1 in 4 teens and young adults could face mental problems

A MAJOR effort is under way to identify the symptoms of mental problems and start treatment early.

This comes in the face of findings which show that one in four teens and young adults here and in other developed countries could have psychological problems.

The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) has invited nine experts, both foreign and local, to help it develop a study to see how this can be done.

The hope is that this will help prevent the onset of serious diseases such as schizophrenia.

One expert on the IMH panel, Associate Professor Alison Yung of Melbourne University, said: 'If we can pick them up early, we may not even need medicine to help them.'

The concern stems from studies conducted internationally - covering several developed countries, including Singapore - which have shown that 25 per cent of those in their teens and early 20s suffer from mental problems such as anxiety, depression, anorexia, psychosis and personality disorder.

For most, the problems are transient. But 10 per cent are at risk of serious long-term psychosis - or mental problems such as schizophrenia, hallucinations and delusions.

This means that going by Singapore's population growth rate, 1,000 babies born here each year could end up with serious psychological problems.

In 20 years, some of them may join the 5,300 patients warded at the IMH last year for psychosis - adding to the strain on available funds.

Already, about a third of the $40 million from Medifund, the government kitty to help the poor pay health-care bills, goes to IMH patients each year.

Grasping the extent of the problem, Associate Professor Chong Siow Ann, who heads the IMH's Early Psychosis Intervention Programme, invited the nine experts to help.

A panel member, Associate Professor Richard Keefe of Duke University in the United States, said that most serious mental illnesses hit people in their teens or early 20s - when the brain's frontal lobe is developing.

He explained: 'This is the area that helps you plan, organise, strategise - all the high-level processing. It is important in controlling behaviour and emotion - which adolescents struggle with.'

His explanation is borne out by the age range of the IMH's psychotic patients, many of whom were warded between the ages of 22 and 26.

Half of the IMH's 32,000 outpatients are also being treated for chronic schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia, one of the more serious forms of psychosis, makes patients hear voices or believe that others are reading their minds or controlling their thoughts.

Treating schizophrenia early is crucial, said Professor Patrick McGorry of the University of Melbourne. 'After a couple of years, it becomes relatively permanent, and treatment at that point is largely ineffective.'

Prof Chong hopes to get the IMH study off the ground towards the end of this year, once approval and funding is obtained.

Duke University's Prof Keefe described Singapore as an ideal place for such a study. The country is 'compact and structured', and it is easier to follow up on patients, unlike in the US, where people move around a lot.