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The Cost Of Mental Health – And Why You Should Treat It Before It’s Too Late

Treating mental health can be as important and as expensive as physical health.


For all the focus on mental health in recent years, getting help can be a minefield. The biggest challenge? Cost.

I say this as someone who’s sought help before and also someone who’s worked in the social services. We hope this article today can share insights from my personal journey getting help for my mental health, and hopefully, debunk some myths surrounding the cost of getting mental health treatment.

My Journey With Mental Health

When I moved back from the U.K. to Singapore in September 2019, I fell into a deep grief around the loss of the people I had called family, the peace I had come to enjoy, and the place I had come to call home. Sometimes, the grief felt so physical that it seemed as if someone had stabbed my heart and left it out to bleed. Not knowing how to cope, I turned to food to stuff the emotions I felt. In a single sitting, I would finish a cake, cookie packet, and cake. You wouldn’t have wanted to invite me over – I would have finished everything in your fridge.

Food was the only way I could distract myself from the pain I felt. In a single month, I grew by 8kg. I knew that if this continued, I might die.

That’s when I turned back to the psychotherapist I saw four years earlier. He was from the School of Counselling at the Singapore Bible College. As he had worked with me for some time, he kept his rates similar to those he had charged me when I was still a student, at $80 per session of an hour.

After speaking to him regarding my issues, he suggested that I get help from a psychiatrist. This is where things get confusing for people who are new to the world of mental health treatment. A psychiatrist can give medicine. A psychotherapist, counsellor, or psychologist can usually only engage in talk therapy. They can only speak to you about your issues, but cannot prescribe any medication.

My psychotherapist recommended me to a doctor at a private hospital. As a private doctor, the charges were significantly higher, but I got to see him much faster. In a month’s time, I managed to arrange my first appointment with him. The first consultation? $200. This didn’t include the cost of medications. The subsequent consultations were $100 each. I eventually saw him three times.

At this time, due to my budget, I also explored treatment at the Institute of Mental Health. For me to see someone there, I had to first get a referral from a GP. My GP wrote a referral letter, and I promptly called up IMH to arrange an appointment. Their earliest date? Three months.

The Knock-On Costs

There were also knock-on costs. When I bought life insurance from an insurer after mental health treatment, my premiums were $300 more than the average cost. They also made significant exclusions, not covering me for the possibility of total permanent disability. I guess they were afraid that I would jump, and not die.

When I tried buying a healthcare rider, the insurer didn’t even consider it. They rejected the application.

There’s (Has To Be) Hope

Now that you’ve read the costs, you might feel discouraged. You might wonder if it’s even worth seeking help. After all, there seems to be so many upfront, and hidden costs! What’s the point?

The point is this.

Your recovery is priceless. The 5 months I spent recovering wasn’t easy. Some days, it felt like there was a dark cloud over me. Jokes people said would barely elicit any laughter. My mood felt like a flat line. You stopped looking forward to the parties people organised. Or the Marvel movie you always wanted to watch. You felt like you were doing time in this jail called ‘life’, without being part of life. You are standing by the bars, watching people laugh, have fun, and asking yourself,

Why can’t I be happy? I wish I could be happy.

For all the downsides I’ve described, there is an upside. I remember the day I laughed wholeheartedly again. I couldn’t stop laughing. My face went red. People stared at me. But I felt like finally, the sun had broken through the darkness.

Sure, there was a cost. But I don’t think happiness can be measured in terms of dollars.

With my story out of the way, let’s now tackle the myths.

The Myth – Mental Health Treatment Is Too Expensive

Your eyes might have briefly popped at the $200 consultation at a psychiatrist.

That’s towards the top-end of mental health treatment. What may help is to start with more accessible forms of treatment, such as counselling at a Family Service Centre (FSC) or a charity. These charities are funded by the government, meaning that some of the costs of seeking help are borne by the government. At a FSC, you can get treatment at $25 per session. These costs are also means-tested, meaning that if you are assessed to be financially distressed, they might waive the costs.

