resulting in overwhelming workloads and critically long waiting times for patients.
- Access to essential mental healthcare is severely limited by unaffordable private treatment and months-long waits for public services, compounded by the lengthy, costly, and resource-constrained process of training new psychiatrists.
- While the Mental Health Department explores adding psychiatric medications to the essential drug list and integrating counseling psychologists, these long-term solutions underscore the immediate and profound challenges in addressing the nation's mental health crisis.
