Question by PM: Is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD as common as Depression and Anxiety? What is the relationship between BPD and substance use?

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

To fit the diagnosis of BPD, the person should demonstrate a variety of psychological and behavioral difficulties. In general, a person who is considered to be Borderline has an "unstable" personality (hence the word borderline - its at the border of one side or the other). A person with BPD may have unstable self-image and/ or relationships, long-term feelings of abandonment and/ or emptiness, self-harming/ suicidal behaviors, and emotional lability (e.g. intense emotions that are quick to change).

Compared to common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, personality disorders are not as common. A personality disorder, as the word "personality" suggests, has more to do with a person's identity, and as such, is considered to be a long-term mental health issue that requires the person to learn how to manage. An example of the difference between depression/ anxiety and a personality disorder is something like having a flu which may come and go (depression/ anxiety) as compared to having hair on your head (it'll always be there, you'll have to manage it by grooming it well).

A person's identity is usually fully formed by late adolescence to early adulthood, and not expected to change much. This is when personality disorders are usually diagnosed too.

While a person who is diagnosed with a personality disorder may have to deal the psychological and behavioral tendencies that comes with that personality, again, the aim of mental health services here is to improve on that person's quality of life. For example, while a BPD client may have emotions that are quick to rise in daily life, but with the right skills, he/ she will be able to learn how to be aware of it and to manage it well.

BPD and substance abuse

Substance abuse is not only co-morbid with (e.g. happening together with) BPD. Substance abuse frequently has co-morbidity with a range of other mental health issues, such as depressive or anxiety disorders.

To understand this, we have to understand why people take substances, whether its drugs or alcohol.

When we are distressed, we oftentimes want a quick solution. It is human nature. When we feel pain, we want a remedy. And when we feel INTENSE pain, more so is it urgent that we want a remedy NOW.

Drugs and alcohol are easily available options for self-medicating. While there are many harms that comes from long-term use (you know, organ failure, risk of overdose, addiction, etc.), when a person is intense mental or emotional pain, it is unbearable enough to only consider the short-term relief.

That's the reason why providing support is important. If there is the right support system in place when he or she is in pain, then that person does not need to self-medicate. If he or she is being taught how to develop useful skills in managing that pain, then that person does not need to self-medicate.

TL;DR: BPD is less common than depressive and anxiety disorders. A range of mental health issues (including BPD) is associated with substance use as a way of coping with the pain.

Thanks for the clarification.

I can imagine the distress the family members are going through. It can feel overwhelming. And at times, it can feel like others are put in a helpless position. I'm sorry to hear about what's going on.

To add: mental health issues rarely affects the person alone. As we belong to others in the community, the mental health of one person also affects those around him/ her. You can think of mental health as a spider's web: it's all inter-connected.

As such, it can be expected that family members could be stressed too. Research is aplenty on the effects of chronic illnesses (whether physical or mental health) on caregivers' well-being. So, as much as the mental health of this person warrants attention, I think its also equally important to consider the mental health of family members: what can they do to also manage their stress and live productive lives, how can they learn to still enjoy themselves despite what's going on, and how can they feel more empowered being in a situation that seems to be limited in solutions?

Hopefully, there's some level of support to go around within the community they belong to (such as your concern and support!), so that despite the difficulties being faced, it doesn't feel like its a lonely journey.

Hope this helps!

Hi all,

Getting an appointment for your mental health can be confusing. Information regarding where and how to seek services is all over the place.

As such, I've looked up information on various organizations that offer mental health services and prepared a comprehensive guide (video + article) about it. This includes getting services from government, NGOs, universities, and private centres. In this guide, I've highlighted the fees, how to make an appointment, level of service provided, and the advantages/ disadvantages to each mental health option.

I've prepared a video discussing it here:


And here's the follow-up article:
https://people.my/the-ultimate-guide-to-rec...es-in-malaysia/

Hope this helps. Happy Monday!

I just broke up/ lost a job/ someone close to me passed away. I'm feeling down about it. Am I depressed?

Feeling grief or depression can feel pretty similar. A person may be crying, feeling sad, have difficulty concentrating in tasks, is irritable, have difficulty sleeping.. and the list goes on.

The difference between grief and depression, though, is that grief is the consequence of losing something or someone important.

A person goes through grief as a process of losing that something or someone important. It could be an important job, a loss of a loved one, or a break up in a relationship.



As can be seen here, these are the stages to which a person goes through when experiencing grief. The bottom blue box are what can be helpful to provide to a person grieving and currently going through that particular stage.

