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Growing up in Singapore comes with its own set of pressure. Between school, exams, part-time jobs, and the endless scroll of social media, young people are juggling more than most adults realise. when new research suggests that a significant number of them are quietly struggling, it deserves a proper conversation, not just a passing headline.
The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) has been running two connected pieces of research that shed light on this exact issue: the Building Resilience and InterVEntion (BRAVE) study, which screens children and adolescents for common conditions, and the National Youth Mental Health Study (NYMHS), which surveyed thousands of young people aged 15 to 35. Together, these studies highlight challenges that many young people and families may already recognise.
What the Research Actually Found
The NYMHS found that about one in three young people reported experiencing severe or extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress (Ministry of Health, Singapore, 2024). Anxiety emerged as the most common concern, particularly among those in their late teens and early twenties, and a notable number of respondents also reported cyberbullying and heavy social media use.
Meanwhile, the BRAVE study takes a slightly different angle. Rather than surveying adults about their past, it screens children and adolescents directly for four of the most common conditions seen at IMH’s Child Guidance Clinics: autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and depression (Institute of Mental Health, 2024). According to Dr Lim Choon Guan, Chief of the Department of Developmental Psychiatry at IMH and Principal Investigator of the study, current support systems tend to respond to problems only after they surface, rather than catching them early (Institute of Mental Health, 2024). That single observation says a lot about where the gaps really are.
Why So Many Struggles Go Unnoticed
Here is the part that tends to catch parents off guard. A young person can be sitting at the dinner table, replying to messages, doing reasonably well in school, and still be carrying a weight that nobody else can see. Struggles like this rarely announce themselves loudly. They show up as irritability, withdrawal, changes in sleep, or simply a quieter version of the child you thought you knew.
This is where the role of a child therapist becomes so important. A trained professional knows how to read the smaller signals, the ones that get lost in the busyness of everyday life, and create a space where a young person feels safe enough to actually talk. Many parents hold off on seeking this kind of support because they are not sure whether what they are seeing counts as “serious enough”. The truth is, waiting for a crisis before reaching out is exactly the pattern researchers are trying to shift.
Part of the difficulty also lies in how conversations at home tend to go. Talking to your child about therapy is not always a natural or easy conversation to start, especially in families where mental health was rarely discussed growing up. Recognising that discomfort is a normal first step, not a failure.
There is also a quieter, structural reason behind the numbers. Even among adults, research from the Singapore Mental Health Study found that a large proportion of people with a diagnosable mental health condition never seek professional treatment within a given year, often citing stigma or a preference to handle things independently (Subramaniam et al., 2020). If that pattern holds true for adults, it is not hard to imagine how much harder it might be for a teenager to ask for help, or for a parent to notice that help is needed in the first place.
Signs Worth Paying Attention To
Every child expresses stress differently, but a few patterns tend to show up more often than others:
- Sudden changes in sleep or appetite
- Pulling away from friends or activities they used to enjoy
- A drop in school performance without an obvious cause
- Increased irritability or emotional outbursts
- Spending noticeably more time alone or online
- Physical complaints, such as headaches or stomach aches, with no clear medical reason
None of these signs, on their own, necessarily indicates a mental health condition. However, if several of them persist over time or begin affecting your child’s daily functioning, it may be worthwhile seeking professional advice.
What Parents Can Actually Do
Supporting your child does not always begin with finding the perfect words. Often, it begins by creating opportunities for conversation.
A walk together, a car journey, or a quiet moment before bed can sometimes feel less intimidating than sitting down for a formal discussion. Young people are far more likely to open up when they do not feel like they are being interrogated.
It also helps to resist the urge to fix everything immediately. Sometimes a teenager just needs to feel heard before they are ready to consider next steps, whether that means speaking to a school counsellor, a GP, or a psychologist. Framing professional support as a normal part of looking after wellbeing, rather than a last resort, tends to lower the resistance considerably.
Schools, too, have a part to play. With the National Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy rolling out a range of preventive measures over the coming years (Ministry of Health, Singapore, 2024), families are increasingly being met halfway by systems designed to catch problems earlier. That said, no system replaces a parent who is genuinely paying attention.
A Gentle Reminder
Numbers like “one in three” can feel abstract until they land close to home. If any of this has struck a chord, whether because of something you have noticed in your own child or simply a nagging feeling that something is off, that instinct is usually worth listening to.
Reaching out for support is not an admission that something has gone wrong. It is simply one of the most caring things a parent can do. If you are looking for a warm, experienced team to guide your family through this, ImPossible Psychological Services offers assessment and therapy support tailored to children, adolescents, and the parents walking alongside them.
References
Institute of Mental Health. (2024, November 22). IMH embarks on nationwide study to gain deeper understanding of mental health and neuro-development in children and adolescents [Media release]. https://www.imh.com.sg/Newsroom/News-Releases/Documents/Media%20Release_BRAVE%20Study_22Nov2024-final.pdf
Ministry of Health, Singapore. (2024, September 19). Whole-of-society efforts to support mental health and well-being of youths in Singapore. https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/whole-of-society-efforts-to-support-mental-health-and-well-being-of-youths-in-singapore/
Subramaniam, M., Abdin, E., Vaingankar, J. A., Shafie, S., Chua, H. C., Tan, W. M., Tan, K. B., Verma, S., Heng, D., & Chong, S. A. (2020). Minding the treatment gap: Results of the Singapore Mental Health Study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(11), 1415-1424. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01748-0