Is a Western approach the best way to engage with the mental health issues of other cultures? Nick Harvey visits Burmese refugees in Thailand to find out.
This special report was published in the May edition of the New Internationalist 'Mental health: Looking beyond the pills'. Buy this issue or subscribe from just £7.
Thiha Yarzar spent more than 20 years in Burmese jails as a political prisoner. He was tortured, shackled and forced to eat and sleep with dogs. In 2008, shortly after his release, he fled to Thailand to claim asylum. Although in Thailand he may have a semblance of freedom, in his mind he is not free.
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