There is no shortcut to getting over such feelings. In fact, going through the process of grief is necessary to integrate past memories and feelings. This is so that you are then able to then move on with a renewed perspective on life.

While in some instances grief can be only a few days, it may also last months. You'd probably expect that your daily functioning wouldn't be at its best, but understanding that this is all part of the process of losing something or someone important to you can be helpful.

There is nothing "wrong" to "fix" when you are grieving. All that is left to do is:

1) get the right information and communicate how you feel to others (while in stages 1 and 2)
2) seek emotional support (while in stage 3)
3) receive guidance on how to move forward (while in stage 4 and 5)
4) ... and let time take its course

I have been grieving for more than a year now. Am I depressed?

If you have been experiencing grieving that has been ongoing for a long time, to which it is significantly affecting your daily functioning (e.g. can't work, can't maintain relationships, can't maintain your health), then you may instead be experiencing depression or complicated grief.

Getting professional support will be a good idea at this point.




NOTE: We have now accumulated a lot of content which can take a while to read up on. In order to not continue spamming and maintain quality, the frequency of replies on this board from this account will now be once a week.

Thank you for your support!

Why Do People Not Wear Face Masks?

Good afternoon, good people of the Internet!

So, Malaysia has been abuzz about citizens being fined RM1k for not wearing the mask, but ministers and politicians are instead free to enjoy mask-free movement.

It made me wonder why do people insist on not wearing the mask, despite there being strong evidence that it helps to curb the spread of COVID-19?

I've made a video highlighting this issue, and recent research as to why people choose not to wear them. Turns out, it has much to do with how we are psychologically wired.

Here's the video:



Have a good well, everyone!

Hey hey!

Thinking that you may have ADHD?

Today's video episode is on adult ADHD.

Adult ADHD is oftentimes underdiagnosed and untreated.

This is because the difficulties faced are often overlooked or blamed as the individual's personal flaws. While issues such as depression and anxiety or more easily observable, ADHD in adults may not be easily identified.

Because ADHD affects a person's cognitive abilities, a more thorough assessment has to be established so as to arrive at the underlying difficulties faced.

In this episode, we discuss the difficulties faced by adults living with ADHD, what are the methods of assessment, and what are the effective treatments available.

Enjoy!

Hello all!

Another week, another post.

When a friend or loved one is feeling distressed, they are oftentimes looking for someone to "be there" for them or to "understand" them. But, what does this actually mean?

Prior to being trained as a psychologist, I've oftentimes felt overwhelmed in knowing what to do when someone needs a crying shoulder. I very much want to help this person, but how do I do it?

Being an effective listener is a skill. And like any other skill, it can be trained.

Aside from actually wanting to listen (which will show in your body language), the other important factor in being a good listener is your ability to apply active listening.

What is active listening? How do you apply it?

Read up an article I wrote about it here:

https://people.my/how-to-be-a-good-listener-and-enjoy-better-relationships/


Any questions about this? Feel free to shoot your questions by replying to this thread.

Happy hump day!

Good afternoon, folks!

As previously mentioned, being a good listener can be helpful, especially to loved ones in need. One key skill in practicing active listening is paraphrasing


Paraphrasing

To be an effective listener, paraphrasing is a key skill for you to use.

To paraphrase, use these steps:

1) Listen to the main points of the message.
2) Main points can include the content or emotion of the speaker.
3) Through your own understanding and words, say it to the speaker.
4) Keep your paraphrase short and simple.
5) The speaker clarifies what’s missing in your paraphrase, or agrees and elaborates further on his/ her message.
6) You continue paraphrasing.


Practice Examples

Statement 1

“My therapist just told me that it’s alright to get it wrong when listening to others. It is more important that I take the effort to understand what the speaker is trying to say, and to clarify further through paraphrasing”.

Paraphrase: “Understanding and clarifying what is being said by someone is more important than getting it right”.

Statement 2

“Psychologists often use paraphrasing to communicate well with their clients. I want to try this out too!”

Paraphrase: “Therapists use paraphrasing often in their line of work”.


Continuing the paragraph

One other great way to apply active listening is through a listening technique called continuing the paragraph.

I've written more about it in the article below (including some practice examples). Keen to learn more? Click in here:

https://people.my/how-to-be-a-good-listener...a-psychologist/


That's all for this week, folks! See you again next week.

Hi TS, I really like your posts, they are so informative. Can you tell me when a person should seek counselling?

