World Mental Health Day 2023: Mental Health is a Universal Human Right

Every year on the 10th of October, we celebrate World Mental Health Day (WMHD) to encourage awareness and discussion on mental health. This year's theme, "Mental Health is a Universal Human Right" highlights the importance of breaking stigma around mental health and prioritising accessible, quality mental health care for ALL.

I was given the opportunity today to share my thoughts with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as well as BFM, and I think sharing some insights here may be beneficial to some of you reading out there. (hello!)

Stigma refers to "a set of negative beliefs that a society has about something" and in this case, mental health.

Stigma sounds like... "people with mental illness are weak..."..."don't pray enough"..."aren't grateful"..."it's a first world problem"..."just need to try harder"...and even "are facing karma due to their ancestor's sins".

Through reading up on several papers published in the UK, and closer to home, Singapore, stigma also looks like...

not wanting to live next to someone with a mental illness

not wanting to be married to someone with mental illness (70% of respondents!)

not wanting to work closely with someone with mental illness.

it's not hard to see how stigma can affect someone, but what I want to highlight is how not only does it discourage people from seeking help, but how it perpetuates their illness.

We know from studies that the average time it takes for someone to seek help for their mental health is 4 YEARS (and most people would rather see any kind of doctor -- neuro, gastro you name it -- before seeing a mental health professional). Additionally, it's hard enough living with a condition where your mind is 'calling you' defective, but having others treat you that way is excruciating.

Stigma: Where is Malaysia now?

While I don't think stigma is going anywhere anytime soon, I think what I've noticed in the past few years especially since covid is how its grip has loosened in our Malaysian (especially urban) society.

I spoke on the radio interview about how I don't hear people using dehumanising terms to describe someone with mental illness (crazy / gila) as often as I did growing up. Rarely do I hear inappropriate jokes about Tanjung Rambutan anymore and instead, what I have noticed is the expansion of vocabulary when it comes to describing someone's emotional experience. Whether it is "depressed", "murung", or even "burnout" or "mental breakdown".

What are some of the differences between urban and rural Malaysia / in different communities?

I won't pretend to know very much about it as I work mostly in KL. But a recent study on stigma of mental illness found that but those in rural areas are actually more accepting of those with mental illness -- even if they may not have a name for it -- because of communal values relating to responsibility and compassion towards one another. Basically "your problem is my problem" (for better or for worse?). Vs. in cities where we have moved towards more individualistic values and our life is centred around work and close ones only. I think this serves as important insight as to the kind of approach and work that can be done to continue to create awareness and provide treatment. Meaning, if in rural areas especially, the sense of community is strong then we want to empower them by providing psychoeducation (like mental health literacy) to their community leaders: be it their ketua kampung, ADUN representative, or spiritual leader. I think the idea is to integrate mental health awareness into something that they already feel comfortable / are familiar with. And I see this happening already with church leaders entering masters in psychology programs, islamic spiritual intervention groups hiring mental health professionals (yessiree true story) and this feels like 10 steps forward.

Comparatively, the work that needs to continue to be done in urban areas is to empower systems : whether its policies, public or private service, or the WORKFORCE by continuing to spread mental health literacy.

Mental health in the workplace : how open are people about having conversations with the people they work with?

I think it really depends on the workplace culture of the organisation.

I work with a lot of individuals who fear disclosing their condition due to fear of discrimination based on their own experience or observing someone else go through it (eg. being let go / not hired due to having a diagnosis) and I also work with individuals whose company is very supportive: from having internal access to mental health help (company benefits / claimable), to different kind of accommodations like given a couple of hours off for appointments, to having a back-to-work procedure for those that have had to take prolonged leave due to a mental health condition.

It's important for employers and colleagues to understand that our mental health exists on a spectrum and it is not a continuous, permanent state of being. Example: a person with a heart condition doesn't have a heart attack every day, a person with diabetes doesn't have their insulin level shoot up every second either. Similarly, people who have a diagnosis like depression, anxiety etc can and do experience happiness or productivity!

What about friends and family -- how do they receive a friend / loved one's diagnosis?

It's obviously not easy hearing that someone you care about is struggling.

And we respond in different ways when we are uncomfortable or afraid. They might be shocked or even feel responsible for the diagnosis. I think especially with family it takes time for them to digest and understand what a diagnosis means, and what they can do to help, so give them time! Let them come for a session with the mental health professional so that they can learn more, or to even 'come to terms' with it which I know may sound absurd (i'm the one with the diagnosis not them!) but it is what it is -- loving someone means feeling responsible towards them --.

What can policymakers do when it comes to destigmatising mental health issues?

I think we've taken the right step to decriminalise suicide. It's a long time coming. The Mental Health Act also now empowers members of law enforcement (police etc) to intervene in mental health crises, which hopefully means that different levels of enforcement are now trained to assist with mental health crises. In fact I think it should be necessary for those in public service especially police officers, firefighters, and of course medical professionals, teachers to be given training in mental health literacy / mental health first aid.

Our children are also highly at-risk and while the "Let's Talk Mental Health" campaigns have been successful at creating awareness amongst the young, at present there are not enough professionals / counsellors in schools to effectively manage this. So more positions need to be made available in the public service.

To close, all of us from different layers in society whether as a mental health professional, manager, family member, community leader, or friend can play a part in breaking stigma related to mental health. And I do believe that we are headed in the right direction -- it is up to us to continue pushing through and to have compassion for ourselves and those around us for the sake of a healthier, thriving nation.

To listen to the interview click here --> https://www.bfm.my/podcast/evening-edition/inside-story/world-mental-health-day-lets-talk-about-it