Gen X stoics shouldn't stand in the way of young people's mental health

Youth mental health is a national and global issue. It's time for older Singaporeans to get over their own bias so they don't hinder young people's access to treatment.

- Chua Mui Hoong

The first time I heard of a "quarter-life crisis", I laughed. This was around the early 2000s. The people I spoke with, after having worked for a few years, wanted to take a break - to travel, to recharge, to try something different. When I joked that they were too young to have a midlife crisis, they said half earnestly, half jokingly, that they were having a quarter-life crisis.

The very concept was alien to me. Why would anyone who had barely worked for five years need a break? And what was there to have a "crisis" about, at the age of 25, when life beckoned, and youth and vitality pulsed through the veins?

They told me and I tried to listen. Later, I searched the term and a quarter-life crisis was a thing.

It was one of those moments when I realised how differently young people viewed life compared with me and my generation. But it took more of such cross-generational encounters and many more years before I began to accept that their view of life was different and equally valid.

I started reflecting on the generational differences in world views in the wake of calls to lower the age of consent for mental health services from 21 to 18, and for those aged 14 to 18 to be able to access care such as mental health assessments or basic counselling, without parental consent.

This is because some parents were unsupportive or refused to have their kids assessed or treated, according to mental health practitioners and MPs who have spoken up on this.

Other youth did not want their parents to be informed of their mental health needs. In some cases, the family situation or parental relationship could be factors affecting the youth's mental health.