[Symposium 12] Development of mental health care for Cambodian people

[SY-12] Development of mental health care for Cambodian people

Toshiyuki Marutani¹, Akihiro Nishio², Sotheara Chhim^3,4, Naofumi Yoshida^5,6 (1.Kinshicho Kubota Clinic(Japan), 2.Health Administration Center, Gifu University(Japan), 3.Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Cambodia(Cambodia), 4.Psychological Medicine Clinic(Cambodia), 5.Advanced Research Center for Human Sciences, Waseda University(Japan), 6.Bureau of Social Welfare, Tokyo Metropolitan Government(Japan))

Keywords:

Cambodia,Mental health care,New era

This session explores various aspects of mental health care activities towards a new era in Cambodia and for Cambodian immigrants in Japan. Dr. Marutani will introduce a brief history of the implementation of a Japanese NGO Supporters for Mental Health (SUMH) in Siem Reap. He will also discuss causal beliefs regarding schizophrenia and help-seeking behaviors among patients with schizophrenia and their families who visited the SUMH-Cambodia rehabilitation center and Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Cambodia. Dr. Nishio will focus on developing school-based mental health interventions in Southeast Asian countries in collaboration with the Southeast Asian Ministry of Education Organization (SEAMEO). The schedule in Cambodia is still suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, he will show mental health education modules for children in the Philippines. Dr. Sotheara, the executive director of TPO Cambodia, will mention the rapid growth of mental health professionals along with the limitation of treatment options in Cambodia these days. For this session, he will show his clinical experiences with an innovative treatment, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in his Psychological Medicine Clinic in Phnom Penh. Dr. Yoshida will focus on immigrants from Cambodia and Myanmar with status of residence of “Technical Intern Training” and “Specified Skilled Worker” in Japan. He will mention these specific systems and present the latest situation about their psychological problems.