Mental Health

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  Under what circumstances would you raise or discuss your mental health?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  What should we do when a friend or family members tells us they are feeling suicidal?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  What is recovery to you?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  Recovery to us is less a goal and more a healthy state of mind. Think about what a happy day looks like; recovery to us is just about having more good than bad days. This is not to say that bad days will never happen again. However, building mental resilience means we can identify our bad days and have positive strategies and good habits to get us through these tough times! Recovery is also accepting that we deserve all our good days as the norm.
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  Imagine you are experiencing symptoms of fatigue, low mood, insomnia and irritability - how do you decide if this is something serious?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  @Sharon-Lok thanks for the great tip on using apps! Aside from the period tracker, one of the apps we've come across is Dailyo, which lets us to rate our moods daily and record our activities. Pretty useful for people who prefer a more pictorial way of recording their moods! There's also Mood Panda which is similar but has a social function to it - it lets users publish their struggles publicly and receive "hugs" from those in the same thread/channel. If a person is not into apps, journaling and writing are also good ways to becoming more aware of their emotions. Simple things such as listing their symptoms as bullet points, or laying them out in a table really goes a long way in tangibly monitoring their moods across a period (or periods) of time.
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  How to be inclusive in mental health?
  • ourbetterworld  

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  What a great question! Inclusivity is a dynamic concept, but often means accepting and involving a person in any activity or decision without discriminating against them. An example of this would be hiring based on merit rather than other identity factors (gender, race, mental health, etc.) Another approach would be about "choice" - does the person have a say in making certain decisions, or are the decisions being made for the person? For example, the very act of being consulted for your opinion before a decision is made is a good indicator of a healthy and inclusive working environment! There are probably many ways to practice and show inclusion. What do you think?
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  Loneliness
  • Warmanadarsh2504  

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  @Warmanadarsh2504 It sounds like you're going through a tough time finding someone to hear you out. We're sorry that you're going through this right now... Loneliness can be a crippling and overwhelming emotional state to be in. We can't specifically advise you on how to improve your relationship with your friends or family, but there are others who are willing to talk with you through these difficult times. Perhaps consider speaking with a counsellor? There are a number of mental health helplines which @maitatoy has provided. Some of them are free. You're never alone, and help is available. You can even remain anonymous for some of these services. We hope you'll feel better after speaking to someone who is trained and who would also talk to you without judging. Sometimes loneliness can be our friend. It allows us to be still in this noisy world, and from that we develop greater strength and resilience.
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  Relapse is a real and much dreaded possibility for people in recovery. Is it preventable and how should we help ourselves and others when relapse happens?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  I think it's helpful to see a mental health condition as a chronic condition not unlike diabetes. I personally believe an absolute cure does not exist but the condition can be well-managed. In other words, if we don't take the necessary steps to take care of ourselves, we will invariable relapse. It's not a matter of if, but when. Preventing that involves several things. If medication works, then it must be taken regularly and consistently, even if things appear to get better. That's not to say one must be on medication for life. If an individual chooses to go medication-free, or if medication doesn't work, then self-care must be prioritised. This includes understanding one's triggers and environmental circumstances which could lead to a relapse. It's hard to generalise across all mental health conditions, but I've found the more you understand of your condition, the more you accept it as part of who you are, the more you'll know what to do to prevent a relapse, and the greater the confidence you'll have to actually do these things. Sadly, we often know what we should do but we don't have the guts to stand up for ourselves.
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  What are the qualities of a good psychiatrist or therapist?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  For both psychiatrist and therapist: - Empathy - Patience For a psychiatrist: - Ability to present the condition and treatment plan clearly to the patient - Familiarity with the latest research in the treatment of the medical condition - Familiarity with the drugs prescribed, including side-effect profiles (most do not spend enough time talking about potential side-effects) - Ability to have a mature discussion with an informed client on his/her condition (there's a lot of good information available on the internet so patients may actually know a thing or two) For a therapist: - Flexibility in approach (what works for one client may not work for another) - Ability to distill the essence of what a client is sharing - Ability to offer a range of activities (I've found a session is only as useful as the homework provided)
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  Is it safe to take medication to manage my 'symptoms'?
  • lynnchan  

