What to Do When You Have Mental Health Issues

Mental health is one of the most overlooked challenges for expats in Thailand. This guide covers emergency hotlines, counselors, and hospital options available to foreigners.

Mental health is one of the least talked about, but most important, issues for foreigners living in Thailand. For the most part, daily life is easy in Thailand, but there will be days when it seems like the fabric holding your life together tears and your world falls apart. 

If this is the case, it’s important to have some emergency contacts on hand or schedule an appointment with a mental health professional. 

Get Help

If you see a counselor or psychotherapist, they help you find the problem. They assess you. But they won’t label you with a mental illness. Though your treatment begins at the first session.

If you suffer from a mental health issue, the counselor works out a treatment plan with you.

If your unhappiness isn’t a mental health issue but your response to a life event, for example a loss, relationship trouble, or hardships in adjusting to Thailand, the counselor can help you by working through the process with you.

It might be a good idea to go. Talk it through with an experienced counselor. The counselor refers you to a psychiatrist if you need medication.

Remember counselors are there to help and advise you. But you’re the one who makes the decisions.

3 Emergency Tips

1. Call the Samaritans.
2. See a counselor now.
3. If your crisis is life threatening, go to an international hospital. Ask to see the psychiatrist on duty.

Mental health services are confidential. They won’t pass anything you say to another person, unless you’re a danger to yourself or others.

Call the Samaritans

The Samaritans are a worldwide organization that offer a 24-hour crisis hotline staffed by trained volunteers. In Thailand, you can call the Samaritans English language service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on (02) 113-6789. But this is a callback service. You get a call back from them within 24 hours. The Samaritans are anonymous, which means you don’t even have to give your real name.

The Thai government has two crisis hotlines in Thai as well. Call 1667 and 1323.

See a Counselor Now

Counselors aren’t available 24/7. But if you can wait until the next morning, email a counseling center below or a private practitioner of your choice right now. Stress you’re in crisis and see them as soon as possible. And don’t cancel.

Counselors and psychotherapists won’t judge you. And together with you, they can work out what’s happening inside you. And they can create a treatment plan for you.

Two well-known counseling centers in Bangkok are NCS and PSI. They can find you a counselor. Private practitioners also see you on short notice if you’re in crisis.

And, although counseling is a process that lasts several weeks or months, people report the first session with a counselor makes a difference to their mental well-being.

Counselors can also refer you to a psychiatrist in case you need medication.

See the Psychiatrist

If you face a life-threatening crisis, see the duty psychiatrist at an international hospital.

You can also walk into any international hospital, 24/7. Ask for the psychiatrist on duty. It’s vital the psychiatrist speaks good English. Don’t talk about mental problems with a family member or friend. Hospitals ask you for payment or insurance. But don’t let that deter you if you’re in crisis. Your health is vital.

In Bangkok, Manarom Hospital has dedicated psychiatric units. But any psychiatrist can help you in an emergency.