Lacking mental health support, woman\u2019s life spirals downwards<\/p>\n
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Until six years ago, she had lived a quiet, stable life, earning a living as a clerk.<\/p>\n
Then her mental health began to unravel.<\/p>\n
Identified as Tan, the depression that followed steadily eroded her independence, leaving her increasingly reliant on her family at their kampung home here.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, the situation took a devastating turn when Tan\u2019s mother, who had been caring for her, developed diabetes and lost a leg to complications from the disease.<\/p>\n
Her mother is now staying at a care centre.<\/p>\n
With her main caregiver gone, Tan, now 39, became largely confined to a small room in the family home.<\/p>\n
Her younger brother, who earns minimum wage as a sales assistant, is the family\u2019s sole breadwinner, while their father struggles with visual and hearing impairments.<\/p>\n
With limited finances and care-giving capacity, the family could only provide Tan with basic meals and were unable to tend to her personal hygiene.<\/p>\n
Tan\u2019s muscles gradually weakened and atrophied from prolonged confinement indoors.<\/p>\n
Her condition came to light after Padang Lalang assemblyman Daniel Gooi visited the family last Monday, accompanied by officers from the state Welfare Department and representatives from Bukit Mertajam Hospital.<\/p>\n
Inside the small room, they found Tan lying on a thin mattress. Her nails were overgrown, causing discomfort, and an odour hung in the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we went to check on her, we found that she was suffering from depression,\u201d Gooi said when contacted, adding that claims circulating on social media about a woman being wrongfully confined were inaccurate.<\/p>\n
Tan has since been admitted to Bukit Mertajam Hospital for a comprehensive medical assessment and treatment, including for her mental health condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has experienced muscle loss from a lack of movement, which has affected her mobility,\u201d Gooi said.<\/p>\n
He also described the family home as being in poor condition, located in a secluded, low-lying area overrun with vegetation and prone to flooding during heavy rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to clear a path just to access the house and bring her to the hospital,\u201d he said, adding that his constituency office would assist with home repairs, welfare aid and medical support.<\/p>\n
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Prem Kumar Chandrasekaran from Penang Adventist Hospital said that under the Mental Health Act, anyone may apply for help if an individual poses a danger to themselves or others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough this process, the court can appoint a guardian or responsible party to ensure the individual receives proper care and treatment,\u201d he said, noting that such situations often point to underlying mental disorders, including severe depression.<\/p>\n
If no immediate family member is able or willing to intervene, Dr Prem said the first step should be to lodge a police report.<\/p>\n
The police are empowered under the Act to facilitate admission to a medical facility without lengthy court proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn such cases, action must be taken on the individual\u2019s behalf, as something is clearly not right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He stressed that treatment for mental illness must begin with a thorough psychiatric assessment, as different conditions require different approaches.<\/p>\n
Those in need of mental health support may reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392); Talian Kasih (15999 or 019-261 5999 via WhatsApp); Jakim\u2019s family, social and community care centre (011-1959 8214 via WhatsApp); or Befrienders Kuala Lumpur (03-7627 2929 or email sam@befrienders.org.my<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lacking mental health support, woman\u2019s life spirals downwards BUKIT MERTAJAM: Until six years ago, she had lived a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[111981,103,111982,61,60,410,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-215555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-after-six-years-of-suspected-depression","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-her-muscle-atrophied","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}