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Singapore residents are about to get the clearest picture yet of how the nation is coping, feeling, and healing. The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) has launched the third Singapore Mental Health Study, a long-running national survey that has quietly shaped mental health policy since 2010 (NHG Health, 2026). For most people, a research study might sound like something that stays in academic journals. This one does not. It shapes the helplines we can call, the school programmes our children take part in, and the way GPs are trained to spot warning signs.
This latest wave arrives at a pivotal moment. Singapore has been through a pandemic, a cost of living squeeze, and a generational shift in how openly people speak about their feelings. The Singapore mental health study 2026 edition is designed to capture all of that, not just who has been diagnosed with a mental illness, but how the country as a whole is doing (NHG Health, 2026). That distinction, between illness and wellbeing, is at the heart of why this study matters so much for the conversations we have at home, at work, and online.
A Quick Look Back
The first Singapore Mental Health Study ran in 2010, followed by a second wave in 2016. Together, these studies have provided valuable insights into how the mental health of Singapore’s population has changed over time by using consistent, internationally recognised assessment methods (Subramaniam et al., 2019). The 2016 study found that the lifetime prevalence of at least one mood, anxiety, or alcohol use disorder had risen to 13.9 percent of adults, up from 12.0 percent in 2010 (Subramaniam et al., 2019). These findings help policymakers identify unmet needs, monitor trends, and guide the development of mental health services.
What Is Different This Time
The third edition is far more ambitious than its predecessors, and a few changes stand out.
- Including younger participants. Previous studies only surveyed adults aged 18 and above. This time, teens aged 15 to 17 are included, giving researchers a rare window into the years when many conditions first take root (NHG Health, 2026).
- Broadening the conditions being studied. Eating disorders will be studied for the first time, following concerns raised by earlier youth research about body image pressures among young people in Singapore (NHG Health, 2026).
- Looking beyond diagnosis. Alongside clinical assessments and psychological testing, the study will look at protective factors like social support, sleep, and a sense of connection, essentially asking what keeps people well rather than only what makes them unwell (NHG Health, 2026).
Roughly 6,000 residents will take part through face-to-face and online surveys between May 2026 and August 2027, with some participants followed up again after six months to understand how their help-seeking and wellbeing shift over time (NHG Health, 2026).
Why the Framing Shift Matters for Everyday Conversations
For years, mental health conversations in Singapore tended to centre on illness. Are you depressed? Do you have anxiety? Have you seen a doctor? Useful questions, but limiting ones. By building the entire mental health continuum into its research design, from thriving to struggling, the third SMHS gives us permission to talk about mental health the way we already talk about physical health: as something everyone has and experiences differently at different times — not a fixed label that only applies to “other people”.
This shift lines up with what researchers are already seeing on the ground. A related study by Duke-NUS Medical School and IMH estimated that symptoms of anxiety and depression cost the Singapore economy close to S$16 billion a year through healthcare use, absenteeism, and reduced productivity (Chodavadia et al., 2023). A cost that large isn’t coming from one narrow group of people. They point to something woven through offices, classrooms, and homes across the island.
There is also a quieter, more personal reason this matters. When national data treats mental wellbeing as a spectrum rather than a binary, it becomes a little easier for an individual to say “I’m not in crisis, but I’m not doing brilliantly either” without feeling like they need a diagnosis to justify getting support.
What This Could Mean for Families, Schools, and Workplaces
The inclusion of teenagers is arguably the biggest practical shift in this study. Earlier IMH youth research found that around one in three young people aged 15 to 35 reported severe or extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress (NHG Health, 2026). Bringing 15 to 17 year olds into the national dataset for the first time means schools and youth services will finally have population-level evidence, rather than anecdote, to guide how they support students during exam seasons, social pressures, and the general turbulence of adolescence.
For workplaces, the study’s attention to burnout and workplace stress signals that employers may soon have sharper data to justify investment in mental health leave, employee assistance programmes, and manager training. And for families, having eating disorders formally studied for the first time could help normalise conversations that are often shrouded in silence or shame.
Small Steps We Can Take
While the study runs its course over the next few years, there are small, grounded steps anyone can take today.
- Check in on a friend or colleague who has seemed quieter than usual lately.
- Notice your own patterns around sleep, screen time, and stress before they build up.
- Treat a request for support, whether it is a chat with a friend or a session with a professional, as a sign of self-awareness rather than weakness.
These small actions may seem simple, but they help create a culture in which conversations about mental health become more open, supportive, and routine.
Getting Support When You Need It
Research like this gives us better maps, but maps still need people willing to walk the path. If reading about mental health prevalence has made you reflect on your own wellbeing, or that of someone close to you, professional support can make a real difference. ImPossible Psychological Services offers a range of therapy and psychological services for individuals, couples, and families navigating everything from everyday stress to more complex mental health concerns.
References
Chodavadia, P., Teo, I., Poremski, D., Fung, D. S. S., & Finkelstein, E. A. (2023). Prevalence and economic burden of depression and anxiety symptoms among Singaporean adults: Results from a 2022 web panel. BMC Psychiatry, 23, 104. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04581-7
NHG Health. (2026, May 8). IMH launches the third Singapore Mental Health Study. https://www.nhghealth.com.sg/News/imh-launches-the-third-singapore-mental-health-study
Subramaniam, M., Abdin, E., Vaingankar, J. A., Shafie, S., Chua, B. Y., Sambasivam, R., Zhang, Y. J., Shahwan, S., Chang, S., Chua, H. C., Verma, S., James, L., Kwok, K. W., Heng, D., & Chong, S. A. (2019). Tracking the mental health of a nation: Prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in the second Singapore Mental Health Study. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 29, e29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000179