I got asked to leave my job in June citing my poor work performance and that due to the pandemic, my boss could not afford to give me another chance. That was my first job and only been 1.5 years. Since then I have been feeling really down and have low confidence; esp since I always got good grades at school, went to a good uni and the company I worked at is a top company in the industry. There was a period of time I slept a lot and didn't take care of myself and would just eat junks all day. I realised that I may be depressed and so I started going to fitness classes with my friends and see my friends more. It has gotten better since but sometimes at night, the negative feelings just eat me up from the inside and I just feel like such a failure. Sometimes I wish a lorry would just crash into my car when I am driving so that I can put an end to all these negative feelings. It's so embarrassing to be asked to resign and I only told a handful of people because, I feel so stupid and a failure.

But there are also days I just feel fine and happy and optimistic. I feel like talking to a counsellor but they are very expensive, about 250 per session, which I cannot afford atm as I am currently unemployed. I am just wondering if counselling is necessary in my case.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Bidu88,

I'm happy that you liked my posts. Thanks for the encouragement!

From your post, I've identified 2 questions. (1) is about counseling fees and the necessity to go for them, and (2) is about if you have depression.


(1) Is it necessary to go for counseling? Fees are expensive.

I do agree with you that therapy sessions may cost quite a bit, and the fees you quoted are about right. Your concerns are common among people considering therapy. As such, a lot of developments has been happening in research on therapies in making them more efficient and time-limited.

Short-term therapy (within the range of 6-12 sessions) has shown significant effects on a person's depression. I attempted to link you to research articles, but you'd most likely encounter a paywall to read them, so I suppose you'd just have to trust the words of a psychologist, lol.

An important part of therapy will be goal-setting. If you have cost limitations and would like targeted goals to achieve (e.g. I want to lower my depression and then stop therapy in 8 sessions), that is something that you can bring up with your therapist. A good therapist should be able to collaborate with you on goal-setting, which includes cost as part of the consideration.

At 8 sessions, the total bill will come up to RM2000.

Let's consider the value of RM2000.

If you did not receive treatment and instead persist in an episode of depression for at least, say, 6 months. It would mean that you are trading RM2000 for 6 months of feeling lousy.

So in this case, we'd have to weigh if it is worthwhile to go through 6 months of depression as opposed to paying RM2000 for therapy sessions to address it (with a good therapist).

We'd also want to take into consideration that while depressed, we tend to lose professional productivity (lose money) or perform avoidance coping (such as impulse purchases, binge eating, substance use - lose money... and health).

I understand that the cost to treatment is still expensive for most people. I do not have a good answer to that, as this is a systemic issue that is a mix of policy, economics, etc.

But, if you're feeling depressed or anxious that it is affecting your life, looking at it objectively, the emotional, physical, and psychological loss will cost much more than the monetary investment of RM2000.

Not to toot my own horn (well, I guess I sort of am), the psychologists at my practice can all work competently within the amount of sessions I've stated above (6-12 sessions). This is currently the gold standard to therapy.

Hope this answers your question!

(2) Do I have depression?

Social stressors, such as interpersonal conflict, job loss, etc., can be a trigger for a depressive episode.

I am unable to determine if you fulfill the criteria for a depressive episode or not via text. But, while it sounds like you have certain emotional and behavioral responses that is similar to a depressive episode, what depression really is, is a more severe or longer-term impairment to functioning.

What's most important is that if its identified as depression, the main goal is to restore your functioning and improve on your quality of life. So, when reflecting on your needs and mental health, the most important question to ask is: am I functioning (e.g. relationships, emotional well-being, productivity, etc.) at a level to which I'm satisfied with?

We all go through difficulty. At times, we can get over it easily than other times. Sleeping in more, bingeing, having negative thoughts...these too happen to people every now and then. But, if these persist for too long, or impacts the person's personal/ professional life too much, then it is best to get them addressed.

What psychologists typically work with will be those times when the client finds it difficult to function without support. Once that support is received, the client will then start to be able to practice independence again.

You may think of this as like a seasonal flu. Sometimes, you smelt something that tickles your nose, and you sneeze to get over it. Sometimes, you get unwell for a couple days and you're fine thereafter. Occasionally, you get sick for longer than usual. That is when you see a doctor for meds.

It's the same with your mental health and your relationship with a psychologist.

Hope this makes sense.

