Making A Mental Note

It’s an invisible tormentor that rivals any physical injury, yet, mental health issues remain largely misunderstood and unnoticed — even by sufferers themselves.

- Natalie Joy Lee

Mental health is a tricky subject. Today, we wouldn’t expect a stigma to still exist – thanks in part to celebrities like Selena Gomez and Velda Tan being so open about it. But in a study done in 2014 called Mind Matters: A Study of Mental Health Literacy, it was revealed nine out of 10 Singaporeans surveyed believe that people with mental ailments “could get better if they wanted to”.

In April, Prince Harry shone a light on what happens when you don’t properly understand and treat mental illness, as he got particularly candid about his own experiences. He spoke of “shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years…[and being] close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions.” Two months later, the 32-year-old Prince jetted into Singapore and continued his crusade to shift people’s general aversion to mental health issues, urging Singapore’s youth to speak out. “It’s important for guys like you to bang the drum and encourage others. If you can just help one person not have to go through what you went through and suffer in silence, then you’ve saved a life.”

The Singapore Mental Health Study 2010 identified Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as two of the top common disorders locally – so, in a bid to help us all understand them better, we’re taking a look at these illnesses, and what we, as a society, can do to help and understand those who suffer from them.

OCD

– A societal problem