Mentem's Blog Talk

My Experience in Music Therapy Class By Yong Ying             I believe that music can affect us not only physiologically but also psychologically. During the second year of my degree, I had the chance to enroll in a music therapy class for one of my elective subjects. The knowledge and experience that I gained during the class were so memorable. We learnt about how music affects our body, how we relate to ourselves with music and sounds around us. Listening to relaxing music will actually increase GABA (hormone) and it helps in decreasing anxiety and depression. Not only that, listening to your favorite music will increase oxytocin, which makes you feel happy.            My assignment for this subject was to modify a song by changing the lyrics, timbre, or musical instruments. According to Baker and Wigram, clinical songwriting can assist people to reflect on their...

By Yong Ying If seasons could describe my life, I believe that I went through the winter in my life. It was the hardest period that I had ever encountered. I was rejected by my loved one, had problems with two of my best friends and at the same time felt so helpless about the imbalanced lifestyle that I was having. I am an outstation student. Hence, without the support of my family, every second of my life seemed to be so tough. It was the first time I felt that there was no one I could turn to and rely on. I could not find anyone to speak to about my problems. I spent most of the nights thinking about what was going wrong in my life. I doubted myself, doubted everything I did and made myself feel more miserable. There were nights I stared out of the window crying while thinking what was the purpose of life and sadness seemed to be the only emotion I felt. As a psychology student in HELP University, I was given the privilege to meet with a counsellor in CPCS (Center for Psyc...

By Lorehta Doreen      Imagine standing behind the yellow line at the train station waiting to board the train. While casually looking around to pass your time, you realize an elderly woman staring at you—not the ‘I’ve seen you somewhere but I can’t remember’ kind of stare, it’s the disapproving kind of stare when they say ‘kid’s these days doesn’t have the word modesty even in their vocabulary.’ It’s clear from her intense stare that she has a problem with your skin-tight pants and midriff baring top, and is quietly criticizing your choice of outfit for the day.      Suddenly, you feel your mood switch. Some kind of emotion starts bubbling inside of you. Is it fear? Or embarrassment?Or insecurity? Or anger? You turn back to face the front, but you just can’t stop from turning to look at her again from time to time to see if she’s still looking. Every time you catch her eyes looking at you, you feel the emotion rising. This causes an inner d...

By Soo Hui Li During my undergraduate years, I was fortunate to be able to attend a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. One of the requisites of completing this course was a full day retreat at the University. I had never been to a full retreat before. The initial idea that came to mind was sitting there for hours and hours on without making the slightest move. Needless to say, I was daunted by the thought of it. I knew I had to attend no matter what, but so many questions floated through my mind. What about lunch? Toilet break? Leg cramps? I never had to deal with these problems during our regular sessions as they were short. But attending one for about 8 hours long, now that was a different story. It turned out that I had nothing to fear. I managed to handle my leg cramps by adjusting my sitting positions. I could leave for the restroom whenever I wanted. I packed a nice and non-smelling sandwich for lunch. And most importantly, we got to experience so many differ...

By Lorehta Doreen “ Alzheimer’s is the cleverest thief. It not only steals from you, it steals the very thing that you need to remember what has been stolen ,” said Jarod Kintz, author of This Book Has No Title . It started off as something simple; difficulty in remembering words, and having trouble in recalling incidents. She showed minor signs that one would disregard as a “free package” that comes with old age. Only when she started having trouble in remembering things about her own self and forgetting names did we realize that there was something unusual in her behavior. In 2013, at the age of 94, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Alzheimer’s disease. As caregivers, we were educated about the disease and on how to care for the patient. However, the seriousness of Alzheimer’s did not strike us right away. We constantly found humor in everything that she did and said. For example, days when she decides that she wan...

