ABSTRACT
This chapter provides documentation of findings regarding international status of services and suicide rates. Mental illness was originally perceived to be a function of the mind rather than organic in nature and, as a result, patients were treated harshly. Challenges to providing mental and behavioral health environments include a variety of settings and a variety of diagnoses. The Asian context can be divided into the Southeast Asian and Western Pacific regions. The countries in the region have highly varied political systems that translate into a wide range of healthcare systems and education. The French government erected facilities as part of general hospitals, in which the psychiatric patients represented a portion of the residents. The concept of moral treatment was challenged at the end of the nineteenth century when the facilities faced the issue of overcrowding and discharge rates could not keep up with admission rates, which were often determined by court rulings.
