Letter to the Editor
Telepalliative care during the pandemic: Lessons for the future
Dear Editor,
Mok et al. gave hope for cautious optimism for the acceptance of telemedicine for palliative care—which will be referred to as “telepalliative care”...
Original Article
Identifying high-risk hospitalised chronic kidney disease patient using electronic health records for serious illness conversation
In-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients is shown to have lower survival1 and a higher proportion of survivors on maintenance...
Review Article
Use of Atypical Neuroleptics in a State Mental Institute
Schizophrenia is the most severe of all mental disorders and affects about 1% of the population. The main disturbances of schizophrenia comprise positive symptoms,...
Review Article
Somatisation among Asian Refugees and Immigrants as a Culturally-shaped Illness Behaviour
During the past two decades, close to one million Southeast Asian refugees of war have resettled in North America. Together with the already significant...
Others
How the Mental Hospital was Renamed Woodbridge Hospital in 1951
In the 1920s the government embarked on an ambitious programme to build hospitals, staffed largely by graduates of the King Edward College of Medicine....
Others
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Discontinuation Symptoms
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a new class of antidepressants which are effective, better tolerated with less side effects and more specific in...
Review Article
Under-diagnosed Psychiatric Syndrome II: Pathologic Skin Picking
Pathologic skin picking may be defined as the habitual picking of skin lesions, which when chronic and extensive, can lead to significant distress, dysfunction...
Original Article
A Clinical Study of Seven Cases of Trichotillomania in Singapore
Trichotillomania was first described by a French dermatologist Hallopeau (1889) of a young man who pulled out his hair in tufts. The word trichotillomania...
Review Article
Under-diagnosed Psychiatric Syndrome I: Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania (TTM) is a chronic psychiatric condition characterised by uncontrollable, self-inflicted, hair pulling, resulting in noticeable hair loss. First described by Hallopeau a century...
Others
Psychological Trauma, Physical Health and Somatisation
Trauma does not respect persons or culture. While Singapore is fortunate to have been spared large-scale disaster and war for decades, it has nevertheless...
Others
Medical Leave Granted to Psychiatric Inpatients—A One-year Retrospective Review
The Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital (NUH) has a 26-bedded inpatient unit. This study retrospectively examines the medical leave granted to all...
Original Article
Mental Health Literacy in Singapore: A Comparative Survey of Psychiatrists and Primary Health Professionals
The management of mental health disorders within a nation requires a system of care extending from the primary health care setting to tertiary and...
Others
Identification of Genes for Schizophrenia Susceptibility
Schizophrenia, described as “the most human of all diseases,” affects about 0.5 % to 1% of the population and typically develops in the early...
Others
Muscle Dysmorphia in a Young Chinese Male
In 1891, Morselli described “dysmorphophobia” in 78 patients who were severely miserable, preoccupied and distressed by perceived deformities. The word “dysmorphia” in Greek means...
Original Article
Contrasting Clozapine Prescribing Patterns in the East and West?
Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness which causes enormous suffering, impaired social and occupational functioning, as well as higher mortality among the sufferers. The...
Review Article
Cardiac Effects of Psychotropic Drugs
The incidence of mortality is higher among psychiatric patients than among the general population and the cause of which may be the psychiatric disorder...
Original Article
Men Who Commit Rape in Singapore
Of all the sexual crimes committed, rape stands out as one of the most serious forms of sexual assault, yet there is a general...
Original Article
Psychiatric Illness, Personality Traits and the Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common functional gastrointestinal disorder seen by gastroenterologists and has been found to account for 50% of referrals...
Review Article
Behavioural Disorders in Childhood: A Singapore Perspective
A review of five Western epidemiological studies of children aged 6 to 11 years revealed an average prevalence of 25% for psychiatric disorder (ranging...
Original Article
The Views of Mental Health Professionals Towards Psychotherapy—A Singapore Survey
There is a trend in Asia towards a greater application of psychotherapeutic approaches in multidisciplinary settings to emotional and behavioural disturbances. The inaugural issue...