By Zenden Y. Dorjee Mentem Psychological Services Although counseling and psychological services have existed for a good amount of time, there still seems to be an associated stigma, especially in Asian communities. Many people fail to see how the beneficial aspects of therapy outweigh any cons that people may seem to attach to it. I recently had my first ever therapy session with a trainee* clinical psychologist here at Mentem Psychological Services and I found it very insightful. Contrary to popular, I found that counseling or therapy is not only for those with severe disorders or problems, but for anyone and everyone. My therapy experience has shown me that a counselor or a therapist is an individual who can be relied upon to take a non-judgmental stance and be accepting and understanding of you and your concerns. During my therapy session, I shared much of my personal life, issues, and worries with the therapist. This is what I learnt from therapy and why I think ever...

Perspective from a Psychology student By: Natasha Clarisse Christopher         Communication and Psychology is what I am studying currently and hopefully to walk down the graduation isle soon. The reason why I wanted to pursue psychology at the same time is also because I wanted to learn in depth and understand beyond the stereotypes people have towards psychology and also to understand what it is all about. Some of the stereotypical comments I’ve gotten when I told people that I study psychology is “I bet you can give me great advice or suggestion to my problem” or even the most famous line that most psychology students get which is “so you can read my mind?” These are some of the remarks or misunderstood statements we get from time to time and probably it is best to change that now.      After studying psychology, I have learned not to judge people so easily and always know there is a reason as to why certain people reacted...

By Natasha Christopher and Zenden Dorjee  Mentem Psychological Services Take the quiz below to assess and identify your ' Worry's' , your ' Goals' , your  'Perceived Parental Expectations' and your  'Coping Strategies' Please take note that the following assessment has been devised for individuals between the ages of 18 - 25 years and has not been checked for validity nor reliability.  Loading... In case the assessment does not appear, please click here to be directed to the assessment link. The assessment will open in a new window. Mentem Psychological Services

Beauty beyond skin color By: Natasha Clarisse Christopher Beauty transcends across gender, race, age and ethnicity. A person can be considered beautiful just by their physical appearances and through their actions. However, opinions about beauty differ when it comes to the color of the skin. In some parts of the world, beauty is perceived as “the fairer you are, the more attractive you’ll be”. I’ve had my fair share of struggles and hardship in my pursuit to be confident in my own skin.   Growing up, I’ve always been the ugly duckling in my household which translates in my mind as the darkest in my family. I was often ridiculed and teased by my friends about how dark I was and would always suggest me to try whitening skin products. As a child, I took what they said personally and it bothered me for many years. I was not happy with who I was and my beauty. As time went by during my teens years, my confidence level dropped extremely due to how I was always feeding myself w...

By Zenden Y. Dorjee Mentem Psychological Services     Emotions are fundamental to us all; they turn us into sentient beings and make life a valuable experience. Other than the well-established fact that emotions influence our behaviors and overall well-being, emotions are also essential to help us learn and synchronize with other beings of our kind.    Imagine a life in the absence of emotions; man would truly be a machine. There would be no joy, no excitement, no heartbreaks, no love, no sadness. The latter may be of interest to some, but in truth, without such negative experiences, how would you learn? How would you progress? Would you rather be a being that needs to be manually programmed? Or would you rather experience what life offers and learn through that?          There are times in life when we experience a crisis; a time during which we may feel overwhelmed by uncontrollable emotions. At such times, emotions c...

By Zenden Y. Dorjee Mentem Psychological Services As defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is “the awareness that emerges through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p. 145) It is a state in which you are actively attending to the present moment through a non-judgemental filter. You become a spectator of your thoughts and affect. The practice of mindfulness can lead to a number of positive outcomes such as clear thought, improved focus and decision-making capability, increases in awareness, flexibility and adaptability towards challenging situations, and decreases in heart rate which help maintain a calm state. Negative affect such as anxiety, depression, and stress can also be reduced as the act of mindfulness involves distinguishing between what is within and what is out of our control. In any situation, it is important to grasp a clear stance and first observe w...