Tina Tan
If we were to spotlight every hot topic mental health issue in this month's newsletter, we would probably have to print an issue about two to three times the usual volume. Hence, we have narrowed our focus to psychiatry. In this issue, we carry an interview with Dr Chee Kuan Tsee, a well-known local figure in the psychiatric community, where he shared a glimpse into his past experiences working at the old Woodbridge Hospital. We have also included an article on community mental health by Dr Jerome Goh, which highlights the importance of having access to help beyond acute mental health services.
Instead of seeking doctors to write about their mental health experiences, which is understandably very difficult, we also have the honour of presenting illustrations by Dr Justinian Zai and Dr Ada Ngo. Their pieces showcase in varying levels of detail the unseen and unnoticed challenges that doctors may have. I hope their artwork encourages those in our profession who are struggling to seek help and to have hope.
Finally, Wong Shi Hui – an NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine student – is the latest addition to our student correspondent team, and will be helping to bring up issues that are pertinent to medical students and soon-to-be junior doctors. Welcome, Shi Hui.
Daniel Fung
I was at a meeting with doctors when one of them casually remarked that some plans for healthcare were rather schizophrenic. His comment was to illustrate how our services could be contradictory and cause perverse outcomes, but to me, the stigma of mental illnesses in his words stood out. Why do we not say that something is diabetic when things are not going well, or that it is hypertensive to push our workers so hard?
Many persons with mental illness struggle in their recovery and experience being marginalised. They slide down the social ladder and cannot be meaningfully occupied. Mental illness today is stigmatised like how leprosy was stigmatised in ancient times. Singapore's only mental hospital was built 95 years ago in the jungles around Hougang rather than downtown where the rest of the medical facilities like Singapore General Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital were located. Today, about 1,200 patients live as long-term residents in the Institute of Mental Health. About 40% to 60% of Singapore residents still do not want to live or work with someone suffering from a mental illness.1
This issue focuses on mental health and illness from different perspectives. From a senior psychiatrist, you can understand the historical development of our mental health ecosystem. We also have an artful communication about doctors who suffer from mental health issues as well as a glimpse into how community mental health is integrated into the overall health and well-being initiatives that underlie the concept of population health. Finally, we have a review of the Lasting Power of Attorney legal document under the Mental Capacity Act. I hope that with greater understanding, doctors will be more willing to help the least, the last and the lost in our society.