The 2015 Global Burden of Disease Study reports that in Myanmar, both depressive and anxiety disorders are among the top 10 contributors to years lived with disability, and both have increased over the past decade (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Myanmar: what health problems cause the most disability. 2017. Available from: http://www.healthdata.org/myanmar). Mental health services are provided primarily through two psychiatric hospitals, 22 psychiatric wards in general hospitals, and 35 outpatient mental health facilities (World Health Organization (WHO), Mental health atlas 2014. WHO, Geneva, 2015). Primary care physicians can prescribe psychiatric medications and have access to mental health treatment manuals, but the majority have not received training on mental health within the past 5 years (World Health Organization (WHO), Mental health atlas 2011. WHO, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Geneva, 2011). For every 100,000 people, only 0.6 trained mental health workers (e.g., psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses) are available, and only 16% of them work in outpatient settings. For comparison, there are 125.2 per 100,000 in the USA and 318.9 per 100,000 in the UK (World Health Organization (WHO), Mental health atlas 2014. WHO, Geneva, 2015). Psychological and psychosomatic disorders and problems are insufficiently recognized and treated, and there is a need for biopsychosocially oriented medical care. Little is known about the transferability of Western-oriented psychosomatic training programs in the Southeast Asian cultural context. The transferability of Western concepts should be tested locally and adaptations undertaken where necessary (Fritzsche et al., Biopsychosoc Med 6:17, 2012).