Mental Health in Youths
(Interview)
Interviewer: Anonymous PeacePod Volunter​
Interviewee: Choy Yuki, Co-founder of PeacePod
"So firstly, can I ask what you think is the level of importance of youths being aware of mental health?"
"I think that it is definitely of utmost importance because as we all know the commonly quoted statistic of 1 in 5 people will face a mental health issue across their lifetime, which means that there is a very real possibility that yourself or someone very close to you would come across this at some point of time and I'm sure we would want to be as equipped as possible on how to help ourselves and how to help our loved ones so definitely it is very important that everyone and not just youths are aware about mental health"
"In a recent study by the National University of Singapore, it was found that 1 in 10 teenagers in Singapore suffer from at least one mental health disorder. Additionally, according to the 2022 National Population Health Survey, the prevalence of poor mental health had increased from 13.4 per cent in 2020 to 17 per cent in 2022. Of those, the youngest surveyed age group, 18-to-29, actually had the highest proportion of poor mental health at 25.3 per cent."
"So, what do you think might be some of the factors contributing to the rise in poor mental health in the younger generation nowadays?"
“I think perhaps the rise in the statistics and the prevalence in mental health issues from 2020 to 2022 could be not just due to the fact that they are more people having mental health issues but because more people who are experiencing issues are going to seek help, and I think that's because of the significantly increased higher mental health literacy. Since the covid times, mental health has become a much more talked about topic. I think that this increase in awareness I get is what's contributing to people realizing that ‘hey so some of this behavior that I'm doing is actually not okay and it's actually of concern and I should be going to seek help’ so I think that could be a possible reason for the rise”
"Now in today's digital age, how do you think technology and social media, as something frequently used by the younger generations, may impact their mental health?"
I think what this question is driving at is the traditional way that people think about social media and mental health which is that it negatively impacts when you see like celebrities or even their friends having certain things that they wish they have for example like traveling and stuff and it makes you feel bad about yourself. But personally I think that social media isn't exactly the source but more of that it triggers certain insecurities that we have which then social media will not be the issue but it just helps you to realize that these are some areas that I feel a bit insecure about. For example, if I have like body image issues then this can actually be quite a useful point for you to self-reflect on like “I think I seems to have body image issues, what can I do about this? how can I maybe take actions to make sure that I feel more secure about myself and more at peace and not feel so insecure about my body?”
Another area that I think that social media and technology have impacted mental health is the increase in spreading awareness. As I mentioned previously, I think a lot of the rise in mental health literacy significantly from 2020 to 2022 was helped and facilitated by social media and technology. It is quite hard for us to be able to get to know about such issues without social media in our daily lives, especially with the environment that we were raised in. I believe for our generation we weren’t raised to think of things in a mental health angle and we were taught to press on and suppress feelings. I think it is really technology and social media, especially for myself, that make you realize that this shouldn't be the way that we're dealing with things and there's a better way to deal with it
"Well from your experience, how do today’s youths tend to deal with their mental health issues?"
I think for most of us, when we feel stressed, our first instinct would be to suppress it in avoidance, and I think this is definitely not healthy nor sustainable because even if you suppress them, the feelings don't go away. Not dealing with them when they surface could lead to them bottling up and maybe exploding into an outburst or breakdown one day which would be even more distressing for people to feel and they would feel a lot more out of control. If you suppress your feelings too much, it could cause you to become completely numb to your feelings and opinions which I don't think is very healthy.
Another way that youths tend to do with their mental health issues is to talk to their friends and I think that this depends on the personality of your friends and the emotional maturity of both you and your friend. Personally, I find that certain friends that I talk to don't exactly understand how I'm feeling and cannot relate to it or are not able to give me the best advice and respond to it in the best way which sometimes also makes me feel “why am I the only one that feels this way?” While I have the awareness to realize that this is a personality difference issue, for those without this awareness, this could be quite dangerous and can add on to the misconception of “my feelings are invalid”. Whereas if you talk to someone who's a bit more comfortable with sharing emotions and are able to respond to you in a mature and sensible way, then I think it could be quite useful. So I think it really depends on your friends - you will need to gauge if they are the kind of friends you can talk to about these things.
"Do you think there is still a stigma surrounding mental health issues among young people that impact their willingness to seek help?"
"Besides the stigma, what do you think are the most significant challenges or barriers that young people face in terms of seeking help for mental health?"
As I mentioned, in the recent two or three years, the situation has definitely greatly improved, but I think we still have not reached a total state of acceptance yet and this would definitely take time. I think that this would definitely decrease someone's willingness to seek help. For example, I think that there's still quite a huge concern whereby if you're struggling and you have then you're wondering whether or not to tell your friend, especially if you're someone who already has a certain image in people's minds, say being like happy and cheerful and that’s something that you want to maintain. If you suddenly share with them about your issues, then you're worried how would this affect them and you don't really want to risk that. I think that can definitely be a barrier in them seeking help.
In school, you’d also worry about getting passed up for opportunities or when voting for chairpersons, would people not want to vote for me because they think I'm unstable? So I think that that's still definitely a very real concern that is stopping people from seeking help and we can definitely do more to increase the acceptance.