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  At a basic level, all drugs are "harmful" in that they seek to do something to your body that is not natural. In that sense, it is poisonous. But that doesn't make drugs bad. They clearly can be very helpful in making us better. A better question to ask is if taking the drug is risky, or if the pros of taking the drug outweigh the cons. In a general sense, all medication dispensed in Singapore is strictly regulated with that in mind. Drugs are only approved for use in the treatment of medical conditions if there is sufficient scientific evidence to demonstrate they are reasonably effective with manageable side-effects. A drug is "safe" in that the pros of taking the drug to treat a condition outnumber possible cons in the form of side-effects. That said, patients typically experience varying degrees of side-effects. This is particularly the case for psychiatric medication. Some experience none, others experience many, and the list of side-effects can be very long. To someone who experiences many side-effects which makes taking the drug unbearable, the drug may therefore seem "unsafe" if experiencing side-effects in the long-run is harmful. For example, prolonged weight problems, or insomnia, which some psychiatric medication can cause as a side-effect is probably harmful in the long run. Taking the drug might therefore not be a good idea as the risk of harm caused by side-effects could outweigh any positive benefit. There is also some concern that taking medication is unsafe as it could be addictive in the long-run. This is tricky to understand as the term "addiction" is often used interchangeably with "dependence". The difference between the two is an addiction involves craving the drug, whereas dependence doesn't. Psychiatric drugs are not addictive in the sense you will not crave them, like nicotine in cigarettes. There, however, are more studies now showing they can lead to dependence in the sense that your body will indeed get used to having them and suddenly stopping or dropping a dose could result in discomfort. This is called "discontinuation syndrome." It is difficult to anticipate who might experience this - some can stop taking psychiatric medication with no side-effects, whereas others will suffer from a whole host of side-effects with even the slightest drop. As such, the general advice to avoid this is to see your doctor regularly if you're taking psychiatric medication and to not change doses or stop taking it suddenly. A related question is whether psychiatric medication is effective. This is difficult to answer conclusively. There are many psychiatric conditions, many more psychiatric drugs, and even more types of patients. Unlike treating a broken bone, where what should be done is well established, treating mental health conditions involves a degree of trial and error unfortunately. My experience could be instructive. I suffer from depression, and I've gone through a long list of antidepressants. None of them really worked for me. That's not to say they didn't work for others. For every person who claimed an antidepressant did not work, you can find another who said it worked wonders for them. Anecdotes aside, scientific studies also do not offer more clarity. There are studies which show antidepressants work, and others which show they do not. I've personally concluded that drugs do not work for me. BUT this comes after many years of trying different medication and giving each a fair shake. The best one can do is to really listen to your body and make your own decision based on your own personal experience. What's important is you try to get better and not given up hope, recognising there are many ways to tackle a mental health challenge. The use of medication is only of several possible options to get better. For me, medication did very little for me, therapy helped a little, but regular exercise helped a lot more (in terms of immediate relief).
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  How important is community to you when it comes to your personal recovery?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  What happens if someone I care about does not want to seek professional help?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  Many youths who completed suicide are either students or serving the national service, are there any support available to them from schools and the army? Are our educators or national service aware?
  • ourbetterworld  

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  Every life lost is one life too many. Suicide is a real and urgent issue, and we believe that prevention is better than cure. While we can't speak for the army or our schools, the key resource we turn to for suicide intervention are Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), which has a 24/7 hotline (1800 221 4444). They also have a counselling email (pat@samaritans.org.sg) if the call does not go through. Other hotlines available are Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800 283 7019 and Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 1800 353 5800. Alternatively, you could also dial 995 or call the nearest hospital that might admit the person through A&E. Ideally, educators and army personnel should be mental health literate so they can spot early signs of distress and intervene before things escalate. And as the general public, we can also do our part to be more informed, practice empathy, and be ready to help someone who might be struggling.
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  What are some examples of drawing healthy emotional boundaries? I'm afraid that people will think I'm being selfish
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  My depressive episodes are all-consuming, I can't seem to pull myself out of a negative headspace. Do you have any advice on how I can help myself?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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  What are signs of things that could possibly be a trigger to my mental illness? Are there any telltale signs?
  • thetapestryproject.sg  

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