So, you may want to consider that you're having a "flu" that is worth professional attention if:

a) You are unable to function well in areas of life that you were able to previously (e.g. job, relationships).
b) You are unable to function well in taking care of yourself (e.g. personal hygiene, physical health, performing daily tasks)
c) You are unable to manage your emotions well (e.g. feeling depressed all the time, feeling overwhelmingly anxious often)

In developed countries where mental health is not so much a stigma, a visit to the psychologist when you feel emotionally unwell is seen similarly like a visit to a doc when you have a flu. I think its an apt analogy to provide here.

Please let me know if this isn't the answer you're looking for! I've just been typing non-stop after a cup of coffee, lol.

Hope this information helps you assess on your needs and your mental health!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Without a doubt, this year has been a very challenging one.

Instead of preparing a mental health post this week, I'd like to take the time to congratulate you for doing so well and getting so far into the year.

It has been tiring, it was stressful, but you made it!

It doesn't have to be perfect (this year is far from perfect). It doesn't necessarily need happy memories (I personally have more bad than good).

But, what's most important is, despite a pandemic going on, you are here today, getting into the holiday season and wrapping up a rollercoaster of a year! This is a clear sign of mental resilience, perseverance, and hardiness. You have certainly grown this year.

Congratulations once again

Looking forward to providing more (I hope) helpful content in the coming new year.

Till then, enjoy the holidays, take the time to connect with others, deep breaths always, and see you next year!

Hello everyone, and welcome to 2021!

I'm wishing for the vaccine to come sooner, and hoping that we can begin moving into normal life 2Q 2021. Although, I think that's rather wishful thinking. 3Q 2021 should be a good start to normalcy

A reader of the forum had submitted a question, which goes like this:

How does divorce affects children's development? Are children with two loving parents better off?

This is a great question. It is all the more relevant in current times, because rates of divorce are at an all time high. About half of marriages end up in divorce (US statistics). In Malaysia, this is much lower, but at an increasing trend, averaging 4.5 - 7.6 divorces per 1000 people.

Research on the effects of divorce on children

In general, the research evidence supports better well-being for children who have parents that are not divorced.

Here is a literature review of the evidence presented. You may have a read, it's a free full article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4240051/

You may head on over to the part of the article that highlights the key points of the effects of divorce on children.

With that being said, this is by no means an endorsement of couples staying together for the sake of the child even when the marriage is not working out (for example, in cases where there is clear evidence of abuse).

Children are better off having divorced parents than parents staying together but are constantly bickering. Putting a child in a toxic environment is more harmful than an environment to which there is an absence of a parent.

There has been much development in understanding changing family structures, especially with the growth in numbers of single parents and stepfamilies. Such family structures will eventually be normalized, with understanding on how to nurture children to thrive under such conditions to continue to develop.

Recommendations

1) If you are considering divorce, but are thinking of the kids' well-being, consider the reason for divorce. Is it irreparable (e.g. abuse in household, severe financial mismanagement)?
2) If the marriage is not working due to reasons that cannot be fixed without extensive intervention, and is affecting not only you but the children, then divorce may be one of the options to consider.
3) Children are better able to thrive when they have happy parents compared to unhappy ones. If staying in the marriage is going to keep you miserable, angry, and depressed, this in turn has a direct effect on the children at home. Parents often take out their frustration of their marriage on their children (much like a pawn in a game of chess between both parents - in therapy, we call this "triangulation"). Such an environment will not produce happy children, even when the parents are staying together.
4) If there are signs that the marriage can be repaired - that there are opportunities in developing better ways of communication, to develop better understanding of each others' ways, or to rebuild on trust after it has been broken - then do seek a mental health professional who is able to assist you in working on these issues with the both of you. Having a third (objective, well-trained, and impartial) party can be helpful in changing habits in the relationship that has been leading to these breakdowns.
5) If you are considering divorce due to (1) and (2) highlighted above, it may still be helpful to have a few sessions speaking to a mental health professional, so that you're able to gain better insight and clarity over the options that you have - and to make preparations and decisions that are best for you.

Hoping that this information helps. See you all again next week!

Thank for sharing this Dr., keep up the good work, I am sure there are people which will benefit from it.

"Here is a literature review of the evidence presented. You may have a read, it's a free full article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4240051/"

This post has been edited by thunderloh: Jan 4 2021, 08:00 PM

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year!

Much has been happening. To be honest, I've just been busy firefighting at work with all the changes that's been implemented. Hoping that everyone is well and safe.


A question by a forumer brought me out of my cave, and here it is:

Can mindfulness meditation really help with mental illness? Or is it just pseudoscience?

An interesting question, this one! And all the more relevant, as mindfulness practice is really starting to gain mainstream popularity.


