Let’s talk more about mental illness, Singapore

I am disturbed by some comments netizens have made with regard to recent reports on suicides and crimes committed owing to mental illnesses.

The stories about a kleptomaniac and a new mother who had committed suicide, and a professor who stole repeatedly, drew sympathetic as well as cynical and cruel comments (“Mum who jumped to death with newborn had postpartum depression: Coroner”; May 10 and “NTU professor gets mandatory treatment order for shoplifting”; May 23).

Mental illness has been discussed widely in Western countries such as the United Kingdom, but in Asian countries, even one as liberal as Singapore, this is still taboo to a large extent.

There is a stigma, and given the recent cases, also a need for more education and discussion about this subject.