THE National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023 indicates that the number of people with depression has doubled in the last four years.
Around one million people in the country aged 16 and above (4.6 per cent) have depression, compared with half a million adults (2.3 per cent) in 2019.
This raises the question of why mental illness is on the rise and whether enough is being done to support those struggling with such conditions.
Mental health issues like depression have been around since time immemorial, says counselling psychologist Prem Kumar Shanmugam, who's also Solace Asia founder and chief executive officer.
The difference now is that we have become more aware of such issues and have better tools to diagnose them.
However, these issues may also be overdiagnosed or even misdiagnosed, he says.
For example, there is a huge difference between depression and feeling sad.
"Depression is a clinical diagnosis with symptoms like inability to sleep, massive weight loss and constant crying for no reason. Sadness, on the other hand, is just an emotion."
Due to easy access to information on the Internet, people can overdiagnose or misdiagnose themselves too.
Prem says there is a tendency for people to check their symptoms on Google or even self-medicate.
"This free flow of information hasn't always been helpful in this sense. However, the stressors of today are more intense than those of previous decades, and people may be less-equipped to manage these stressors."
Prem says during the pandemic, people began to realise how difficult it was to manage simple things. For example, living together in a home locked in for 24 hours, for two to three weeks, or even a month during the Movement Control Order period.
The stress of communicating with each other and managing relationships became apparent.
"We were too busy chasing things outside like working and paying bills, and suddenly, we needed to learn how to manage each other. So yes, the pandemic has definitely left an impact on mental health."
Now, as we adapt to Covid-19, people have started getting back to normal life.
But there is also a need to quickly jump back into action, which definitely increases the number of stressors.
This has led to a rise in mental health cases, especially for those predisposed to the condition.
Mental health issues affect people who are vulnerable, just like other diseases, explains Prem.
Some people are more susceptible due to genetic influence.
The most affected are usually young adults. Data indicates that these people are highly competitive in trying to start or restart their lives.
The pandemic has robbed us of productive time, disrupted lives and created the need to catch up, causing stress.
Additionally, economic and socio-political developments in the country have made things even more stressful.
Prem says this is compounded by the fact that today's youth have been relatively "pampered" compared with previous generations, making it
harder for them to navigate life's challenges.
INSUFFICIENT HELP
MALAYSIA still has a very low number of psychiatrists, not enough to cater to its population, whether in urban or rural areas.
Prem says psychiatry is a field not often chosen by doctors because it is stressful, the returns are not as great and it requires a lot of passion.
Mental health is a constant battle due to high relapse rates, he adds, and in Malaysia today, we have about 500 psychiatrists, which does not meet World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations.
WHO recommends one psychiatrist per 10,000 people, but the country has only 0.52 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. We also don't have enough psychologists in the country, he adds.
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