Mental Health Crisis Strains Cambodia

Aubrey Belford Kampot, Cambodia
15 April 2010

Cambodian psychiatrist Sotheara Chhim, from non-profit group the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization - Cambodia

Cambodia is a country with a more traumatic past than most. Recent decades have seen civil war, followed by genocide and more civil war. Despite a growing economy and rapid development, mental health workers say the psychological scars have yet to heal.

Cambodia suffers from high rates of mental illness, and very little treatment.

Psychiatrist Sotheara Chhim, who heads the Cambodia office of Dutch aid group, the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, or TPO, says the country's dark past bubbles up in an exceptionally high rate of mental illness.

"In my opinion I think the past plays a very important role in attributing to the problem…. I think every Cambodian is like a glass carrying some water, meaning the traumatic past. If more water is put in, the glass fills easier than an empty glass," says Chhim.

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