What you need to take note though, is that quality does differ. As many of the clinical staff at FSC are social workers, they might not have specialist training in counselling. An analogy I like to use is to think of the FSC as a GP for social services. They can help with a variety of problems we face in life, but they may not offer the specialist help that is needed if you come with a very specific issue. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are bad. FSCs are still a great place to start with getting help.

All you need to do is walk into your closest FSC (check which one here) or call them, say you would like to get counselling, and voila, you’re on your way.

Beyond the Family Service Centre, there are also specialist services for counselling offered by charities. Care Corner Counselling Centre or Counselling and Care Centre (CCC) are one of those specialist services. Their rates may also be higher than those at the FSC, largely because the staff there would have graduate training in counselling (Master’s Degree/Specialist Diplomas). For example, at CCC, a session (before subsidy) would typically cost $180. After subsidy, this could range from $40 to $150.

The Myth – Even If I Need Mental Health Treatment, It Will Take Too Long To Be Seen

What do you define by long? If you desperately need help, you can place a call to SOS or the National Care Hotline and talk to trained professionals that can help.

Mental health treatment is not a crisis service. It’s best accessed when you are in a good frame of mind to work through the emotional difficulties you have. That’s why medication is often suggested with talk therapy. Medication can put you in the right physical frame of mind, whilst therapy will help you with your emotional frame of mind. It works best when you give it time, and not set a deadline for yourself. When I first started treatment, the first question I asked the doctor was,

When can I stop this medication?

I was anxious to get out. But it was when I gave myself time, that I found myself becoming better.

If you go to a FSC or charity, the point between the first walk-in and the next meeting could take from a week to a month.

It bears repeating. Mental health treatment is not a crisis service. If you need immediate help and find yourself having distressing thoughts that put you or others at the risk of harm, please go immediately to the A&E of any hospital.

The Myth – I Pay For What I Get

Oh we all know that Chinese saying,

一分钱一分货

It loosely translates to getting the quality that you paid for.

You may be skeptical about the free resources and groups out there that can support you in your journey. After all, if you aren’t paying for it, it may not be that good. But the government has invested much money into building up the resources for mental health, after recognising it as an urgent need of the population.

There are also support groups such as Psalt Care that you can access. These offer a community of peer supporters (at no fee), who are usually people who have journeyed through their own mental distress too and can share from their lived experience. These communities offer much comfort, because they remind you that you’re not alone in your journey.

The Myth – It’s All In The Mind, And It Will Go Away Anyway

As a Singaporean, I admit that I once thought that paying for mental health treatment was unwise. After all, it was all in my mind! I couldn’t see it. Was it that important to pay for?

Yes, it is.

You pay the doctor if you have a gashed arm that needs stitching. Why wouldn’t you pay a therapist for giving you better handles on the emotional cuts you’ve suffered?

Pay Now, So You Can Play Later

I still see my therapist. It’s a monthly thing now. Even though he has returned to the US, we still converse over Zoom. I see it as a monthly manicure for my mind, clearing whatever debris that’s fallen in the way.

Recently, we were laughing about how bad my dating life had been. That’s when I realised,

hey, I would never have been able to laugh 5 months ago.

We’ve come so far.

Paying for mental care may sometimes seem like a needless extravagance. It may seem like an indulgence, where you’re throwing money at something abstract, like resolving your emotions. There’s no KPI there for what ‘recovery’ looks like.

But some of the most precious things in life, your friendships, family, relationships, fun, joy, laughter – these things cannot be measured in dollars.

And for the day when you can lift your head, taste the sky, and live again, it will be worth it.

Read Also: The Vices Of Gambling (And Are You Unknowingly Gambling?)

When John isn’t writing, he’s busy lifting (light) weights. John is a writer that is excited about helping young adults to live healthy, passionate and purposeful lives at work. He writes at liveyoungandwell.com

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