Original Article
Pilot Study to Assess the Viability of a Rape Trauma Syndrome Questionnaire
In their 1974 study, Burgess and Holmstrom1 interviewed a heterogeneous sample of 92 adult females admitted between 1972 and 1973 to the emergency ward...
Original Article
Thyroid Dysfunction in Chronic Schizophrenia Within a State Psychiatric Hospital
Thyroid dysfunction can give rise to various psychiatric symptoms. While there is a persistent interest in the role of thyroid axis in affective disorders,...
Commentary
Mental Disorders and Public Safety of the Community at Large—Does the Tarasoff Principle Apply in Singapore?
In the course of their work, psychiatrists treat patients who, because of their mental disorders, may pose a danger to themselves and/or to others....
Review Article
A Palliative Care Approach to End-stage Neurodegenerative Conditions
A syndrome of total functional dependence, poor mobility, lack of meaningful communication and incontinence of bowels and bladder appears to be the final common...
Letter to the Editor
Preventing Youth Suicide
This letter is in reference to Dr Ung’s article published in the Annals which investigated youth suicide and parasuicide in Singapore. The study of...
Original Article
Measuring Quality of Life in Chinese Cancer Patients: A New Version of the Functional Living Index for Cancer (Chinese)
Health-related quality of life (QOL) is recognised as an important aspect of patient care. In oncology studies, it may stand as the primary end-point....
Review Article
Eating Disorders in Singapore: A Review
Anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge-eating disorder are the three best described ‘eating disorders’. All three are predominantly disorders of women with the core symptoms...
Review Article
Youth Suicide and Parasuicide in Singapore
The World Health Organization defines suicide as an act with a fatal outcome that is deliberately initiated and performed by the person himself or...
Original Article
Five-Year Review of Adolescent Mental Health Usage in Singapore
The past 20 years have seen much growth in the knowledge of child and adolescent psychiatric practice. Research has provided an improved understanding in...
Original Article
Post-SARS Psychological Morbidity and Stigma Among General Practitioners and Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners in Singapore
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the first severe and readily transmissible new disease to emerge in the 21st century (WHO). The countries most...
Review Article
A Risk Reduction Approach for Schizophrenia: The Early Psychosis Intervention Programme
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder with a profound impact on patients, their caregivers and society. The Global Burden of Disease lists schizophrenia among...
Original Article
Interleukin-2 Levels in Chronic Schizophrenia Patients
Autoimmune processes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Several pieces of indirect evidence point towards a role of autoimmune processes in at...
Others
Abuse of Prescription Buprenorphine, Regulatory Controls and the Role of the Primary Physician
Buprenorphine is an opiate partial agonist that has been used for pain management, and in the past few years has been approved for the...
Original Article
Reducing Polypharmacy Through the Introduction of a Treatment Algorithm: Use of a Treatment Algorithm on the Impact on Polypharmacy
The use of 2 or more antipsychotic medications (polypharmacy) for an episode of psychosis is pervasive despite the lack of evidence-based data. It is...
Original Article
Socio-demographic Profile and Help-seeking Behaviour of Buprenorphine Abusers in Singapore
Opiate dependence is a major health and social concern in many countries across the world. The burden of disease is considerable, with surveys indicating...
Editorial
Medicalising the Treatment of Opioid Dependence
Traditionally the treatment of opioid dependence in Singapore has not been viewed as a public health problem, but rather as a social problem that...
Others
“The one” Annoying Patient
Schizophrenia – a mind torn asunder – is a difficult illness to live with, both for the patient as well as for the caregiver;...
Review Article
The Risk of Suicidality with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
The first antidepressants were discovered 50 years ago by chance. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) dominated the treatment of depression from...
Original Article
Clinical and Social Correlates of Duration of Untreated Psychosis in First-episode Psychosis Patients
First-episode studies of schizophrenia have reported that the longer the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), the poorer the response to antipsychotic medication and treatment...
