Depression, a silent threat
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The Public Health Ministry yesterday cautioned that depression posed a silent threat to health, warning that it could strike at any age and revealing that about 350 million people worldwide and some 1.5 million Thais over the age of 15 suffered from the d
Only one quarter of Thais with the illness receive treatment, and people with depression commit suicide at a rate that is 20 times higher than persons without the disease, Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Surawit Khonsomboon said yesterday. Yesterday marked World Mental Health Day, which this year was themed “Depression: A Global Crisis”.
Surawit said the ministry would implement three measures: educating the public that people with depression are not “crazy” and can be treated; extending depression-treatment services to all community and general hospitals; and encouraging people to exercise, which helps counter depression by the release of the hormone endorphine.
