By Elise Honningdalsnes Mental health is a worldwide problem that affects international development, and then especially in developing countries. Unfortunately, there is still a stigma around mental health and this restricts social and governmental change, as many people suffering from mental health problems don’t come forward for treatment. When the first mental health hospital in Mongolia was built, it was placed as far away from the city as possible. Situated in the country side outside of Ulaanbaatar, the problem was out of sight and out of mind. Elena Kazantseva, coordinator of the National Health Program, says that the stigma wasn’t only in the general society, the patients were also looked down upon by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health in Mongolia has only in recent years accepted the fact that mental health is important to deal with and new implementations have recently been put in place at the Mental Health Hospital in Ulaanbaatar. Johannes Beneke, a German psychologist who’s been working at the Mental Health Hospital in Ulaanbaatar for two months, says that he was impressed by how good the new facilities are. “Mental health is really important to deal with, and people are finally starting to realize that now,” says Kazantseva. The Mental Health Hospital’s new building opened its doors for new patients in 2014. “Politicians have finally understood that they need good facilities to help people who struggle with mental health,” she says. Kazantseva says that alcoholism and drug addiction are problems they experience more and more at the Mental Health Hospital. “Life in Mongolia isn’t very easy, that’s why poor people drink” she says. Kazantseva says that the most important problem they have to deal with is alcohol misuse. “There’s between 80-100 cases of drink driving per night in Ulaanbaatar,” Kazantseva says. There are also several cases of domestic violence caused by alcohol and the divorce rate is increasing. Kazantseva says that the situation in Mongolia has improved much over the past 10 years and the stigma is now getting lighter. “Anybody can suffer from mental problems, and people are starting to realize that now,” she says. Beneke, on the other hand, says that the stigma related to mental health is easy to notice in the country. “People are regarded as crazy when they go to the hospital, and that makes people afraid to ask for treatment,” he says. The usual treatment period at the hospital is 10 days for addiction, which is too short, according to Beneke. “You can scratch on the surface, but you can’t go very deep into the problem,” he says. Patients suffering from addiction need to pay their own treatment, but the patients are usually poor and sometimes unemployed. The families cannot afford to pay for them and sometimes they are not even welcome home upon finishing treatment. The hospital has put in place a few gers outside its property where people can stay after being discharged from the hospital. With the main hospital situated in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, there are not many other treatment facilities in the country. “The mental health system in Mongolia is too centralized, it doesn’t reach people, especially not people living in the country side,” says Beneke. Nonetheless, the Mongolian mental health system stands out from that of other developing countries, in which the facilities and treatment of patients are really good. “The doctors show interest and motivation, they are interested in their topic and they care about their patients,” says Beneke. “The relationships between doctors and patients are good, and patients staying at the hospital have the opportunity to reschedule appointments on short notice, which they don’t really have the opportunity to in Europe,” he says. He also thinks that the use of traditional medicine in treatment is very good. When asked what the European mental health system can learn from the Mongolian system, Beneke says that the work mentality here is better. “Skilled doctors are more appreciated here and the work mentality is better. Here they work less than what they do in Europe, which gives the doctors the opportunity to recharge and work closer with the patients.”