Commentary
The Media and Suicide
Suicide worldwide is estimated to represent 1.8% of the total global burden of disease in 1998, and 2.4% in countries with market and former...
Commentary
Performance Measures for Mental Healthcare in Singapore
Mental disorders are prevalent worldwide and while they are disabling and costly, they have not received that amount of attention and resources needed. A...
Original Article
Mental Health Professionals’ Perceived Barriers and Benefits, and Personal Concerns in Relation to Psychiatric Research
Epidemiological research has shown that mental disorders can result in considerable healthcare and other opportunity costs. There are some reports that have highlighted the...
Original Article
Pathways to Specialist Care in an Insomnia Clinic at a Psychiatric Hospital: A Comparative Analysis of Two Periods
The complaint of insomnia is common and patients generally either self-medicate and/or consult primary healthcare providers. Referrals to a specialist for further management largely...
Review Article
Behavioural Sleep Disorders in Children and Adolescents
Overall, children spend one-third to one-half of their life sleeping. Although sleep comprises such a significant portion of a child’s day, sleep disturbances are...
Review Article
Hypnotherapy for Sleep Disorders
Derived from ‘Hypnos’, the Greek God of sleep, the word hypnosis literally means sleep. Ironically, hypnosis is not a form of sleep but a...
Original Article
Sleep Disturbances in Singaporean Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood psychiatric disorder with various studies reporting prevalence rates of between 1.7% and 16%. The most...
Commentary
Neuropsychiatry – An Emerging Field
Neuropsychiatry can be described as the interface between neurology and psychiatry – the intersecting field of enquiry for both the brain and the mind....
Commentary
Internationally, it is Time to Bridge the Gap between Primary and Secondary Healthcare Services for the Dying
Around two-thirds of people with incurable diseases in economically developed countries wish to die at home, but less than one third succeed in doing...
Commentary
Providing Integrated Mental Health Services in the Singapore Primary Care Setting – the General Practitioner Psychiatric Programme Experience
Mental disorders are recognised as a major public health problem worldwide, and the management of mental health problems places an enormous burden on health...
Original Article
Prevalence and Correlates of Excessive Internet Use among Youth in Singapore
There has been an explosive growth of Internet usage worldwide and this is expected to continue with its use becoming an integral part of...
Commentary
The personal recovery movement in Singapore – past, present and future
Early psychiatric conceptions of successful mental health recovery traditionally focused on reducing or eradicating symptoms.1 The personal recovery movement of the early 1990s in...
Original Article
Impact of Depression on Health Related Quality of Life in Patients with Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a serious chronic illness that imposes significant morbidity and mortality and has a major impact on the quality of life...
Letter to the Editor
Management of a Patient with Schizophrenia and Underlying Pituitary Macroadenoma
Hyperprolactinemia was found to be prevalent in a multi-centred study of 402 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and schizophreniform disorder treated with conventional antipsychotics...
Original Article
Opioid Use amongst Cancer Patients at the End of Life
Opioid use in terminally ill cancer patients at the end of life has been a source of concern amongst many for fear of its...
Original Article
Psychological Symptoms in People Presenting for Weight Management
Multiple factors contribute to the genesis and maintenance of obesity which is a difficult condition to treat and weight loss is often not maintained....
Editorial
Preventive Psychiatry
In medicine, measures that save the most lives and improved the quality of life of millions have largely been public health measures that in...
Original Article
The Need for a System of Prognostication in Skeletal Metastasis to Decide Best End-of-life Care – A Call to Arms
Decisions regarding potential surgery for metastatic disease are influenced by estimates of patient survival. For example, patients with long life expectancy may be appropriately...
Original Article
Monthly Take-Home Methadone Maintenance Regime for Elderly Opium-Dependent Users in Singapore
The misuse of illicit opiates remains a global problem, placing a heavy burden on society. Literature on the effectiveness of opiate substitution pharmacotherapies in...
