The psychological specter of the Khmer Rouge is taking a high toll on the country, mental health officials warn, saying the traumas suffered silently by Cambodians for more than two decades are now threatening the country’s collective mental health.
“Our society is having mental health disease problems now. [People] are scared of their own society. They have lost self-confidence and are full of stress,” Kann Kall, managing director of the Transcultural Psycho-social Organization said.
Last year, TPO clinics treated 6,916 patients, Kann Kall said. Although that figure was down from 1999’s peak of 8,427, he warned that incidents of mental illness have been increasingly steadily over the last five years.
Mental illness, especially depression, can have a huge impact on the productivity of a society, he said.
“Generally, mental health problems result in poor sleep, headaches, trembling, fear, irritability, chest pain and dizziness,” Kann Kall said. “Through interviews with villagers, we found that many Cambodians suffer from trauma-related depression, family problems, low memory, moodiness and personal contact problems.
“Many people still remember wives, husbands or children killed by the Khmer Rouge,” he said. “It is a stress that is not easy to release. If mental health problems keep increasing, Cambodia won’t reach a better society or economy.”
That is a view shared by Dr Veng Thai, director of municipal health in Phnom Penh, who says the crippling depression many Cambodians suffer can be laid at the doorstep of the Khmer Rouge.
The Khmer Rouge killed at least 1 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979 and threw the country into almost 20 years of sporadic civil war.
“People are in shock when they think about the past,” Veng Thai said.
Funcinpec Senator Khieu San, a Khmer Rouge survivor, said he has struggled with depression from the genocide for years. He was spared after he helped deliver a baby for a prison chief, but nonetheless saw nearly 50 people executed in front of him.
“When I recall the past, it seems to be fresh. It’s like it happened to me yesterday,” Khieu San said. “It is a disease no medicine can treat.”
A great step toward helping treat the mass depression is for a speedy war crimes tribunal—the details of which government and UN officials are currently hammering out, Kann Kall said.
“If the Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried, Cambodians will be able to release stress from their mind. If society could provide justice for them, then people may regain confidence to live in society and be productive,” he said.
