Media sosial dan kesihatan mental remaja – Dr Ahmad Nabil Md Rosli

Penggunaan media sosial di Malaysia Menurut bancian elektronik yang diusahakan oleh organisasi Hootsuit dan We Are Social pada awal 2018, dianggarkan sebanyak 24 juta penduduk di Malaysia adalah pengguna aktif media sosial. Secara purata, penduduk Malaysia menatap alat peranti elektronik selama 3 jam sehari bagi melayari berita, gosip, video, atau berkenalan dengan rakan-rakan di media sosial. Daripada jumlah ini, 1.5 juta (3%) pengguna media sosial jenis biru-putih, terdiri daripada anak-anak remaja yang berumur dalam lingkungan 13-17 tahun. Soalan: Adakah ini satu masalah? Sila duduk dan jangan lari, bacalah selanjutnya. Budaya Teknopoli Sekitar tahun 90-an, seorang ahli teori media dan pengkritik budaya; Neil Postman, dalam karya Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, mengingatkan orang ramai tentang bahaya yang menanti masyarakat yang menjadikan teknologi sebagai ‘tuan’, lalu secara tidak sedar menjadi ‘hamba’ yang menagih kepuasan daripadanya. Masyarakat menjadikan teknologi sebagai satu tanda aras baik buruk sesuatu perkara. Jauh daripada menjadi propagandis anti-teknologi (tuduhan yang sering diterima beliau), kepesatan teknologi telah membawa bersamanya kebanjiran maklumat yang belum tentu kesahannya. Jika dahulu maklumat lebih mudah untuk ditapis; menerusi mekanisma saringan yang wujud dalam masyarakat, sifat media sosial yang pantas, mudah, dan melangkaui sempadan sedia ada, sering menyajikan pelbagai maklumat (baca: sesetengahnya palsu, disinformation) kepada setiap pengguna yang setia menanti di tabir peranti. Hasilnya satu ilusi, yang tak tahu, dibilang tahu, dan sebaliknya. Sudah tentu ini boleh menghasilkan satu keadaan huru-hara pada kesihatan psikologi massa ataupun diri sendiri

Waswas dan kecelaruan obsesif kompulsif (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder): tinjauan ringkas tentang kajian, pandangan dan rawatan psikiatri kontemporari dan pendekatan Ulama Islam silam

Artikel ini membincangkan tentang kecelaruan obsesif-kompulsif yang bertemakan agama (religious obsessive-compulsive disorder) – atau juga dikenal sebagai waswas – menerusi kaca mata psikiatri kontemporari dan sarjana Muslim silam. Tulisan ini meninjau punca dan rawatan psikiatri moden berserta kekangan yang dihadapi bagi merawat pesakit yang menghidapinya. Iktibar daripada pemahaman dan pendekatan ulama Muslim silam akan dibentangkan. Rawatan yang menyatupadukan kedua-dua pendekatan ini akan dirumus dan dipamerkan menggunakan laporan kes klinikal

Empowering patient’s psychospiritual potential

Patients with depression and anxiety disorder often present with multiple problems of various aspects; ranging from biological symptoms to social and psychospiritual concerns. A thorough assessment of patient’s spirituality in the face of illness enables us to address the pertinent issue which is often neglected. Only through this, patient’s spiritual concerns and unused potential can be identified and utilised in the psychotherapy. This presentation will illustrate a few instances of spirituality integrated therapy for anxiety and depression, based on the author’s clinical experience. Relevant literature on religiosity, spirituality and psychotherapy will be cited and discussed

Religious-integrated therapy for religious obsessive-compulsive disorder in an adolescent: a case report and literature review

Religious obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is relatively underreported among adolescent and carries poorer outcome. We report a 20-year-old Muslim man who was diagnosed with religious OCD when he was 14 years old. He had recurrent blasphemous intrusive thoughts upon performing religious rituals which had hindered him from practising his religion. Despite being on tablet esticalopram 10 mg and conventional cognitive– behavioural therapy, the result was to no avail. A religiousintegrated therapy was introduced by incorporating some of the Islamic values, knowledge, and practice during the exposure and response prevention therapy for five consecutive days along with cognitive restructuring. A considerable amount of symptom and functional relief was achieved. He excelled in his studies and equally important was able to resume practising his religion. Religious-integrated therapy is an untapped area that should be offered as the treatment option in certain cases where religion plays an important role in illness’s phenomenology and patient’s coping

Said Nursi’s psycho-spiritual therapy for psychological reactions of patients with physical illnesses

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Mental health mobile apps during Covid-19 Pandemic to evaluate stress level in Selangor

