Dr Alvona Loh

Various factors are associated with a higher risk for Postpartum depression. These factors are delineated in a narrative review by Ghaedrahmati et al [1]. You may read this article for more information about other Postnatal Mental Conditions.

What Does A Psychiatrist in Singapore Do? A psychiatrist in Singapore is a medical doctor who: Sees patients with mental health conditions Able to prescribe medications and interventions such as ECT (Electro-convulsive Therapy) when necessary. Read this article for the ultimate guide to seeing a psychiatrist in Singapore. What Does A Psychologist in Singapore Do? A psychologist in Singapore is an allied health professional who: Practices clinical psychology They can give psychotherapy to patients such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), psychodynamic psychotherapy etc.

Thank you for your question. Although acne is medically a skin condition, it brings about a multitude of psychological effects such as depression and anxiety. It is important to attend to your mental health as well. What Should I Do About My Acne-related Depression? You may go to see a doctor at a polyclinic for an assessment to see if you require a referral to a psychiatrist for possible acne-related depression. They may allow you to see a psychologist at the polyclinic or refer you to a psychiatrist based on their assessment. Here are some useful resources for depression that may help you.

If your friend has been clinically diagnosed with depression, you can play a supportive role by: Helping to ensure that your friend keeps to his or her follow-up appointments with the psychiatrist Adheres to the management plan including medications or psychotherapy/counselling sessions if any. Help your friend by not treating him or her with stigma or prejudice due to his/her mental health condition. You may also lookout for any warning signs such as thoughts of harming oneself or others.

Can Psychotherapy Replace Medication? Psychotherapy is available for conditions such as anxiety and depression, however, whether or not they can replace medications depend on your individual condition and its progress and severity. Some people only require counseling for mental health conditions, some people require medications, some require both. It is best to speak to your healthcare provider first instead of replacing medications with psychotherapy on your own, in case it leads to a relapse of your mental condition due to non-compliance to medications.

Some people say that it is difficult to speak over the screen, but I think that it is better than nothing and I think that some of us are willing to improve their technology, perhaps to see what are some of the problems that the patient's face, or the doctor's face. I think that there is a market for it, to see if there are any loopholes. I encourage people to keep an open mind, especially since we are at the starting stage of these technologies, to kind of embrace them and give them a try to see whether it works out.

This is something we need more data on. But if you look at the mental health campaigns or the communities for the help of psychiatric patients, those stigmas usually come from not just family or friends, but also in the workplace. In IMH for example, there have been a lot of efforts to try to debunk some misconceptions on psychiatric illnesses. One of the famous examples I like to share is if you look at Ellen DeGeneres or JK Rowling, we may never be as successful or productive as them. But they have actually had depression sometime in their life.

Higher Risk Population #1: Caregivers The first population I want to zoom in is caregivers of stroke patients. And I want to talk about stroke patients mainly because the ageing population is a big problem. We have a"silver tsunami" currently, whether it is Singapore or Japan, many of the developed countries actually, we are actually facing this problem. Stroke has been ranked the top causes of disability for many years according to WHO. I will introduce you to some terms like incidence and prevalence.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the services in Singapore are stressed and manpower is short. It's a strain to the healthcare system and IMH is our largest psychiatry hospital in Singapore. We do have some manpower that is deployed elsewhere, but we still have general practitioners in polyclinics or in private practice who can refer them to IMH if necessary. So that means that they are always open for the very severe cases, whereas, for the milder cases, from what I understand, there will be a phone call made to existing patients.

The basic definition of Mental Health according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is when an individual has stressors in life and that individual can work productively, that usually is not considered a psychiatric issue. Points to note: When this ability and impairment of function occurs, that is when treatment and intervention are to be conducted. In all parts of the world, mood and anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses. Psychiatry is not just depression or anxiety.

I think that telemedicine is actually a new thing for everyone in Singapore. Whether it is psychiatric or not but we have started zoom meetings and held zoom family conferences when necessary. From what I observed it's quite fruitful but for everyone we have to see if it's helpful in the long run as it is still too early. I am someone who embraces technology and I think that telehealth is something the world is looking at and not just Singapore. At some point in time, we have to learn to use it and maybe even make it better for the whole consultation for psychiatric patients.