Becoming an adult: The mental health abyss

RUTH Komathi, 26, did not know that she was living with a mental illness when she was in her teens. After her brother left to study overseas when she was 15, she felt the responsibility of caring for her parents fall on her shoulders. "I think that was self-imposed. Thinking about it, I never really talked about things that affected me and perhaps, that was my breaking point," she tells The Business Times.

During Ms Komathi's O-level year, she began to have recurrent headaches. By the time she was in junior college, she was crying throughout the night without any reason. Her counsellor recommended seeing a doctor. Eventually, the doctor at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) told her mother that Ms Komathi had depression. This was a surprise to her mother, who describes her daughter as one of the happiest persons in the world".

When she turned 17, one of Ms Komathi's friends died suddenly, which worsened her condition. Following several suicide attempts, Ms Komathi was eventually admitted to IMH where she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 18.