Singapore — After losing her best friend to suicide in 2019, Ms Yvette Tan wrote that she’s making herself available to people in the same situation, and asked that conversations about mental health be normalised.
Content warning: the following story contains a description of suicide.
“If you are going through the same, my IG DMs will always be open for you if you need someone,” she wrote in TikTok posts on Sept 19, 23 and Oct 5, in time for Mental Health Awareness Month.
In her first post, she wrote that she had lost her best friend to suicide.
@yvetteinswitz don’t leave it until it’s too late. #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawarenessmonth
Ms Tan’s video was a montage of videos and photos of her and her best friend dancing, travelling to Korea, and looking like they were having a wonderful time together.
She wrote that her best friend had been a kind, outgoing, happy-go-lucky person, “someone with the highest energy in the room,” who had supportive family and friends.
And yet, her friend had battled depression for seven years and said she did not wish to live past the age of 20.
Ms Tan sought to clarify the myth of people with depression as being “weak-minded.”
“They are sick,” she wrote. “The brain…can malfunction as much as other organs.
Brain scans show a physical diff(erence) between a healthy and sick brain. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
She then appealed for viewers to let people in their lives know they matter, that they’re loved and have a future.
“Be the one to tell them,” she wrote. “People die in silence due to this judgment. Normalise talking about mental health. Don’t leave it until it’s too late.”
Ms Tan’s second TikTok is all about how her friend died by suicide, on a day when everything seemed “normal.”
@yvetteinswitz Reply to @spongebob19833 My experience w/ mental health & su1cide (full vid on YT) #mentalhealthmatter #mentalhealthawarenessmonth #endthestigma
“A little past midnight she texted her brother, ‘I love you, goodbye.’ She went to the rooftop of her building 12th floor. She committed suicide by jumping down from there.”
“Normalise talking about mental health. Don’t leave it until it’s too late,” she added again.
Her third video was a tribute to her friend. “In loving memory of Hyerin, 1996-2019.”
“A letter to those grieving the lost of a loved one, this has brought me comfort, I hope you are healing too #endthestigma #mentalhealthmatter,” she wrote in the caption.
@yvetteinswitz A letter to those grieving the lost of a loved one, this has brought me comfort, I hope you are healing too #endthestigma #mentalhealthmatter
If you or anyone you know is struggling with suicide, don’t be afraid to reach out to Samaritans of Singapore (SOS):
24-HOUR SOS HOTLINE: 1-767
EMAIL: PAT@SOS.ORG.SG
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 24-hour emergency medical services at 995 or approach your nearest A&E.
/TISG
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