Question to GP Maarten: Thai suffer from stress and depression what are the consequences?

Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand.

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Dear Martin,

I think a Thai acquaintance suffers from stress or depression, which has developed in recent years. She does not want to give in to this because she is afraid that the people from Thailand will say that she is crazy.

In the Netherlands, many people suffer from stress or depression due to covid-19 and money problems, so they get medicines from the doctor. Is this also possible with a doctor in Thailand (eg Bangkok hospital) That you walk into the hospital and tell the problem, then you will be helped.

What are the consequences if you do nothing about the stress or depression? And how long can the problems persist? Is that for the rest of her life?

I know that some people can solve this themselves but this is not the case with her.

Regards,

J.

******

Dear J,

A question that can yield books full of answers.

Unfortunately, there are no medicines that can cure stress. So-called tranquilizers are a light form of "flat spraying". In addition, they are addictive. they are easy for doctors, because they get rid of the "nagging".

Stress often arises after unpleasant events and is part of normal life. Stress is a survival mechanism. However, when the stress doesn't slowly go away, we have a problem. Then it often turns into depression, for which there is no medicine. Stress has another effect. It lowers immunity. This is because during stress certain genes are switched on and others are switched off. A phenomenon that has not been known for very long.

The opposite of stress is relaxation. So that needs to be worked on. This can be done through meditation, but also through listening to music, watching a nice movie, traveling and so on. Different relaxation techniques apply to everyone. All those techniques require discipline and must be done daily. Half an hour is enough. Of course, this does not solve the underlying problems, such as a lack of money, but you do learn to look at it differently.

Of course, there can also be physical causes of stress, such as an illness.

Thai people experience stress differently than we do. The causes are also often different. When someone does not understand their partner due to cultural differences and/or language problems, stress quickly arises. Admitting that you are not feeling well (depressed) is difficult for many people. In that respect, the differences are not that great.

As I said, books have been written about this phenomenon.

However, walking into a hospital and going home with a so-called “solution” does not seem like a good way.
The “solution” is then often the beginning of really unsolvable problems.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Maarten

Do you have a question for Maarten and do you live in Thailand? Send this to the editor: www.thailandblog.nl/contact/ It is important that you provide the correct information (see list at the top of the page).