The history of public attitudes toward mental health in our country can perhaps be traced broadly through one infamous institution and its ever-evolving reputation: the Institute of Mental Health.
Today a widely acceptable recourse for many seeking mental health care, it was not so long ago when the IMH was synonymous with lunacy and madness, a term when invoked, evoked images of ‘crazy’ people in restraints kicking and screaming at frightened orderlies. For a long time, the institution was wielded as a dirty word by many an ignorant schoolboy, meant to insult, as in, “You belong in IMH.”
Now, in 2022, as community sentiments on mental health are beginning to shift, the IMH is enjoying an attendant increase in social support and has become a respectable option for those who require mental assistance. We as a society have, evidently, gotten better at talking about mental health.
Yet, there remains, unfortunately, a small fraction of people who continue to be sceptical and suspicious of the conversations surrounding mental health and persist in seeing it as a weakness to admit to needing mental help, rather than a tremendous strength. In this article, we hope to demonstrate the benefits of taking care of your mental health and being attuned to the needs of your mind, beyond those of your body, and with luck, change a few minds.
1. Recovery
For those who require urgent mental health care, reaching out for professional help can mean the difference between misery and relief, and relapse and recovery. Especially if a particular mental illness is persistently hindering your ability to function in everyday life, seeking a diagnosis or simply talking to someone about it might help in easing your suffering. Mental health disorders like depression, anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder can be extremely debilitating. At its worst, patients may lose interest in life, experience suicidal ideation and become agoraphobic, so consumed by the fear of a flare-up in public that they remain home for long periods of time.
Dr. Thomas Insel, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist who led the American National Institute of Mental Health from 2002 to 2015 speaks about the 3Ps of recovery: people, place, and purpose. That is, seeking a support system comprising people you trust, finding a safe space to heal, and discovering a purpose or mission. These 3 steps may just be the key to returning to a full and meaningful life for you. Mental illness, as Dr. Insel encourages, need not be a life sentence.
2. Empowerment
Even if you do not belong to the group which suffers from chronic mental disorders, caring for your mental health by seeking counselling or therapy, or simply educating yourself about ways to protect your state of mind can be useful in improving your wellbeing.
Cognitive behavioural therapy, for instance, is a common form of therapy which helps patients disrupt negative thought patterns by identifying those faulty thought patterns that aggravate problems and restructuring them. Some examples of negative thought patterns can be found here. After a few sessions, patients typically report feeling more empowered and in control of their thoughts, now more aware of those automatic patterns of thinking and the strategies to overcome them.
Getting to understand yourself better and engaging in personal growth and development should be reason enough to care for your mental health. As founder Pamela Koh of ThriveSg, a non-profit counselling service for youths, writes, being equipped with the right tools to manage your mental health is the key ingredient that takes you from surviving to thriving.
3. Awareness
When you become more attuned to your own mental health needs, odds are, you become more sensitive to the mental needs of others too.
A student from Kranji Secondary tells CNA that they are taught ‘CHEER’ in school, a peer support model that helps them reach out to friends who appear in need of emotional support and help. The acronym stands for: Calming them down, Hearing them out, Empathising with them, Encouraging them to seek help, and Referring them to a trusted adult.
This means that in paying attention to your own stress triggers and symptoms, you are likely to also recognise them in someone else when they display similar cries for help. Being able to identify those signs and intervening early using the CHEER model could mean the difference between life or death for that peer. It bears stressing, therefore, that we must never underestimate the importance of mental health awareness. The cost of doing so is simply far too high.
In 2019, Singapore became the first Asian country to host the Together Against Stigma (TAS) conference, an international platform dedicated to improving global mental health literacy. In the same year, President Halimah Yacob announced that the year’s President’s Challenge, a nationwide fundraiser pledged to supporting vulnerable groups in our society, would focus on mental health. More recently, in 2020, the Ministry of Health (MOH) convened the COVID-19 Mental Wellness Taskforce in an effort to fill the gaps in the nation’s provision of mental health support. By all accounts, it is apparent that our country is moving in the right direction in its advocacy for greater mental health awareness and support. But for its efforts to bear fruit, we as a community must get on board with the vision and align our attitudes accordingly. Only then can change begin.