Awareness and professional treatment of surging mental health afflictions still lacking

OCTOBER HAS BEEN Mental Health Awareness month and to celebrate it the Rotary Club of Melawati organised a special session for members and guests with two celebrated patient advocates. The speakers, 30-year-old Noven Jaisi and Salim Satori, 52, have both written books on their struggles to help the public become more aware of how “invisible” these conditions are.

Mental health issues have come to the fore lately due to Covid-19, but they have been on the rise with added stresses in the world. Conditions like bi-polar disorder, depression and schizophrenia are just a few of those which are well known. Malaysia still does not have enough mental health therapists. They include psychiatrists, psychologists and even counsellors to help diagnose and treat these conditions and thus many of those afflicted are left unattended with great costs to life and ultimately even the economy.

As people reach points of no return and require guidance, there has been a mushrooming of new digital mental health companies seeking to provide some respite for a growing audience. In time, some sort of regulatory board may be necessary to ensure that actual care is being dispensed via these online outlets.  

Yearly, there has been an increase in suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide rates by 13.1% and 9.5% respectively among Malaysian teens aged from 13 17 years, according to the National Health and Morbidity Study (NHMS). 

Noven Jaisi, who was diagnosed early and spent several months in treatment at a local hospital, shared his story on how support from family and close friends, and early intervention from an ex-employer basically helped him recover and manage his condition better. He writes about it in his book 'Make History' which is available at @novenjaisi on Instagram. He counts himself lucky as someone close to him noticed the destructive path he had set himself on and managed to get him help.

An accomplished filmmaker and media specialist, Noven works both locally and internationally, and is involved very closely with the rock band Beach Boys for their concerts. He also consults with actor/producer John Stamos on projects regularly. He admits that his career today would not be possible without the early intervention that he received.

Not enough professional advocates

Former corporate trainer and motivational speaker Salim Satori was devasted by the pandemic. It drove him to a state of depression that was so bad that he couldn’t even eat or sleep. A local general practitioner managed to diagnose his condition and put him on some medication to kick-start his journey to recovery. He details this together with in-depth analysis on his condition in his book 'Depression is so Painful'. The book is available for order on TikTok at @salim.satori. He believes in spreading the message of awareness and compassion for those suffering from mental health. Salim currently spends time and effort sharing mental health tips on his IG and TikTok.

Creating awareness for mental health is quickly becoming something that many organisations are advocating now. Malaysia has only 1.27 per 100,00 people ratio which is not enough to manage the current demand. Thus, we still don’t have enough professional advocates to speak up and share the appropriate stories to promote mental health.  With this scenario, inviting patient advocates who have been both diagnosed and currently speak widely about the conditions may be a more effective way of creating that awareness.

With Malaysia planning to create an Institute of Mental Health in future, we can hope that more professionals will be at hand to help alleviate the plight of these conditions with a more structured approach.

As we await that day, the Rotary clubs in Malaysia have decided to promote mental health awareness and their entire month’s seminars, activities and talks are online. More information on how you can join these are available at https://rcmd3300.blogspot.com/ – The Vibes, October 30, 2023