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. So they will call them and make sure that they are okay, and give them medication and give them another appointment to come back when it is safer.
Question
Will there be elevated stress for caregivers during pandemics like the COVID-19 crisis?
Doctor's Answers 1
Similar Questions
What are the challenges you faced at the COVID-19 quarantine zones (aside from the heat), maybe on the personal or mental level?
There are a few challenges, and fasting is definitely one of them. I just went back to back today, and actually I feel -- even after half a session, half a day I feel drained. But today I went the whole day, and I tell you, I feel really drained right now. My mouth is dry. And when I got back just now, I was just flat. I’m glad I got home in one piece. The other challenge is actually communication. Because we want to explain to them what the process is like, we also need to ask some questions about their health.
How can I help my teenage son handle his feelings about wanting to be a girl?
It will be good to get your son to be evaluated by a psychiatrist who is experienced in evaluating and treating people with gender identity issues. Many teenagers have these kinds of concerns and it is pertinent to see if these feelings will persist. These individuals may be binary trans (man or woman), gender fluid (a person's gender changes over time or depending on his/her emotions or situation), or non-binary (where he/she is somewhere between masculine and feminine). Many people have doubts about their gender or gender expression(even cisgender people).
Read Next
Get The Pill
Be healthier with our Bite-sized health news straight in your inbox