What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is defined by a leading figure in the field (John Kabat-Zinn) as "the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally".

In practice, what mindfulness means is a practice where a person spends time and develops a habit of purposefully paying attention to what's happening right now.

This sounds easy in theory, but super difficult in practice.

The theory goes, our mind isn't often in the present. Our attention often wanders onto the future or onto the past, making us feel more anxious or depressed than we should. We create stories of what had happened or what's going to happen in our minds, and as a result, our body responds to that.

There are a variety of ways to practice mindfulness. Any activity that brings your wandering attention back to the present is a practice of mindfulness. Most people find it helpful to spend some time daily focusing on their breathing (we are constantly breathing, so it's an easy "object" to bring your attention to).


Is mindfulness pseudoscience? Does it work?

In my line of work, what "works" is when there is strong research evidence (usually randomized controlled trials, or RCT) that shows using a technique/ method A produces an effect B. And, this happens not by mere coincidence (using mostly good research methodology and statistics).

To put it briefly, mindfulness interventions have a strong evidence-base in its efficacy. There are a variety of therapeutic approaches in psychology right now that either uses parts of mindfulness techniques or in its entirety as an intervention for a range of clinical disorders. Primarily, most evidence suggests efficacy for depressive and anxiety disorders.

You may refer to this link herefor more info.

There is also evidence to show that some approaches that uses some mindfulness elements can also be helpful in treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). or more common issues such as chronic pain management.


VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT

The thing about scientific research is that we have to be careful of how we generalize results. When I say that there is strong conclusive evidence that mindfulness is helpful for a variety of clinical issues, what I mean is that mindfulness, applied as per what is done via published research, is effective for X or Y clinical issue.

I certainly do not mean to say that practicing mindfulness as per Life Coach A or Guru B will help with depression or anxiety (well, it may or may not, but someone has to publish research onto said practice to determine its effects).

So, I can confidently say that, yes, mindfulness practice with its methodology as per published research, does produce effects. Usually, this is in a form of intensive therapy spanning at least 8 sessions by a qualified and well-trained psychologist.

But, I wouldn't say the same about the life changing claims that you will experience in a 3 day mindfulness retreat, as organized by a self-help guru. Catch my drift?

In the scientific world, this self-help guru would need to demonstrate his/ her retreat's efficacy via an RCT with good research methodology, and results published in a reputable journal.


Conclusion

With all things considered, mindfulness can be a helpful practice to include in daily life. I do it casually too. There is good enough evidence to suggest that it can be helpful.

However, if you are suffering from more serious conditions (such as depression, an anxiety disorder), do seek professional help. He/ she may utilize mindfulness practice, but it will be based on best practices found from research*.

*if you were to meet a reputable and well-trained psychologist...such as psychologists at *ahem* People Psychological Solutions.


Have a great week ahead!

A new question via PM:

"I feel scared, weak, and stupid to work" - I was overwhelmed at work, and I have resigned. Is it the right choice?

While I cannot provide advise with whether or not a choice that was made was a right one (nasi sudah jadi bubur, as they say), but I think what I can highlight from this question is the process to which such an issue can be addressed from a psychological standpoint.

1) Emotional management

This can be done by identifying emotions and their function in our daily life, when such emotions are activated in daily events, and how to effectively manage them.

This typically involves a variety of behavioral changes that can be done to daily life, or skills that can be developed to manage emotions better.

Example:

Anxiety:

1) The client learns the function of that emotion (to fight or run away from a threatening situation).
2) The client learns to be aware of when anxiety happens in daily life.
3) The client learns relaxation techniques to be applied to reduce such emotional responses.
4) The client learns how to notice the thoughts that activates such a feeling (e.g. I'll never get this work done, I am not capable, etc.)
5) The client learns how to manage such thoughts.

and the list goes on...

2) Decision making
Decision making is a skill that is developed. With most important decisions in life, there is oftentimes not a clear option as to which is the best one.

A psychologist can work with the client in applying thinking skills. This can even be something as simple as sitting down with the client and evaluating pros and cons. It sounds simple, but people rarely take the time to do it.

The psychologist can also explore not only the concrete outcomes of each decision, but also how it resonates with a person's values, or its consequences not only to themselves, but others. There might be behavioral experiments that can first be done to test certain assumptions (e.g. "My boss is totally unreasonable - he wont give in to a raise. I might as well quit!" - test by having a conversation about a raise with the boss first), and then arriving at the best option based on evidence gathered.

