I think he does miss the insanity. But I suppose it could just be guilt.batshitcrazyweirdo wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:21 pmI am sorry to inform you that the spell of the pearl of the orient is upon you, and there is no way to cure it except ................ come back.
Expat Mental Health
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- OneTrickPony
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Up the workers!
- spitthedog
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I'm the sanest person i know..Dallow Spicer wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:15 pmGMJS-440 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:08 pmNot sure about mental illness being the cause. I think Cambodia certainly has a higher rate of drug addicts, criminals, losers and drunks in the barang population compared to their western homeland.
That’s strongly influenced by the ability to hold a TEFLer job here even when being a complete screwup, whereas in their home country they would be jobless. The ability to stretch money for them on .50 beers attracts the lowlifes.
Are you suggesting those types are more prone to mental illness than others?
And is it mental illness, or just the fact that they’re misfits and dropouts and that the self destructive behaviour they exhibit is not mental Illness as such but instead is just the usual asshattery that they would display in the U.K. or Sydney or whereever they come from?
In other words - is it being an expat that provides other stresses and strains to make you ill, or are the conditions already there? And do the unique conditions of being an expat in Cambodia increase or decrease those strains?
That’s what I was trying to get at with this thread before people started to provide amateurish online assessments of my own fucking health.
Doing nothing in Asia can be hugely stressfull. As can working 7 days a week in Barangland. Gotta get a balance in life innit.
I suspect many people settle in Cambodia for the relatively easy work life, and too much of a good thing and free time can take it's toll.
We are not that different to our cavemen ancestors or wild animals, where survival and suffering is inevitible in life, so maybe some expats seek out destructive habits. Then as you get older, suffering becomes a way of life and maybe these feelings calm down and one is less likely to come off the rails?
So basically do we need to be struggling to feel normal?
^^^Batshit.
I'm currently working like a Japanese prisoner of War doing split shifts in barangland and it's a wonder i haven't gone nuts i tell ya. (Fumbles lips with fingers).
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
- Lucky Lucan
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I spent about 15 years living in London where things go quite a bit faster. The pace of life is relatively slow here. I think I'll manage.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
- Stokely
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Indeed it was. Mental Health Day was on the radio using the tagline "Remember you're not alone."Dallow Spicer wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:09 pmToday is World Mental Health Day evidently. I didn’t know there was such a thing.
I totally agree, but it’s a bit fucking harsh on the schizophrenics.
"Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the notion that white people can give anybody their freedom." Stokely Carmichael
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- OneTrickPony
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If what a person believes makes them mad then the whole world is mad and has been for quite some time.
Last edited by kungfufighter on Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Up the workers!
A "normal" person from a Western country simply wouldn't even consider moving to Cambodia. That doesn't mean that all of those who do have mental health issues, of course, but it wouldn't be surprising to find that it's more prevalent in this particular cohort than in a general Western population.
Add cheap booze, the ready availability of all sorts of recreational drugs and the potential for bar girl drama to this. For someone with latent mental issues, being in Cambodia probably makes it a lot more likely to get triggered. And at the same time, a lot less likely to get support and professional help if and when needed.
All things considered, I don't find the claim that there might be an expat mental health crisis too outlandish. Having been out and about in Phnom Penh those last few days, I've seen more than my fair share of clearly deranged barang.
Add cheap booze, the ready availability of all sorts of recreational drugs and the potential for bar girl drama to this. For someone with latent mental issues, being in Cambodia probably makes it a lot more likely to get triggered. And at the same time, a lot less likely to get support and professional help if and when needed.
All things considered, I don't find the claim that there might be an expat mental health crisis too outlandish. Having been out and about in Phnom Penh those last few days, I've seen more than my fair share of clearly deranged barang.
- newnewnewbie
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- OneTrickPony
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- newnewnewbie
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Well anyway, I've lost the plot at least a couple of times in my life but now I'm drinking beer in a bar in Phnom Penh which is playing The Marriage of Figaro.
