Key goals, operations for Thais’ mental well-being revealed

During a recent visit by Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin to the Department of Mental Health, Dr Pongkasem Kaimook, director general of the Department of Mental Health, presented key operations for the fiscal year 2024. These operations are divided into the following areas:

Child and Youth Mental Health:

Promoting and stimulating early childhood development.
Strengthening mental resilience through the “To Be Number One” programme.

Supporting and assisting at-risk school-age children and adolescents.

Enhancing access to quality mental health and psychiatric services for children and youth, including those with developmental delays, autism (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and intellectual disabilities (ID).

Mental Health for Working-Age Population:

Promoting and preventing mental-health issues among the working-age population.

Mental Health for the Elderly:

Assisting at-risk elderly individuals with depression and suicidal tendencies.

Promoting and preventing behavioral and mental issues among at-risk elderly individuals.

Additionally, efforts are being made to prevent and address suicide by ensuring that those who attempt suicide can access services and are monitored for at least one year to prevent repeat attempts.

Efforts also include preventing and addressing depression by promoting therapy and care for patients with depression, aiming for improvement within six months of follow-up, and managing high-risk psychiatric patients prone to violence (SMI-V) and those with substance-abuse issues by providing appropriate treatment.

For the operational plan for fiscal years 2025-2027:

Child and Youth Mental Health:

Average IQ should not be lower than 103, and EQ (emotional intelligence) should be normal in 85% of cases through measures such as enhancing parenting skills, emotional and social skills, improving mental health-care standards, and developing surveillance, services, and rehabilitation systems for youth and families.

Care for Psychiatric Patients and Substance Abuse Patients at Risk of Violence (SMI-V):

The incidence of violence from individuals with psychiatric disorders should not exceed 33 per 100,000 population through such measures as "mental vaccine" (prevention), early detection (pre-hospital), immediate treatment (in-hospital), and reintegration into society (post-hospital).

Suicide Prevention and Resolution:

The successful-suicide rate should not exceed 7.8 per 100,000 population by developing online educational media, digital mental health services, cross-sector innovations, and information systems for suicide prevention.

Promoting Good Mental Health among Thais:

Aim for 85% of Thais to have good mental health by developing personal skills, strengthening mental resilience, promoting mental health literacy, building a mental health database, and developing networks to promote and prevent mental health issues.

The Department of Mental Health's 2021 national survey on the intelligence and emotional-intelligence levels of Thai first-graders revealed the following:

The average IQ of Thai children is 102.8, which meets the normal range and surpasses the target set by the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan, which required an IQ of no less than 100.

The proportion of children with IQs below 90 decreased from 31.8% to 21.7%.

The proportion of children with IQs below 70 is 4.2%, higher than the international standard of no more than 2%.

The proportion of children with very high intelligence (IQ above 130) is 10.4%.

The survey found that 83.4% of children have normal emotional intelligence (EQ).