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Mental Health Care Of Indonesia

Satisfactory Essays

Nations Project: Rough Draft
Katie Metro
February 9, 2015

Mental Health Care in Indonesia
"It ruined my dignity or whatever shred of humanity I had left," says Anto Sg, of his experience with Indonesian mental health care. He was repeatedly chained while undergoing medical treatment in East Java at various medical centers. Anto notes that what he really needed was a psychiatrist and counseling, but instead he was shackled for months. He also says that his family believed he was insane and only trusted the treatment at the clinic, where his hands and feet were chained. He recalls crying a lot and considering his life “truly over.” The treatment shattered his dignity and the shred of humanity he had held onto. Anto Sg might have recovered more quickly and exempt from all the nightmares and trauma without the shackling. But Indonesia, with a population of about 249.9 million people, is severely lacking proper mental health care. The country has only about 800 psychiatrists. And with only 47 or 48 mental institutions in the country, all concentrated in four of the 34 provinces, Indonesia is severely lacking proper mental health care. Various sources suggest that 19 million people in Indonesia suffer from psychological disabilities like depression and anxiety. Another million have psychosis. The shortage of community based mental health services makes psychologically disabled people left only to the care of their families, who usually employ shackling on their

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