I think one of the biggest of issues that youths would face when they are going through mental health struggles and something that I also relate to quite a lot would be telling your parents. I think that between quite a lot of us and our parents, there is a communication gap. When you say things like “I'm kind of stressed out by school work”, typically a lot of parents would be like “why are you so stressed out? You already have so much less than I had to deal with and I was fine, why are you feeling like this?” This sort of like gas lighting definitely will not be healthy for youth’s mental health. When youths raise mental health concerns, I think they would also be worried how this would impact their position in schools, them being considered for jobs in the future and they wouldn’t think of suggesting you to seek help and wouldn’t want to accept the fact that their child is facing such a concern. I think that is a huge issue, especially because youths below 18 aren’t allowed you Use aren't allowed to see like mental professionals on their own if there below the age of 18 so that could definitely deprive a young person who is not in the best relationship with their parents from getting the help that they need. As I mentioned previously, you would also worry about how your friends would see you, even your closest friends. They could be worried that their friends would not include them in certain things out of consideration or walk on eggshells around them. So these are a lot of things of concern for someone thinking whether or not to seek help.
"How can youths know when to take a step back when supporting their friends?"
“I think this would definitely depend on the situation. As a friend, if your friend comes and complains to you, you also have to see how badly this is affecting them. There's a huge difference between they're feeling bad they’re having a bad day and they vent to you about it and you give them some advice and they are quite emotionally resilient and are able to quickly bounce back move on and they can still move on in that daily life about being so affected, then I think that amount would still be fine and it wouldn't be too taxing on the friend.
Whereas if you see that this is affecting your friends’ sleep schedule, eating schedule like this is really taking a huge toll on them daily, then I think that's the point where as a friend, you should realize that hey maybe you should seek help. I think it's also great that now it's such a commonly talked about topic so it's not exactly too awkward for you to bring up like ‘hey I think this could be an issue that is like relevant to you right now, why you consider’. Just raising it as a possibility, I don’t think anyone would feel too offended by it with the increase in awareness nowadays. For sure the ideal situation if you're really going through a lot of intense emotions frequently would be to consult a mental health professional and go see a therapist because like I mentioned earlier, your friends also may not be able to give you the best response and it's kind of a risk that you're taking. Especially when you are very emotionally vulnerable, I think it's best that you get the best kind of response and not take that chance cause it could really have quite an adverse impact if your friends don't receive it well and it can affect your self image also and and the way that you feel about yourself and your feelings.
So I think if that option is available, definitely do try to consult a mental professional when you are in times of breakdown. Then for your friends, after you have talked it through and processed your feelings a bit, then you can still share your friends and it wouldn't be at a too unmanageable state cause then your friend also wouldn't know what to do and then you also risk getting like a suboptimal result”
So in the 2022 National Population Health Survey, it was also found parents struggled to recognize their children's mental health concerns, with only one in 10 parents indicating they would notice symptoms in their children, whereas one in three youths would self-report them.
"What role do you think can families and the community can play in fostering a supportive environment for youths?"
Actually I think that it's not that big an issue if parents struggle to realize the symptoms in their children as that's also a job that only mental health professionals would be the most accurate at. But I think the bigger issue is when your child does raise them out to you, you don't dismiss them and be respectful of it and validate them. As I mentioned just now, not dismissing them and gaslighting them for having certain problems. It's quite a difficult time for youths and they look up to their parents quite a lot since young so their parents' responses definitely matter a lot and can have a huge impact on youths’ mental health going forward. So I think whenever a child does tell their parents, as a parent, just listen and try to understand as much as possible exactly what they're going through and be like accepting towards them, not look at them any differently just because they're struggling nor see something wrong with them and still love them unconditionally and also of course be respectful towards their feelings and opinions and not impose their own judgment on them.
A child's personality and thoughts can be quite different from their parents and I think that parents would sometimes be quite taken aback by this but as parents, you should definitely be accepting towards this and acknowledge and not take offense at it. Only then can you really help your child deal with this properly and help them to see the help. Encourage them to not think of themselves as defective and really just give them your full support going through this and that you won’t love them any less from this - I think that would be the best thing that a parent can do for a child.
"Are there any changes in media representation that you believe could positively impact youth mental health?"
“Increasingly, I'm seeing articles about celebrities, pop singers, actresses etc. opening up about their mental health struggles. I think that can be really quite powerful to especially youths who idolize these celebrities because youths look up to them so much and what they have achieved. For these people who are considered very successful in their area to also have mental health struggles before and even right now, I think that's really saying that mental health issues won't limit your ability and potential to achieve anything and you can still despite that achieve and do as well and even better than other people who don't have such issues. I think that's really powerful especially to young people who haven't exactly figured out their identity yet.
For myself, I also relate to that. I remember in 2020 I was really into BTS’ SUGA and he wrote about struggling with depression, anxiety and OCD in songs. That was actually my first exposure to mental health issues and that really made me gain a lot of empathy towards this cause and also made me want to research more so I think that these people of influence and who hold so much influence over young people [opening up about mental health struggles] is definitely very powerful”