Mental Health Narratives in Singapore

Stigma is one of the chief reasons for treatment-avoidant behaviour among people with mental health conditions. Stigmatising attitudes are spread through multiple determinants, including but not limited to (i) individual beliefs, (ii) interpersonal influences, (iii) local cultural values and (iv) shared culture such as depictions in novels, plays, films, and television shows. Fictional narratives possess the profound ability to alternately reify or debunk assumptions and stereotypes about people with mental health conditions. While storytelling about sickness can inspire possibilities and bestow meaning on traumatic experiences, fictional narratives written without sufficient care can have the inverse effect of curtailing horizons and limiting expectations. Problematic portrayals of patients, mental health professionals and psychological interventions are often reductive and may prevent treatment-seeking behaviour.
This talk introduces an interdisciplinary and cross-sector research project designed in response to the problem of mental health stigma in Singapore. The diverse and multi-disciplinary team analyses how films, television dramas, novels, and plays represent mental health across four languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Bahasa Melayu, and Tamil. The project hopes to inspire writers, directors, and producers to create more complex and nuanced representations that can help to challenge the preconceptions and stereotypes that lead to the stigmatisation of vulnerable members of society. The team works closely with patients and practitioners from the Institute of Mental Health and other hospitals and arts organisations in Singapore. In the talk, Graham Matthews shares insights from the three strands of the project which include (i) detailed close reading and analysis of over 300 Singaporean mental health narratives, (ii) Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with people with mental health conditions, and (iii) Multi-disciplinary and Cross-sector Roundtables (MCR) with experts from a diverse range of sectors and disciplines. In combination, these approaches help provide a culturally sensitive approach to the problem of mental health stigma.
About the speaker:
Graham Matthews is Associate Professor in English and Provost’s Chair in Medical Humanities at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is the author of two monographs and over 30 articles and chapters on contemporary literature in journals such as BMJ: Medical Humanities, Modern Fiction Studies, Textual Practice, English Studies, Literature & Medicine, Literature & History and Configurations. His current research projects include an interdisciplinary and cross-sector engagement with culture and mental health stigma in Singapore, and a book-length study of medicine in mid-century British literature.

This hybrid seminar is hosted by the , .

This event is free to attend. Please note that Zoom details will be circulated closer to the event.

Host or Publisher Institute for Medical Humanities