I think it's going to be all right.
I think it's going to be all right.
As far as Peter David is concerned the man was already deranged when I met him in the Fox on his third night in Cambodia. Probably about 2010.
After living back in the west for six years this month I would say that one would be crazy if one departed Cambodia.
After living back in the west for six years this month I would say that one would be crazy if one departed Cambodia.
- Lucky Lucan
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Like anywhere else, if you can keep yourself occupied it helps in avoiding depression, malaise etc. Going beyond that and trying to improve yourself is even better. I'm as much of a mess as the next person but I do have some focus and recent challenges have actually made me feel better than expected. It's too easy to get lazy and complacent here, the climate doesn't help either - but if you slack out too much you'll sooner or later become redundant.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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I wouldn’t go as far to say Cambodia sends people nuts. However a lot of people are here for negative reasons.
Their business has gone tits up, they’ve been made redundant, got divorced, fallen out with their kids or just had enough of the grind and opted for early retirement.
They then pitch up in a chaotic culture with no intent of doing anything proactive like getting a job, if only for something to do and some structure, along with no desire to learn the language or do anything cultural.
They find themselves suddenly much better off as everything is much cheaper along with discovering they can easily pick up attractive local ladies a third of their age.
It goes to their heads a little. they start behaving in ways that would be impossible in their former lives. Hitting the bars every night, getting drunk all day, multiple women on the go who they throw money at.
Combine this with an already bitter attitude about why things fucked up back home and you have a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.
Meanwhile many come here and lead productive and responsible second lives.
So Cambodia might act as a catalyst for what is already there but it is not the cause.
Their business has gone tits up, they’ve been made redundant, got divorced, fallen out with their kids or just had enough of the grind and opted for early retirement.
They then pitch up in a chaotic culture with no intent of doing anything proactive like getting a job, if only for something to do and some structure, along with no desire to learn the language or do anything cultural.
They find themselves suddenly much better off as everything is much cheaper along with discovering they can easily pick up attractive local ladies a third of their age.
It goes to their heads a little. they start behaving in ways that would be impossible in their former lives. Hitting the bars every night, getting drunk all day, multiple women on the go who they throw money at.
Combine this with an already bitter attitude about why things fucked up back home and you have a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.
Meanwhile many come here and lead productive and responsible second lives.
So Cambodia might act as a catalyst for what is already there but it is not the cause.
- spitthedog
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Bongs,
I still think that if you are gonna go and explore the far east etc, it's better to do it when you are young(er).
When you are old and experienced, the mystery has gone out of the world somewhat and you just aint as inquisitive or curious about different cultures anymore. All you likely want to do above the age of 55, is find a nice comfy chair to watch the world go by with a beer and take the piss out of the wife.
I'm glad i made the move to Eastern Europe....well it's actually Ireland...but where i'm working it might as well be Eastern Europe...Bulgarians, Serbians, Poles, Croatians. Hard to find my line of qualified work on this part of the low populated west coast. Might head to the east coast.
After cycling from Shitsvile to Janakpur, Nepal, i knew that it would not be easy to go back to my degenerate beach bum ways. Working has become the new travelling.
I still think that if you are gonna go and explore the far east etc, it's better to do it when you are young(er).
When you are old and experienced, the mystery has gone out of the world somewhat and you just aint as inquisitive or curious about different cultures anymore. All you likely want to do above the age of 55, is find a nice comfy chair to watch the world go by with a beer and take the piss out of the wife.
I'm glad i made the move to Eastern Europe....well it's actually Ireland...but where i'm working it might as well be Eastern Europe...Bulgarians, Serbians, Poles, Croatians. Hard to find my line of qualified work on this part of the low populated west coast. Might head to the east coast.
After cycling from Shitsvile to Janakpur, Nepal, i knew that it would not be easy to go back to my degenerate beach bum ways. Working has become the new travelling.
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
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