1. Raising Awareness of Mental Health through a play
Lambert Low1, Ng Si Jia2
Department of General Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore
Corporate Communications, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore
Survey
Aim
Rationale
The Institute of Mental Health (IMH), the only tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore, staged its inaugural public performance in the form of a play to commemorate 85 years of caring for patients. Our aim was to raise awareness of mental health issues in the community.
A questionnaire comprising five questions was completed by audiences after the play. The questions were 1) My understanding of mental illness improved 2) My knowledge of the different avenues of help available for people facing mental illness increased 3) I am now aware that mental illness is an illness that can strike anyone 4) I understand that people with mental illness need proper treatment techniques and cannot recover on their own based on personal strength only 5) I understand that people with mental illness are not harmful and do not have to be kept in a hospital always. The responses were graded as ‘yes’, ‘neutral’ and ‘no’.
The cast and crew comprised staff from IMH. Most of the cast did not have prior theatre experience before this play and were selected based on a series of auditions. We also assembled a team of singers who composed original songs sung at various scenes in the play. All the preparations and rehearsals were done outside of working hours.
The Team Rs
Results
Results
The Play
67 members of the audience completed the questionnaire. With the exception of question 2 with a 62.7% ‘yes’ response, all other questions had a ‘yes’ response for over 80% of participants. Question 2 also had the highest rate for a ’no’ response at 6%; all the other questions had less than 3% for ‘no’ responses. In general, participants felt they understood more about mental illness through the play.
d Goal
The play was titled “8-5” and centred around the lives of three patients afflicted with mental illness namely Schizophrenia, Dementia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. There was also a focus on how their caregivers reacted to their illness and the various ways tension can take place in such a relationship.
The name of the play reflected the nature of the work of mental healthcare professionals, only capturing snapshots of our patients’ illness within the working hours but never truly understanding how their lives subsequently unravel beyond the consultation hours.
In total, the team delivered two performances to a fully packed audience with each seating comprising 400 people. The full play can be viewed online on YouTube and comes in five parts. The link for the 1st part is
Conclusion
Spreading mental health awareness through the arts can be an effective way to de-stigmatise mental illness.
Future projects
There are now plans to restage this play for the World Mental Health Day in Singapore in 2015.
ext Steps
Mth/Yr