Writing for Southeast Asia Globe, Denise Hruby reported [1] how the mentally ill in many rural areas of Cambodia are being treated:
…the mentally ill are still treated by traditional healers, who aim to drive out bad spirits by burning the skin, or by the untrained staff of one-room health clinics who prescribe everything from pain-relief tablets to cough syrup.
According to government spokesperson Phay Siphan, mental health is not a priority:
The government prioritises maternal health and malaria. For mental health, I know that other governments have the money to subsidise that, but we are poor.