Bring Mental Health Care to Cambodians

My loneliness is gone, I can sleep and eat with my family

A young 27 years old man has been chained and locked to a tree behind his house. TPO social worker had met this case during doing home visit and referred this case to TPO treatment team of operation unchain project. When TPO treatment team reached him, he could only respond to our questions with a few words, but very poor insight. Therefore, the therapists spoke to his mum and relatives to gather detail information.

He has single parent household with 5 siblings, 3 males and 2 females. His family is poor and can’t afford expense with his studying, he stopped his school in grade 8. After stopping his studies, he assisted his brother in working at farm and rice field. He later asked his mum to be engaged with a girl whom he had been in love with for a long time, but the girl’s parents disagreed and arranged her to be married with another man. Soon after, he became depressed, withdrew from others, and kept himself in the house for many months. He didn’t talk with anyone, including his mum.

Later on, he had signs and symptoms such as headaches, suffered from lack of sleep, would yell, talked to himself, was aggressive, committed violence, had delusions, hallucinations, and could not communicate. After seeing these signs, his mum brought him to see traditional healers and also prepared traditional rituals to pray to ancestors, but he did not show improvement. His mum later brought him to access mental health services in the town of Kampong Cham. Due to his family’s poverty, they could not afford the expenses of travelling and treatment fees. As result, he had dropped out of the interventions. Without treatment, he continued to suffer from various symptoms and would walk without any direction from one district to another. In order to prevent damage or harm to other people, as well himself, his mum made the painful decision to ask her neighbors to help lock him up with chain. He was chained for 10 years. His mum felt hopeless about his recovery.

Psychiatrist gave diagnosis “Schizophrenia”. The assessment followed a treatment plan that was completed, it comprised of medical treatment for schizophrenia, supporting his caregivers through counseling and other forms of aid, and working with neighbors and nearby villagers to provide additional support and address discrimination the patient or family may be facing.

Initially, the patient rejected taking the medication, so his caregiver had to try different methods to somehow get the medicine into his body. This caused a delay in the treatment, as well as in the release of the patient. After receiving treatment for over a year, his signs and symptoms of schizophrenia were relieved and controlled. He could answer the therapist’s questions and communicate to others. However, in the house, there was only his mum and a small baby; his mum was concerned about safety and didn’t dare to free him because when he was sick, he would commit violence and run away. So she decided to extend the time to unlock him until Phchum Ben ceremony (Cambodian religious ceremony), when all her family members visited her and she felt safe to free him. After 2 years of treatment, his family decided to unchain him.

His mum and family members felt excited about his recovery. They have never expected his recovery. They thanked TPO treatment team and donors for helping him to have recovery.

No TPO, no humanity for me, the client said.

Dear supporters,

I am pleased to share with you a story recap from report on "Operation: break the chain" by Wojciech Tochman (stranslated from Polish):

Sokin lives near the road no. 6. A woman in her early forties, short hair, attentive, deep eyes. Her father smiles when Dr. Sody (TPO psychiatrist) gets out of the car. And her mother is crying. Tears in Cambodia? Strange, because it's a rare sight. Tears are feelings. This is a message: I am weak, scared, helpless. Why should you advertise such things? The less a stranger knows about you, the better. Excuse emotions from a foreign person. But Dr. Sody is hers, bringing relief and security. The mother is grateful for the health of her daughter. And father too. He is now sitting on the floor under the floor of a small house. He listens to what the doctor says to his wife. He smiles at us.

Sokin suffers from schizophrenia. She can write and read because she went to school. When she finished the fifth grade, she asked her mother not to let her continue to learn. She wanted to help in baking cookies. The whole family lived on the sale of cookies. And the mother agreed. She did not agree when the boy came and asked for Sokin's hand. At the time, her daughter was 17 years old, today her mother apparently regrets that decision.

Her illness started immediately after the death of her grandmother, whom she loved like no one else. She went out on the road, threw stones at people, shouted at things and in the hospital - belts. For each day of bonding, the parents paid as much for the month of food for the family. After two days, she returned home. It was even worse.

Until one day, she heard on the radio about doctors who drive to the insane and heal them without money. She applied to TPO. Doctor Sody arrived, she talked to her parents, she was unable to talk with a sick person, she made a diagnosis (after several years of illness), on a metal small tray she counted down a teaspoon of pills for a month, poured them into a plastic bag the size of a packet of tissues. Always first for 30 days ..

After four weeks, Dr. Sody came back, talked to the patient, left the tablets for three months, warned her mother that her daughter would not have access to medicines and would get them regularly.

Her sickness became better since after three month treatment (refer to Dr.Sody) we are really happy to see that now she can help her family to do work around her house.   “I would like to go to work, cook people something, wash and do anything to help my mother - says Sokin”                    

Thank you very much for your interesting, supporting and sharing our project information to your friends and networks. Our project is selected for GlobalGiving’s Mother’s Day Campaign  till Sunday, May 13th!. Please kindly help us to get bonus prizes and eligible for the 100% match on new recurring donations. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments or ideas at admin@tpocambodia.org.