LETTER | Call for mental health leadership

LETTER | The sudden psychological decompensation seen among Malaysians, in terms increased number of calls to helplines and a spike in the number of suicides could be related to loss of income, loneliness and change of lifestyle due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This scenario is likely to continue for some time as we continue to deal with the pandemic, and even as we recover from its aftermath. Issues concerning mental health that confronts us today need to be taken out from the purely medical domain.

Other mental health issues such as increased digital usage leading to addiction, Stigma in mental health, problems of substance abuse, coping skills and mental resilience particularly among the rural population and urban poor also need to be tackled beyond mere medical interventions.

Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin lamented that although it should not have been on his shoulders, he felt responsible for every death and suicide in the context of the pandemic. He admitted that there remains a lot to be done to mitigate Covid-19-related problems.

Undoubtedly the new government needs to put the war effort against Covid-19 on the top of its list. This may mean employing robust, dynamic, and contemporary approaches, particularly in mental health leadership.

The nomination of a content expert from the mental health NGO sector to the Dewan Negara will send a powerful signal across the nation and the international community of the new government’s commitment towards addressing mental health.

This is also in line with international trends. In Australia (state level) and in several European countries there are ministers for mental health. Other countries have mental health commissioners or chairpersons or ombudsman like bodies to safeguard the interests of persons with psychosocial disabilities and to ensure Employer commitment to the mental wellbeing of employees.

In Malaysia, traditionally the disability sector has been represented by a nominee of an organisation representing physical disabilities or blindness, in the Dewan Negara. The time has come to expand this representation to include a content expert from a mental health organisation. This will safeguard the interests of persons with psychosocial disabilities and their caretakers, in the legislative body.

The new prime minister may also want to consider creating a portfolio of a deputy minister of community mental health and wellbeing to galvanise support and action by multi-sectoral stakeholders to assist in the healing and rehabilitative process of nation-building. 

This approach would be better than adopting the conventional but inadequate purely clinical approach to mental health.

DR M MAHADEVAN is a retired consultant psychiatrist.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.