Dr Nicholas Pang, deputy director of Hospital UMS (Universiti Malaysia Sabah), said this was a pity because effective treatment in the forms of medication and psychological therapy were available.
“There is probably a moderate level of acceptance in Sabah that mental illness should be treated like any physical illness, but a lot of this is hampered by public perception of mental disorders,” he told FMT.
“There is a lot of resistance towards seeking help as mental illness is seen as something you can handle on your own or bounce back from.
“It’s a major issue in Sabah in general. People think you can sort it out yourself whereas no one would actually tell someone with diabetes or high blood pressure to do so.”
This meant, he said, that there was a need in Sabah for people to recognise mental illness as a disease.
“When you have a disease, it is not usually right to blame the sufferer. So people get sympathy for having diabetes or cancer.
“But because mental disorders are not seen as a disease, people get blamed for having them.”
Pang also said it was hard to estimate the time gap between the appearance of initial signs of mental issues and when the sufferers would receive help.
He said this was caused not only by the stigmatisation of mental disorders but also by the challenges of seeing a psychiatrist in the state.
“Mental illness is probably under-reported in Sabah because there are only five tertiary centres in the state that have psychiatry services – in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Keningau, Tawau and the latest in Lahad Datu, which has just opened.”
He said there were, therefore, many places in the state without reasonably close access to psychiatry services.
“If you do not live in these cities or big towns, do not have a car, or find it difficult to take time off from work and have poor Internet connection, these are factors that will significantly impair your ability to reach out for help, even if the stigma around you is not an issue.”
Prevalence of mental disorders
Pang said official statistics from the 2015 National Health and Morbidity survey estimated that 42.6% of Sabahans experienced psychological distress of some sort.
“In terms of the prevalence of mental disorders, the closest we have is data from an unpublished doctorate thesis from 2018 suggesting that 52.1% of people attending primary care clinics have a mental disorder,” he said.
He noted that this was higher than findings from two comparative studies in Peninsular Malaysia, where the prevalence of mental disorders in the primary care setting was found to be 24.7% and 26.7% respectively.
To help combat the stigma, Pang said, Hospital UMS had developed the Ultra Brief Psychological Interventions module, which compresses high-quality psychological interventions into 15-minute activities that could be done by anyone anywhere.
“This will allow us to democratise psychological health treatment. It has been taught to various people, including non-psychological health workers, people in villages and university students.
“We hope they will teach these activities to friends and family.”
He also said the university had held webinars focusing on issues such as autism, suicide prevention, internet addiction and common mental disorders.
His team has started an online telepsychiatry service called “Tanya Pakar” (tanyadoc.ums.edu.my), which allows people to consult a psychiatrist or psychologist online.
It is also taking in counselling and clinical psychology trainees from two other universities so that they can provide psychological services in Kota Kinabalu, Kudat and Tamparuli.
Hospital UMS representatives regularly speak at public events for churches, faith organisations, NGOs and other groups on mental health awareness.