PHNOM PENH: The Secretary of State of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, Em Chan Makara, has pushed for promotion, dissemination and further awareness-raising on mental health issues to people in the community, especially for persons with disabilities to seek timely professional treatment. He made this call while speaking at the opening ceremony of The Minimum Standards Training for Basic Counselling for Women and Girl Victims of Gender-Based Violence and Stress Management on Tuesday morning (24 May).

Secretary of State Makara continued, "To help seek solutions to problems of mental health patients, providing good advice and encouragement, to think positively for the continuation of daily life, is a good treatment for patients’ minds.”

He added that the best way to avoid the occurrence of mental illness is for each of us to be satisfied with what we have, to control our emotions, not feel negatively about those around us, not put pressure on oneself or one’s family and to not set too many goals in life. He said there should be a balance between work, rest and spending enough time with family in everyone’s daily life, and this sort of shift from negative to positive thinking is a factor that helps to prevent mental illness.

The Secretary of State further expressed his support for the training, and stressed that it was important for the Gender Mainstreaming Working Group of the Ministry of Social Affairs, as well as other relevant ministries, to learn more about good practices for counselling women and children who are victims of gender-based violence, in order to prevent, reduce and address all issues related to violence against women and girls with disabilities.

The Minimum Standards Training for Basic Counselling for Women and Girl Victims of Gender-Based Violence and Stress Management is organized by the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, sponsored by the Australian Embassy through ACCESS, with 30 participants in total from relevant ministries and institutions.

The Second Secretary of the Australian Embassy, Connor Floyd, said mental health issues are often ignored or intentionally left aside, often misunderstood or underestimated, as many people still feel uncomfortable speaking about it and prefer to keep it hidden away.

He said, "However, we should know that mental health issues such as anxiety and depression are affecting most of us, and in our lifetime, we are likely to face such episodes in our personal life. The purpose of this week’s training is not for any of you to become an expert counsellor, but rather to improve your understanding of the situation of women survivors of violence and your ability to guide them towards relevant services.”

Unipolar depression, or major depressive disorder, is a medical condition characterized by continuous feelings of sadness, a persistent lack of interest, among other symptoms. Unipolar depression can be treated through medication and oral therapy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2010 that depression was one of the most common mental illnesses worldwide.

^{PHOTO: EAC NEWS}