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Economic crisis may heighten depression during festive period
Channel NewsAsia - Monday, December 29
SINGAPORE: The global financial crisis has certainly put a damper on festive celebrations.
Experts say glum economic tidings may heighten feelings of loneliness or depression during the festive period.
Christmas is a season to be jolly but studies have shown that it isn’t so merry for some.
Tan—Lee Yoke Yin, deputy director of Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), said: "People who have suffered some losses tend to feel more acute during this period. There’s also a group which have been having depression all along, not because of any significant losses, and the festive period can also trigger deeper emotions in them."
Help hotline, SOS, tries to have more counsellors manning phones during the festive period. But it says more calls at this time does not point to more suicides.
Just recently, it was reported that debt collection was up in a down economy.
And experts warn that economic recession, if sudden and severe, can lead to an increase in suicide rates.
Tan—Lee Yoke Yin said: "We do have callers who have called because of unemployment issues — getting retrenched, getting into financial debts, because they just can’t manage their loans and mortgages."
But how do you tell whether it is just a bout of blues or serious depression?
Dr Chua Hong Choon, a senior consultant at Institute of Mental Health, said: "Negative emotions do not equal a medical problem. Persistently feeling sad, persistently feeling anxious....(for), say, two weeks and is so severe that you can’t function on a daily basis, you can’t go to work, you can’t look after your family, you can’t do the things you need to do or you lose interest in them and you have great difficulty doing them — these are signs, maybe, that you need to get some professional help."
The last national mental health survey done five years ago showed 5.6% of Singaporeans suffered from depression.
And the Institute of Mental Health saw close to 30% or 308 more depressive disorder outpatient cases last year than 2006.
— CNA/ir
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