@swatiparekhji You are a good child to your mother. Thanks so much for sharing. I hope you also get the help you need to take care of yourself. Your own health and well-being is as important as your mum's. Take care and feel free to share here in our community forum, ok?

@ms-chellelai Thanks so much for sharing your personal experience with us. It must have been a distressing time for you to have gone through so much and to come so close to suicide. The fact that you're still here today is testament to your strength, and for that we just want to say we're proud of you and we're glad you're still with us <3 That's such an interesting point you brought up on how suicidal thoughts were expressed by "neurotypicals" and the possibility of them taking the option of euthanasia should it be legalised. It kinda makes one worry - how a person can reach that point so quickly and whether it was a genuine need masked by humour or flippant statements. It just goes to show that suicide is a real urgent issue that occurs under stressful situations without the factor of mental illness.

@ho-shuhuang Excellent pointers. Thanks for the elaboration! Yes, it's true that our conditions sometimes colour the way we communicate our needs or even limit our ability to articulate what we want. Sounds like it takes some level of self-awareness too! Journalling is probably a good starting point to help one work "backwards" as you've said, and to explore what one needs and what sort of reasons justify the decision to switch medical professionals. Life is too short to be "paiseh" in getting the help we deserve!

Hi there! There is a popular which says " The truth will set you free " it can be very difficult for you to discuss your mental condition with your family. Your reason be might be fear of shame or rejection, but in a journey of healing you will need a support group. If you are not comfortable discussing it with family. Telling a close or trusted friend can be considered at least for the meantime and when you are most ready please let them know. Family is still family. Pray for strength and enlightenment.

The first book that came to my mind was The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. *******DISCLAIMER: This book does NOT talk about recovery, and might be distressing for some readers.******** The Yellow Wallpaper is a short narrative about a lady who tries to make sense of her deteriorating mental health during the 19th Century. It is also known for in part as a feminist novel. Although this book is not about recovery, it was the first book that made me empathize with how someone with a mental health condition might feel when support & help is not given. As someone who never had any contact with mental health as a topic before, this book opened my eyes and made me so angry! It shed light on how society judged others so easily and how society can so comfortably enforce methods to cope with their own inability to understand the person - it is uncaring and unjust.

It's important to know that depression and its effects differ greatly from person to person, so it's hard to give an absolute answer on the difference between sadness and depression. However, a good way to differentiate between a feeling of sadness vs clinical depression is to be aware of how much of your life is affected by low mood, despondence, hopelessness. A feeling of sadness is well, a feeling Feeling sad is a healthy way of responding to a situation, like losing a loved one, facing disappointment etc. Depression on the other hand has been described by some people as prolonged and unexplained sadness. According to the DSM-V (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm), this feeling of prolonged sadness lasts more than two weeks and adversely affects the way we live. Sometimes depression manifests itself as toxic physical and emotional behaviours. These behaviours can range from being unable to sleep or eat, eating or sleeping too much, suicidal thoughts, a lack of interest that is out of character, etc.

@princesskaryllebagadomondon As people with lived experience, the idea of stigma is often twofold. First, there is social stigma, which is outside of us, and refers to the way people react or respond to us. Second, there is self stigma, which is our own internal reaction or response to ourselves and the conditions we might have. There probably isn't an easy solution to resolving stigma, but one thing we can do is to reach within ourselves and rewrite some of the stories we tell ourselves. We can't control the way people behave towards us, which can be quite hurtful, but we can control the way we see ourselves and our sense of worth. Sending strength your way!

@ourbetterworld I don’t think we can do much then. Therefore, self-care is important. However, we can always guide the person to someone who can give him/her a helping hand.

@Mai-Tatoy <3 <3 <3

@maitatoy @lynnchan @Eelin-Ong @Lin-Yanqin You are ALL right! Thank you for sharing your interpretation of what it means to be a Better Traveller! Indeed, Our Better World is about doing good where we live, right in our community, whereas with The Better Traveller, we hope to inspire travellers to do good while they're already on the move! Going on vacations is very much a regular thing for most city folks, and we want to make it easy for us to do good (for the environment and the communities we visit). And it can be in small ways. Like eating at a cafe that hires ex-offenders, or cycling through heritage sites in the city to reduce our carbon footprint. Small touches like these add up to a much bigger impact, that's better for people and better for our planet.

I recommend Art in Transit walk organised by Art Outreach Singapore. You get to explore the city on the MRT and get to know the art displayed at MRT stations. The art usually has something to do with the location of the MRT station. It's a great, simple way to discover the city not just for tourists but people who live in Singapore too! Info is at the bottom half of this page: https://www.artoutreachsingapore.org/what-we-do

@thetapestryproject-sg I love this. Re-framing seems like a great way not only to help others but ourselves as well. I will try this! Thank you!

Hi @eelinong, excellent question! From what we know so far, aside from the usual community help resources (https://thetapestryproject.sg/get-help-resources), there are groups within hospitals like KKH that offer support for parenting related challenges like post-partum depression - a condition that occurs in both women and men. There are also family service centres available for parents that are finding it hard to cope with the day-to-day demands of raising a family. NCSS also has a comprehensive list of mental health services open for the public (https://www.ncss.gov.sg/Press-Room/Publications/Detail-Page?id=Mental-Health-Resource-Directory) here are some resources that you can consider: - ComCare by Ministry of Social and Family Development - For low-income individuals and families who may require any form of social assistance which includes financial assistance - Helpline by Clarity Singapore Limited - Provides emotional support for individuals experiencing stress, anxiety, anger and depression - Support for Wellness Achievement Programme (SWAP) Hotline by Institute of Mental Health - Provides emotional support for individuals experiencing or at-risk of developing psychosis or other mental illnesses. - Yuan Yuan Helpline (Mandarin) by Shan You - Offers service to individuals facing bereavement, critical illness, unexpected challenges in their lives or who may just need a listening ear. - Insight Centre Service Provider by Singapore Association for Mental Health - A community-based programme that specialises in working with persons with mental health issues and their caregivers. Hope this helps!

For every famous site, there are usually lesser-known (but harder to access) options in the same country! For example, there are other Angkor-era ruins in Cambodia beyond the Angkor Wat complex, like Bantaey Chhmar. Visiting these ruins in a respectful way (as shared by Sharon above) also encourages nearby communities to take good care of the ruins, and in some cases, it even attracts funding for preservation and restoration, and creates demand for local community-based tourism initiatives.

Yea I am also a bit conflicted sometimes! I once went on a lovely trek + homestay in Sapa, Vietnam, and was "ambushed" by many indigenous elderly folks offering help to guide me through the terrain with the agenda of selling me their souvenirs... So it didn't feel quite right and I wasn't sure if the guide whom we paid had any arrangement with these elderly folks, whether it could've been better arranged so that the elderly folks could earn through the guide's fees rather than having to hard sell us souvenirs. The place was absolutely lovely though. It just felt like the guide was the only one benefitting from our trip.