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Published on August 2, 2007

Kiattibhoom Vongrachit, the director of Srithanya mental hospital, told some 1,200 academics and health officials that measures were needed to combat expanding urbanisation and capitalism.

The main problem affecting city residents' mental health was the use of credit cards and the accumulation of unnecessary debt, he said.

 The number of people suffering stress from credit-card debts would increase significantly in the next 4-5 years, he added.

Many people did not use credit cards intelligently and some had 3 or 4 cards with each one having a different payment date and an automatic minimum repayment. This meant people were accumulating and juggling debts. Many suffered stress as a result of their financial problems, he said.

City residents were vulnerable to the effects of rampant capitalism and financial convenience, and were more prone to buying things they did not need. Many were stimulated to keep up with quick-changing fashions, such as updating their cellphone model on a monthly basis, he said.

Mental Health Department chief ML Somchai Chakraphan said more and more city dwellers were struggling with mental health problems, and this was an important issue.

The world's urban population was expected to reach 4.910 billion within the next 23 years, with 60 per cent of humanity living in urban areas, he said. Thailand would see 54 per cent of its population living in cities - up from the current estimate of 51 per cent.

Urban growth on this scale would create more slums, severe traffic congestion, pollution, unemployment and homelessness - all of which affected people's mental health, he added.

With so many people now feeling the effects of stress in the city, it was necessary to initiate more mental-health promotion projects, he added.

The department's 2005 study on the mental health of 2,405 Thais aged between 15-60, which was re-analysed earlier this year, found less than one per cent difference in figures between city dwellers and rural residents when they were questioned on their general happiness and life satisfaction, Somchai said.

While city people suffered more physical and mental illnesses and had to deal with pollution, rural people felt inferior due to a lack of education and other opportunities, thus the figures were similar.