Mental Health Crisis Strains Cambodia

Cambodian psychiatrist Sotheara Chhim, from non-profit group the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization - Cambodia (Photo: VOA - A. Belford)

Aubrey Belford, VOA
Kampot, Cambodia
15 April 2010

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.

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