There are some people here that care enough to help you if you are in a bad situation. I know both, the ones who (at least in my eyes) don't care, and a few, not many though, that care enough to try helping you. Unfortunately, I have to say that the ones that don't care are also some foreigners I met here and some I worked with.
v12, I am not sure what makes you think I can't understand spoken Khmer. But let me assure you, it is mostly enough to understand what people talk. It makes for good laughs actually because people obviously don't care if you understand them, they talk bad and good things about you anyway. What made me burst into laughing were two construction workers while I was walking to the supermarket, coughing and coughing. And while they passed me, one said to the other: "Oh, the foreigner has a cold as well." In total surprise. Like this ad: "Nov srok Khmer mian Maeva der." which I was reminded of. That's not something remarkably important, yet, you don't get that when you don't understand them. Umm...
I know they do complain here, but it is still very different than what the people in my country complain about. The things Westerners complain about are mostly (not always!) so unimportant while here they - again, mostly - complain about things they really have to worry about.
Have a good day.
Depressed - where to go?
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- 440 newbie - handle with care
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Not sure who is reading this....I am a psychiatrist who is currently in Phnom Pehn, and I would love to meet with other mental health professionals. I have spent the last 4 years volunteering in psychiatric projects in China and Ethiopia. Though I am going to be returning to the US, and this is a short trip (21 days), I wanted to become more involved in mental health in Cambodia. There is certainly the idea that there is a crisis in mental health in Cambodia, given Cambodia's recent history. I would love to hear about this from the people who actually are here experiencing the actual life here, as opposed to reading journals on the subject.
Best,
Dave Schatz, MD
Best,
Dave Schatz, MD
There's a few Westerners stumbling around Phnom Penh that could use your immediate help.
surfacebelow wrote:Not sure who is reading this....I am a psychiatrist who is currently in Phnom Pehn, and I would love to meet with other mental health professionals. I have spent the last 4 years volunteering in psychiatric projects in China and Ethiopia. Though I am going to be returning to the US, and this is a short trip (21 days), I wanted to become more involved in mental health in Cambodia. There is certainly the idea that there is a crisis in mental health in Cambodia, given Cambodia's recent history. I would love to hear about this from the people who actually are here experiencing the actual life here, as opposed to reading journals on the subject.
Best,
Dave Schatz, MD
And Cambodia is just one place in this fucked up world where kid have had to put up with shooting, bombs going off and dead bodies lying around. Have you seen on tv the look in the eyes of some of those kids in Libia, Afghanistan and Iraq. What sort of mental state are they in now, and when they get older there's going to be a big demand for psychiatrists to unlock those problems in the back of their minds.
I personlly know of one girl who was 5/7 years old during the KR years. I always put her '' bargirl tantrums'' down to the fact that she had to look after her younger brother and baby sister while her mother worked as slave labour. She certainly had something locked up in the back of her mind, that when under stress she went psyco just to keep it from comming to the surface.
I am just a nobody
But one day I will be a somebody really important
And you all will be wanting to shake my hand
and say
Hey you, you are my friend.
But one day I will be a somebody really important
And you all will be wanting to shake my hand
and say
Hey you, you are my friend.
IMHO the PTSD the bleeding-hearts are always talking about has virtually nothing to do with Cambodia's "recent past" (which isn't all that recent) and everything to do with the pressures of living in such a retarded, fuck-you, feudal, conspicuous-wealth is-everything society where nobody trusts each other.
With all due respect to those with the above opinion, I could not disagree more strongly. I was raised in rural farm country in the middle west and told both subtly and directly that mental illness is more or less a "character problem" (for sissies), and that people claiming such were essentially lazy, weak etc. Once my anxiety disorder came, i was given the same advice the author above is giving about medication, "it will make your problem worse." Out of FEAR for "making my problem worse" or "becoming addicted" i foreclosed the one thing that, in the end, saved my life, medication. I lost over a decade of my life, isolated, friendless, miserable and suicidal. And it's not that i did not try many of the popular ideas out there, including seeing a string of psychologists, diet, natural remedies, exercise, yoga. I almost did not make it.Don-Pierre de Plume wrote:I suggest you stay away from anti-depressant pills. Have seen them "at work" on an old friend making his mood change with the winds.
It doesn't solve the underlying issue, and can make you worse in the long run.
By all means, talk with a person who understands. The environment you live in is often a dampener. Consider a change. If possible, live closer to nature.
I agree that meds may not be appropriate for everyone, and I agree they don't work for everyone, but they saved my life. It fixed the PHYSICAL ILLNESS in my brain, or i should say it fixes the problem in my brain, for the past 6 years. Blanket advice like this is dangerous and respectfully, it is anti-intellectual. We believe in science, not as a cure all, but we believe in what we can prove more than superstition, religion etc. INdeed this anti medication movement or school of thought reminds of the religious nuts who think the world was created 7000 years ago. Science teaches us that mental illness is often just the same as a physical illness or a wound, just as much as Pnuemonia or a broken arm. Scaring people from medication is not only anti-science but it is dangerous, people die without the help medication gives. Please stop trying to scare people with these "all or nothing" opinions, medication is not everything, but it needs to be one of the tools to help save peoples lives.....
Best
"
So you hang out in bars with hostesses in their mid-40's????I personlly know of one girl who was 5/7 years old during the KR years. I always put her bargirl tantrums down to the fact that she had to look after her younger brother and baby sister while her mother worked as slave labour
Ughhhhhhhh-remind me to stay away from where you drink
- Aleks
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andreahoch3 wrote:Hello everyone,
I have suffered from depression for more than 10 years. It was good/okay/not so bad for some years but for a few weeks I have had that same old feeling again. Where in PP can I go to "talk to someone" and not be confronted with something like "Oh man you cut yourself like the crazy people at ... clinic" or "Oh Andrea come on, why would you be depressed? You can talk to me.." and I know I cannot. Or "Why would you want to die? Come on, what's your problem?" (had to listen to that from family and friends)
And does anyone know about the cost of this kind of consultation?
Thanks!
Ive been on "Pristiq" since August last year. Seems to do the job.