More people in Singapore have been seeking help for mental health issues amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Straits Times spoke to more than a dozen mental health clinicians and service providers from the public, private and community sectors.
Most of them said there has been a significant rise in the number of help-seekers across different age groups.
Mr Asher Low, executive director of Limitless, a non-profit youth mental health organisation, said the organisation has seen over 250 new clients seeking help so far this year – 13 more than the number of new clients for the whole of last year.
But it is not just the young whose mental well-being has suffered due to the pandemic.
O’Joy, a voluntary welfare organisation looking after the mental health of seniors, saw a 26% increase in the number of clients in August and last month compared with the same period last year.
O’Joy clinical director Teo Puay Leng said seniors who are still working may be anxious about losing their jobs and being unable to find another one in the current economic climate, while others are affected by their loved ones getting retrenched.
Those who are used to taking part in outdoor activities have also become anxious as they have had to stay home on their own, she said.
Meanwhile, Samaritans of Singapore – which focuses on suicide prevention – received 26,460 calls for help from January to August this year, up from 21,429 in the same period the year before.
Chief executive Gasper Tan said callers sought help for issues arising from the economic impact of COVID-19, stress from having to adapt to telecommuting and home-based learning, and social relationships affected by the virus situation.
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Source: The Straits Times, 10 October 2020