Youth with unexplained ailments screened for mental health stressors

KKH programme aims to go deeper into root causes of patients' symptoms

- Lee Li Ying

The 14-year-old boy had been suffering from heart palpitations and stomach aches for a few months since mid-2023.

Despite multiple visits to general practitioners and to KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) Children's Emergency (CE), doctors could not find any serious medical issues to explain the symptoms.

In late 2023, when the youth, who had a troubled background, was taken to the CE once again, he was sullen, reticent and refused to communicate with medical staff.

But Mr Muhammad Arsyad Suwandi, a youth connect associate under KKH's medical social work department, spent two hours with him, breaking down his walls and getting him to open up about his life.

That led to a revelation - the boy's ailments were unlikely to be due to a physical cause.

It turned out that he was due to appear in court, and his symptoms had appeared when he found out the date of the court hearing. "He started getting physical symptoms because he was nervous," said Mr Arsyad.

While the youth was admitted to the hospital for further testing, Mr Arsyad worked with the residential home the boy was from to get him psychological support.

"I help youth piece together what is going on in their lives, and educate them about the mind-body connection - which is the idea that someone's thoughts and feelings can impact how they feel physically," said Mr Arsyad.

The youth is one of more than 2,800 patients between the ages of 10 and 18 who have been screened at KKH's CE since October 2022 under the Temasek Foundation Youth Connect Programme.

Funded by KKH, the three-year pilot is also supported by Temasek Foundation, which contributed about $1.8 million.