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted negatively on public mental health. As a result, monitoring the level of the population mental health is a priority during crises. This study aims to measure stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Selangor. Cross-sectional study was done using SELANGKAH apps, where users are Selangor citizens. Data was collected from September 2021 until March 2022. This app was initially used as contact tracing and mental health modules (SEHAT) were added, consisting of a validated Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) questionnaire. Out of 42072 SEHAT users, 6411 people had completed the questionnaire. Majority were female (53.6%), Muslims (79.6%), had formal education up to secondary (49.0%), low income (89.9%), and young and middle- aged adults (59.7%). Majority have a moderate stress (66.8%), while 23.3% and 9.9% are low and high levels, respectively. High stress is significantly associated with females, high education, younger age groups, and low monthly income. Several factors could have contributed to this throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, such as online learning, uncertainty on study duration, financial constraints and limited social interactions. Moreover, as an effect of prolonged pandemic and MCO, a surge in the number of job terminations has also affected the source of income, which contributed to high levels of stress among the general population. The level of stress in Selangor was high during the pandemic as an effect of MCO

i-ACT for life: a prevention module featuring integrated elements of Islamic Spirituality and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) - Practitioner's Manual

“How can we help our young adults to thrive during COVID-19?” It is all started with this question. As academics and mental health professionals, we observed that university students struggle with multiple responsibilities, expectations, and the need to adapt fast during the early COVID-19. Many try to get help. Unfortunately, resources such as psychological services were scarce. For many months, one-on-one, face-to-face psychological services were halted during the early pandemic. Understandably, everybody was adjusting and trying to adapt. It does not exclude mental health professionals. In our region, not many were trained to conduct psychological services online. Ethical issues such as confidentiality and threats to the security and integrity of information were some of the challenges faced by mental health professionals. This slower the transition process to e-psychosocial services. Nevertheless, we learn, and we learn fast. We embody resilience. We continue reaching out to our young adults. Guided by the stepped care model, we believe the first step is to empower young adults to self-help using the tools in their hands – digitalized technology. Self-Help Plus (SH+) WHO’s 5-session stress management course, with pre-recorded audio and an illustrated guide (Doing What Matters in Times of Stress), is the perfect module to be adapted and utilized. Moreover, many people turn to religion and spirituality in times of crisis; hence, the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental disorders must be integrated with spiritual elements. Knowing that people are overwhelmed with information during the pandemic leads us to believe that the services we want to provide must be simplified following a micro-content framework. It must also not take much of our young adults’ time to learn and practice the skills. Yet, we believe it must be frequent. With the above plan, we crafted the i-ACT For LifeTM module and designed it to appeal to young adults. Then, we piloted it and found it was feasible, appropriate, and, most importantly, accepted by our young adults. We further tested it in a Randomized Controlled Trial, and we found positive results. i-ACT For LifeTM was able to reduce the psychological distress of our young adults. Not only that, but it also increases their self-compassion, psychological flexibility, and resilience! We hope to continuously run the programme using digitalized technology and move towards more sustainable services. Meanwhile, we know we must not stop. This self-help book is published to materialize our i-ACT For LifeTM. So, while reaching our goals to digitalize it permanently, we hope the materials here will be helpful for people who find it beneficial in this format

ACT For Life: the development and user engagements of mobile application for prevention and management of psychological distress

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the ways of modern healthcare delivery, and remote methods of delivering evidence-based mental healthcare are more important now than before (Ho et al., 2020).1 Digital mental health interventions have already been lauded for its ability to reduce cost, transcend physical limits, and increase flexibility and autonomy of users (Wasil et al., 2021) 2, making its use arguably vital in managing the mental health impact of the pandemic. Given that rates of mental disorders are expected to increase post-pandemic (Varma et al., 2021)3, novel methods to introduce preventative and management of mental health issues are needed to reduce the strain on Malaysia’s already overburdened mental healthcare system (Beckstein et al., 2021).4 Objective: The present study elaborated the development and user engagements of ACT for Life, a mobile application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for prevention and management of psychological distress for Malaysian. Method: The mobile application ACT For Life was developed based on the cloud-based instant messaging i-ACT for Life program that has been tested its effectiveness through a randomized controlled trial.5 The program comprises five weekly modules corresponded to an ACT core processes (Grounding, Unhooking, Acting on Values, Being Kind, and Making Room). The micro-contents were designed in infographic format, 7 interactive exercises and quizzes, 12 audio exercises, and 7 psychoeducation videos. The major improvements from the original program are translation and adaptation into the Malay language. ACT For Life also drops the integrated Islamic spiritual strategies from the original program for multireligious people in Malaysia. The users are encouraged to take Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 items (DASS-21) before and after the program. The current mobile application is integrated as part of Selangor Mental Sihat (SEHAT), a comprehensive mental health application involving mental health awareness, literacy, screening, early intervention, and subsidized psychiatric intervention sponsored and managed by one of the state governments in Malaysia. Results: ACT for Life mobile application was live in SEHAT since October 2022 in conjunction with World Mental Health Day. As of February 2023, the number of users for SEHAT and ACT for Life is 17,105 and 726, respectively. Total number of user engagements are follows: Opening of the Program – 724 (99.72%), Week 1 – 446 (61.43%), and Week 2 – 29 (3.99%). None of the users have attended Week 3 modules and above and hence none have completed pre-and post-DASS-21 for analysis of program outcome. Conclusions: The total number of engagements suggests that the ACT for Life mobile application is accessible for the users. In comparison to the similar programme, i-ACT For Life, the number of users for ACT for Life is less. Furthermore, sustainability of user engagements and issue on program completion need to be further studied. Increase promotion of the program, continuous reminders to the users, and therapist-assisted initiative may be the solutions for the issues