News

As a keen observer of the mental health landscape in Singapore, I am troubled by the recent and growing trend of fake IMH doctor profiles being created on TikTok to harass and bully people who may exhibit unusual or “crazy” behaviour (C Sept 22). This phenomenon is troubling on multiple levels and threatens to erase much of the progress we’ve made as a nation regarding increasing awareness around mental health issues and reducing the stigma surrounding them. They further perpetuate and reinforce certain ideas such as the Institute of Mental Health being used as an insult or viewed as the butt of jokes, extending these effects to people who visit the hospital for their mental health support. Many mental health advocates have worked tirelessly to push back against this narrative and reduce the stigma associated with the hospital. Progress has been slow, but there certainly has been an improvement in its image over time. The resurfacing of such insults – even if only intended to be jokes, something which not everyone may agree with – sends a subtle but unconscious message that anything or anyone associated with IMH is to be laughed at, mocked, ganged up against, ostracised and avoided.  Reporting these comments to TikTok doesn’t seem to do anything as well, as they don’t seem to violate any of its community guidelines. I hope TikTok can take action against these clearly fake and outlandish profiles so we don’t risk negating the progress we have made regarding mental health issues. Beyond the direct effects on mental health awareness and stigma, an even more troubling and unsettling side effect is the perpetuation of the seemingly arbitrary division of what is considered socially right or acceptable behaviour from supposedly abnormal or crazy acts. Where does the line get drawn and who determines what is okay and what is not?