MP urges action as Thai youth depression hits 26.9%
Democrat Party MP Karndee Leopairote, yesterday, May 6, urged the government to strengthen mental health support for young people after citing rising rates of depression and self-harm among Thai youth.
Speaking during a House of Representatives meeting at Parliament, Karndee said she was raising the issue both as an MP and as a mother after her daughter told her that two former schoolmates had died by suicide within a short period of time.
Karndee, a party-list MP and deputy leader of the Democrat Party, called on the public health minister, education minister, and higher education, science, research and innovation minister to improve frontline mental health policies for students and young adults.
She said the mental health struggles faced by Thai youth were no longer an individual issue but a structural crisis requiring urgent action from society and the government.
Recent incidents involving young people, she noted, reflected growing levels of stress among teenagers, leading to losses that could not be reversed.
Karndee acknowledged that the Department of Mental Health had introduced policies and signed cooperation agreements with agencies, but said results at the operational level remained insufficient.
She cited data showing that 26.9% of people aged 18 to 24 were experiencing depression, while 17.6% of secondary school students admitted they had seriously considered suicide.
According to Karndee, pressure from education, social media and economic hardship within families were contributing to mental health problems among young people. She proposed three measures to improve mental health support.
The first measure was to move beyond signed MOUs and ensure mental health policies reach the front line quickly and seriously.
The second was to increase funding and staffing for guidance teachers and psychologists so that every school and university would have dedicated mental health personnel.
The third was to improve public understanding of mental health issues and reduce social stigma towards people experiencing mental health problems.
As May is Mind Month, Karndee wanted to use the campaign to urge the three ministries to treat youth mental health as a more urgent national issue.
In a separate development, to combat the alarming surge in suicide attempts, the Department of Mental Health is expanding its Hope Task Force network nationwide to improve support for people at risk of suicide.
Latest Thailand News
Follow The Thaiger on Google News:
