Stigma worsens mental illness

A newspaper (MindYourBody) article from a few months (Jan 2007) back. My own views are placed below of the article.

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Stigma worsens mental illness

By Shefali Srinivas -
The Straits Times

A steady, simple job and acceptance from people are top of the wishlist for patients recovering from mental illnesses. But these very things are in short supply and have significant impact on whether the road to recovery is rocky or smooth.

Even though mental illness can strike any one at any age - people with these conditions face fear, hostility and disapproval rather than compassion, support and understanding.

This stigma and the role it plays in mental illness was the subject of a recently concluded study at Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Singapore.

Nurse educator Poh Chee Lien, who was involved in the study, said the aim was to find out the extent to which patients encountered stigma and if they had any strategies to deal with it.

While the study results are yet to be published, it was conducted by nurses who looked specifically at schizophrenia and the stigma that recovering schizophrenics face.

For the full article, refer to the link below
Stigma worsens mental illness

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In one of the last few lines of the article, Prof Chong said "'You can gauge how civilised a society is by the way they treat their mentally ill." I would say, we can gauge how gracious and how kind/unkind a society is by the way they treat the mentally ill.

Those who go through mental illnesses are treated as outcasts. Yet I find myself seeing that their discrimination comes from their fears of what they do not understand. For a society like Singapore, it can be rather difficult to accept that we actually are still so ignorant, filled with so much misperceptions and intolerance. Yet as mentioned, in all honest truth, can we blame them? I don't think we can or should. For it is all too human for us to fear the unknown. What then can be done to fight the stigma? What can we do more to spread understanding and awareness.

How much are we all as part of society doing our part in listening?

I hope to see the day where mental illness sufferers here can be treated with more kindness, understanding and acceptance.

Depression May Be Early Sign of Parkinson's Disease

By Jeffrey Perkel
HealthDay Reporter Fri Apr 27, 11:47 PM ET

FRIDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- In some cases, depression can be an early manifestation of Parkinson's disease, new research suggests.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health compared antidepressant use among more than 1,000 individuals with Parkinson's disease to more than 6,600 age- and gender-matched individuals without the degenerative neurological illness.

They found that people currently on antidepressants had an 80 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease than those who had never taken antidepressants. This was true for both men and women, regardless of age or the class of antidepressant used.

For the full article refer to the below link
Depression may be early sign of Parkinson's disease

Six-fold increase in eating disorders among teenagers since 2002

Six-fold increase in eating disorders among teenagers since 2002
By Janice Ng and Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 February 2007 2019 hrs


Photos 1 of 2
SINGAPORE: The number of teenagers with eating disorder has increased six-fold since 2002.

The Singapore General Hospital said 140 new cases are reported every year.

But only 10 to 20 percent of them are seeking treatment.

A study of some 1,000 girls across Asia, aged between 15 and 17, shows teenage girls suffer from a severe lack of confidence.

In Singapore, more than eight in ten want to change the way they look, while six in ten feel bad about themselves because of looks or weight.

Read more here
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/259641/1/.html

Mad Medusa Mum

Mad Medusa mum

By Judith Tan - Apr 4, 2007
The Straits Times

Looking at my three-year-old, people say I'm a great mother and that my daughter, Victoria, is clever and well-adjusted.

But they would be surprised if they knew this: In the first few months of her life, I entertained graphic thoughts of picking her up, opening the window of my flat and throwing her out of it.

I was going through post-partum depression.

I can laugh now, but at that time it was no laughing matter. I didn't realise what was happening. I just felt overwhelmed by this little person who didn't like to sleep.

I guess I had really set myself up for deep disappointment.

I got pregnant when I was 26 and I wanted to go the natural way. I looked for a gynaecologist who believed in it, and I even went on radio to tell listeners that I wouldn't have an epidural.

When my friend, a mother of three, heard the show, she called to say I was mad to have such high expectations of myself.

She was right. It turned out to be a difficult birth and I ended up going through an emergency C-section.

I also thought that, after the birth, the nurse would clean the baby, put her in my arms and my husband would take a snapshot which would be picture perfect - like we see on TV.

It was nothing like that.

When I looked at the photo, I was dishevelled and my face like kena bus langah (like a bus had hit me).

When I went home with Victoria, I had to cope with my C-section wound, a crying and non-sleeping baby, and bleeding nipples.

All these little things added up - making me feel like a loser. It was no wonder I went into depression.

Read the full article below
http://justwoman.asiaone.com.sg/motherhood/stories/20070404_001.html

The gift of listening

Friend

"When we honestly ask ourselves
Which person in our lives means the most to us,
we often find that it is those who,
instead of giving too much advice, solutions or cures,
have chosen rather to share our pain
and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand.
The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion,
who can stay with us in an hour of grief or bereavement,
who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing,
and face us with the reality of our powerlessness,
that is a friend who cares.
- Henri J. M. Nouwen "Out of Solitude;Three Meditations on the Christian Life"

Listen

When I ask you to listen to me,
and you start giving advice,
you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me,
and you begin to tell me why I shouln't feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me,
and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems,
you have failed me, strange as that may seem.

Listen! All I asked was that you listen.
Not talk or do -- just hear me.

Advice is cheap;
a quarter will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.

And I can do for myself;
I'm not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and weakness.

But when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I quit trying to convince you and get about the business of understanding what's behind this irrational feeling. And when that's clear, the answers are obvious and I don't need advice.

Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what's behind them.

Perhaps that's why prayer works sometimes for some people -- because God is mute, and He doesn't give advice or try to fix things. He may just listen and let you work it out for yourself.

So, please listen and just hear me -- and, if you want to talk,
wait a minute for your turn; and I will listen to you.

Anonymous