Chapter 1 - Introduction

Choice of topic Alternatives to treatment of depression among youths in Singapore Definition of depression Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual's ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities1. Rationale of choice

1. There is a rising number of depression cases among youths in Singapore2 due to various
factors like academic pressure and relationship problems. Depression in youths can derail them from their studies, undermining the education of the future generation of Singapore, which would have adverse effects on society in the long run.

2. Current treatments, especially antidepressants, have many disadvantages, for example,

negative side effects and could even aggravate depression. Hence, new alternatives could be considered in the treatment of depression in youths in Singapore. Aims and Objectives Our project aims to research, evaluate and promote alternative methods to the treatment of depression for youths in Singapore to complement current depression treatments and to achieve greater efficacy in the treatment of youth depression using lessons learnt from (TR1).

1 2

From http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/definition/en/ Increase in number of suicides among Singaporeans aged between 10 to 19, from 12 cases in 2008 to 19 cases in 2009. From The Straits Times article Rise in suicides among the young published on 27 July 2010

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Scope of Project

Primary source This project is targeted at youths in Singapore aged from 12 21, under the rigorous education system of Singapore. 100 youths, encompassing students from various institutions within this age groups were surveyed regarding the issue of depression. (See Appendix 1) We also interviewed Senior Nurse Ms Carolyn Kee3 and Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Dr Koh Chin Aik4 to find out more about the alternatives that we are about to propose and have obtained valuable information from them. Secondary source Ms Carolyn Kee, our interviewee, introduced the book Feeling Blue: A guide to treating teenage
3

Carolyn Kee is a Senior Psychologist with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health. From http://www.marshallcavendish.com/marshallcavendish/genref/aboutus/FeelingBlue_B24041_Singapore.aspx 4 Dr Koh Chin Aik is the President of Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Singapore). Master Degree in Stroke Sequela (Beijing University of Chinese Medicine) and PhD (Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine) in Acupuncture From http://society-tcms.org/home/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=50 and http://www.tcm-esearch.com/english/tcmpractitioner-singapore.asp

depression to us. We also explored other sources like newspaper articles, online medical sources and other books which provided us with crucial information, statistics and insights to our project.