Review Article
Panic Attack and its Correlation with Acute Coronary Syndrome – More Than Just a Diagnosis of Exclusion
Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a life-threatening condition which benefits from prompt evaluation and proper treatment, such that it would be considered negligent for...
Letter to the Editor
Reply from Author: Is It Time to Revise the Definition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
We would like to thank the author for suggesting that the definition of ADHD should be revised. This is an important consideration in the...
Letter to the Editor
Is It Time to Revise the Definition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
I read with interest the article published in the Annals entitled “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Coping or Curing?”, which concluded that coping rather than...
Letter to the Editor
Novel Use of Baclofen in Cancer Patients for the Treatment of Hiccups
A hiccup is a result of an involuntary, intermittent spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm and the inspiratory intercostal muscles, resulting in a sudden inspiration...
Original Article
Socio-demographic Profile and Psychiatric Comorbidity of Subjects with Pathological Gambling
Gambling has been defined as a wager of any type of item or possession of value upon a game or event of uncertain outcome...
Original Article
Weight Gain in Asian Patients on Second-generation Antipsychotics
Weight gain is a serious side-effect with antipsychotic medication use. There is increasing evidence that with certain second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) weight gain liability is...
Original Article
Profile of Hospitalisation and Death in the First Year after Diagnosis of End-stage Renal Disease in a Multi-ethnic Asian Population
End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is reaching epidemic proportions and is increasingly a public health issue due to the cost of providing care to these...
Original Article
Effectiveness of Assertive Community Management in Singapore
In Asia, various community programmes have been adopted and studied in several countries in an effort to promote de-institutionalisation, community psychiatric services and reduce...
Original Article
Height and Mental Health and Health Utility Among Ethnic Chinese in a Polyclinic Sample in Singapore
Several studies have found adult height predictive of mental health and emotional well-being. A study of Swedish conscripts demonstrated an inverse association between
height at...
Editorial
You Are Worth More Than What You Weigh: Preventing Eating Disorders
Times have changed. Maternal mortality rates at the start of the 1900s were around 1 in 100 live births in the best maternity institutions....
Original Article
How do English-speaking Cancer Patients Conceptualise Personhood?
Understanding the way personhood or “what makes you, you” is conceptualised is pivotal to the practice of medicine. Conceptions of personhood determine the moral...
Original Article
An Analysis of Blinding Success in a Randomised Controlled Trial of Fish Oil Omega-3 Fatty Acids
There has been growing interest in the use of dietary supplementation to treat psychiatric disorders. In particular, supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids has been...
Commentary
Integrating mental healthcare in primary care in Singapore
Management of mental health conditions can be both resource-intensive and costly. The rigour of obtaining appointments and the long waiting time at tertiary hospitals,...
Editorial
Seasonal haze: Knowledge gaps and risk perception behaviours
The seasonal haze in Southeast Asia has been a recurrent concern whenever we enter the southwest monsoon season (June–September). This phenomenon, caused by agricultural...
Original Article
Dietary intake of persons with depressive and psychotic disorders in Singapore
Unhealthy diet is a modifiable risk factor in many health conditions, including mental disorders. Nutritional psychiatry is an emerging field that examines the role...
Editorial
Nutritional psychiatry: The next frontier in mental health treatment
The World Health Organization has envisioned for every human being’s fundamental right to be able to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health, even...
Letter to the Editor
Impact of COVID-19 on mental health and occupational burnout in a surgical unit in Singapore
In this study, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the psychological well-being and burnout among staff who manage critically ill general surgery and...
Letter to the Editor
A resuscitation course designed for a psychiatric hospital
It is challenging to maintain the resuscitation skills of doctors in a psychiatric hospital. Our study describes a resuscitation course designed specifically for the...
Original Article
Psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric healthcare workers
Early studies done in China during this COVID-19 pandemic have shown considerable mental health impact on healthcare workers (HCWs), especially those working on the...
Editorial
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on global mental health: From the general public to healthcare workers
The COVID-19 pandemic began in late 2019 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. To decrease...