Happy World Mental Health Day (Oct 10)! At least, as happy as you can be if you're depressed. That's a lot of us, actually — a 2023 Ipsos survey showed that 20 per cent of Singaporeans experience depression regularly, and one in 10 has considered self-harm.

Nearly half of Singaporeans, in fact, consider mental health to be the country's biggest health problem, over and above cancer (38 per cent) and stress (35 per cent).

I've been a longstanding member of that club. I've suffered from depression since I was a teenager (I'm in my 40s now), which led to an episode of self-harm that I'm not proud of.

Depression has dogged me throughout my career, too — I'm ashamed to say there have been MANY days where I've cancelled appointments because I can't bring myself to go out. And I'm terrible at networking and staying in touch with people because, well, I'd just rather not talk to anyone.

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