Conclusion
Mental health isn't something as simple as getting a yes/ no answer from an authoritative figure. Instead, it is oftentimes a collaborative process, to which the psychologist is able to work with the client on difficult issues, develop skills to managing them better, or to learn more about such issues from a scientific viewpoint.

As a result, the client is better able to manage such issues him/ herself.

In this scenario, as an end outcome to therapy, the client could develop better communication skills at work, higher assertiveness, better emotional management, and/ or decision making skills.

But, just like all things good, it takes time (and a good therapist). I'd advice for anyone overwhelmed at work and find it difficult to come to a decision on whether to leave or not - why not get help from a therapist first?

Hope this helps!

Hi Dr, thanks for the thread

I have rather simple question, do we have neurologist to diagnose other than clinical psychologist?

Anything like patient just lay there and scan the brain and take it fr there
Rather than talking bla bla and guessing with elimination method?

I'M BACK: NEW YEAR, NEW ME, NEW RULES

Hello there!

First off: my apologies for the (very, very, very) delayed response! Work and life got incredibly busy, and I unfortunately couldn't keep up with having good social media/ online presence. Unfortunately, this meant not logging into this forum for such a long time.

Given that I am still a probationary member on these boards, I am unable to edit the 1st message of this thread.

However, I intend to still use this thread to answer any questions that you may have. But for now, a slight revision to how I wish to operate:I may answer questions each time I log into this account. Feel free to PM me or to post a message here. I'll try my best to assist!

Disclaimer: Please take note that any information that I provide on these boards will not be a replacement for actual medical/ psychological service. I may provide assistance and information that could help you, but any therapy and treatment can only be done in consultation with a mental health professional.

Lastly, I noticed that I wrote too much in previous replies! I will try my best to get straight to the point and keep my responses as brief as I can.

Hello there,

Unfortunately, there isn't such a passive method to diagnosis of mental disorders. This is because mental health/ disorders are multifactorial and consists of biological, psychological, and environmental factors, and as such, isn't as straightforward as observing something under a microscope. So, diagnosing someone requires extensive background information (usually through interviews) and administration of psychological tests/ screening tools. With a variety of different information retrieved, the clinician will have better knowledge as to the diagnosis that can be made.

Actually, this is quite similar to the work of a medical professional. They too will engage in the process of differential diagnosis (e.g., determining which is the correct diagnosis out of a variety of diagnoses). They might order additional tests so that more information can be generated to make the right diagnosis.

For example, a complaint of a headache could be due to a variety of reasons. The doctor will need to rule out the most obvious reasons first, and if not due to those reasons, will then go to reasons which are more rare/ less likely. That is when more extensive tests may be ordered. A clinical psychologist or psychiatrist works in the same way, but for mental disorders.

Hope that helps!

Hi Dr., I came across this TED video:


Sounds to me that this guy is going around to make it happen: psychologists/psychiatrists will one day be scanning brains to diagnose mental disorders. I understand brain is poorly understood and scanning it alone won't help as much as scanning bones for fracture, but perhaps it's one of many steps for us to understand our brains more? And just like how we still have clinics/general practitioners, they are still a valuable "first line" diagnosis.

What do you think about Malaysia taking this step into brain scans for mental health diagnosis, if ever?

Good evening and thank you for your question.

I had not sat through the whole video (it is too late at night), but I get where he/ you are coming from. I will not discount the potential of future innovations in mental health. This may include more convenient and effective diagnostic methods. In fact, at the rate of how fast humanity is progressing, I am very certain that how we will assess and diagnose mental disorders 50 or 100 years from now will look completely different than what we are currently doing.

There is basis in looking for biological indicators (e.g., such as brain activity or genetic markers) to mental disorders. This is because there is always a biological factor to a person's (mental) functioning.

Nevertheless, as much as clinicians try to find standalone biological factors to mental disorders, the fact remains that mental health remains to be a complicated interaction between biological, psychological, and social factors. This means that our genetics/ family history, how we process information and behave, and our environment, all play a role to either promote or negatively impact our mental health. Among the 3 factors, only biological factors could be effectively assessed through physical tests, such as brain scans, blood tests, and the likes.

However, based on what we know, some mental disorders weigh more heavily on biological factors (such as schizophrenia), while others weigh more heavily on other factors.

At the end of the day, we'd still need to rely on what is best practice based on current empirical evidence. This fact may change in the future as new evidence emerges. For now, clinical interviews still form a strong foundation to a mental health assessment.

This is my two cents!