Abstract
The incidence of mental health problems among patients who visited Langu Hospital Out-patient Department increased from 3,330 and 3,539 to 4,625 cases per 100,000 populations in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. The incidence of cases that committed suicide
in 2006 was 7.57 cases per 100,000 population, which was much higher than the rate for
Thailand as a whole. The objectives of this study were to survey mental health status and to determine depression and suicidal attempts among the population 15-59-yearsold who lived in the period May to June 2007 in Langu District, Satun Province,
Thailand. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study and survey that used the Thai
General Health Questionaire-12 in the first step; it was then followed by the DepressionScreening, Suicidal Attempt and/or Psychotic-screening Test, all of which were established by the Mental Health Department, Ministry of Public Health. There were 22,093
samples; the male to female ratio was 1:1.2. Mental health status was divided into three
groups: normal, high risk and the mental heath problem group. The mental health problem group was 0.23 percent, equally male and female. The highest percentage were in
the 35-44-year-old age group (34%), in the married group (48%) and in the insufficientincome group (42%). Mental health problems were psychosis disorder (0.12%), paranoid
schizophrenia (0.04%), schizophrenia (0.07%), mania (0.01%), bipolar disorder (0.02%),
psychosis due to multiple drug dependence (0.04%), GAD (0.09%), agoraphobia (0.01%),
and panic (0.01%). There were 20 cases of depression (0.09%) and no attempted suicide
case. Furthermore, this study showed that we should launch preventive interventions in
each mental health status group and collaborate with families, community leaders, village health volunteers, the local authority and NGOs
