Tag Archives: Johor Bahru / Batu Pahat

Getting help at an affordable price

Anxiety Disorder, Depression, Treatment Approaches, ,

I was approached by some students hoping to promote mental health awareness and encourage young people to seek help when they are feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, depressed or anxious for more than a few days. Here are some of my recommendations, the general rule is “affordable” here. Feel free to comment some other services if you are aware of any.

The first point that you can approach is actually any Klinik Kesihatan near you, where you can get a quick assessment, from there, you might get a referral letter or recommendations of what’s next (they do prescribe medication sometimes), all for RM 1 as long as you bring your MyKad with you.

Of course you can also visit your GP, i.e. family doctor, whom you go for when you have cough or cold. They might be able to quickly assess you and refer you to the specialist if needed.

Most major government hospitals offer psychiatric services, some with psychological and counselling services (e.g. UMMC). You will most likely be required to have a referral letter (e.g. from your family doctor or Klinik Kesihatan) before you make an appointment.

You may also approach the Malaysia Mental Health Association (MMHA), some years back they were providing counselling sessions at RM20, I’m not sure if it’s still ongoing now, but do find out more here.

Other than that, you can also check out sols247.org. Few years ago they came to our clinic in KL to promote themselves. They offer individual psychotherapy and counselling at very affordable price, this has been verified by my support group member who used to see his therapist there. You can learn more and book an appointment here.

If what you need is to talk to somebody when you’re feeling hopeless or helpless, you may approach the Befrienders at 03-7627 2929, the call is free when you call from major telcos (Maxis, Digi, Celcom, Telekom, Time, U-Mobile) in Malaysia. You may also email them (sam@befrienders.org.my).

And finally, for women who need help, you can contact the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) at 03-7956 3488 (24 hour hotline) or whatsapp 018 988 8058.

Please do comment below if there is any information that’s no longer up to date or if you have other recommendation of affordable service. I’d also welcome any organisation or individual offering such services to comment below so that I can add to the list.

Of course you can also drop me a message at 017-2757813 or hello@huibee.com and I shall try to recommend based on your needs.

生活教练

Basic & General, Treatment Approaches, , , , ,

这年轻的女生于去年7月左右与我联系，告诉我说她不认为自己有严重的心理问题，但需要帮助。当我第一次见到她时，她说她想重考SPM考试，但一直缺乏动力。而且已经拖了2-3年还没去考。

我不太习惯接受相对“健康”的来访者／患者。通常，我的大部分患者的任何抑郁/焦虑或情绪困扰量表上的得分都很高。但是那时我想接收一些不同类型的来访者，所以我和她开始合作解决她的问题，例如拖延症，处理愤怒和恐惧等负面情绪，处理忧虑和负面思想，建立常规和练习好的生活习惯，还有一些冲动行为的问题。

我们并没有花费很长时间或很多次咨询，大多数治疗目标均已实现。我最近与她联系，她说她目前在等待SPM的成绩的同时正在做咖啡师的工作。

我意识到这原本就像我常在治疗快结束时（当病情稳定得多时）或当他们正在服药并由精神专科医生转介给我时（他们第一次见我时，症状已相对缓解），常做的事情。我还认为，这其实是很多人需要的，尤其在他们积累了很多无法解决的问题之前，对自己的感觉越来越糟之前，开始陷入沮丧或其他心理问题之前，就该得到的帮助。

因此，我决定写这篇关于“生活教练”（或生活指导, life coach）的文章，给予一些不见得患有心理问题，但需要一些生活上的帮助、引导的人。一般上，可以使用催眠、基于正念的CBT（认知行为疗法）和ACT（接受和承诺疗法）来得到帮助。

如果您希望达到以下目标，请在下方评论或与我联系（电子邮件hello@huibee.com或whatsapp 0172757813）：

  • 变得更自信
  • 对特定领域/情况更有信心
  • 学习/工作更有动力
  • 厘清您的人生/职业/未来目标
  • 解决拖延症！
  • 解决生活中的特定问题
  • 成为更好的问题解决者
  • 厘清您的人生价值/方向
  • 开始为实现目标而采取行动
  • 变得更具情感弹性
  • 处理负面情绪，思想和忧虑
  • 更加集中注意力并更好地控制注意力（提高集中力与专注时长）
  • 更好的沟通
  • 更好地表达情感和感觉
  • 执行您的健身和饮食计划，以保持或减轻体重
  • 应对各种恐惧（例如与上司/权威人物谈话，黑暗，身高，约会等）
  • 畅所欲言并捍卫自己的权利
  • …和更多

Life Coaching

Clinical Case Studies, Treatment Approaches, , , , , , , ,

This young lady approached me around July last year, telling me that she didn’t think she has major psychological problems, but she needed help. When I first saw her, she said she’d like to resit some SPM papers, but really lack the motivation. And it’s been 2-3 years that she didn’t get this done.

I wasn’t used to taking clients/patients who are “well”. Normally my clients score really highly on any depression/anxiety or emotional distress scales. But at that time I thought I’d like a mixture of different clients, so we started to work together, on her problems like procrastination, handling negative emotions like anger and fear, handling worries and negative thoughts, setting up a routine and practice following it through, also some impulsive behaviour issues.

It didn’t take long or many sessions. Most of the therapy goals were achieved. I contacted her recently, she said she’s doing her barista work while waiting for the SPM results.

I realised this is like what I do with many clients towards the end of their treatment (when they are a lot more stable), or when they have been taking medication and are referred to me by the psychiatric consultants (so their symptoms had eased a lot when they first see me). I also think this is what a lot of people need, before they accumulate so many problems that they can’t solve, feeling worse and worse about themselves, and starting to fall into depression or other problems.

So I have decided to write this piece on “life coaching”, as it can work almost like a prevention, using hypnotherapy, mindfulness-based CBT and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy).

Do leave a comment or get in touch (email hello@huibee.com or whatsapp 0172757813) if you’re hoping to achieve some of those:

  • Becoming more confident generally
  • Becoming more confident in a specific area/situation
  • More motivation to study/work
  • Clarifying your goals in life/career/future
  • Tackling procrastination!
  • Solving specific problems in your life
  • Becoming a better problem solver generally
  • Clarifying your life values/directions
  • Starting to take actions towards your goals
  • Becoming more emotional resilient
  • Handling negative emotions and thoughts and worries
  • More focus and better control on your attention (expanding your attention span)
  • Better communication
  • Better expression of emotions and feelings
  • Being accountable to your fitness and diet plans to maintain or lose weight
  • Tackling all sorts of fear (e.g. talking to boss/authority, darkness, height, dating etc)
  • Speaking up your mind & defending your rights
  • …and more

ACT Malaysia

Treatment Approaches, , , , ,

Most readers of my blog know my passion on ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and I’ve always felt quite “lonely” here as when I first came across it, I was in the UK, and when I practice it here in Malaysia, I have no one to talk about it with. So I’ve written this post about 9 months ago, paging for ACT Therapist in Malaysia.

I guess luck is on my side, few months ago Dr Eugene Koh from UPM contacted me. A group of them, who are psychiatric consultants cum ACT practitioners, are forming an ACT group.

So here is the website: https://www.actmalaysia.com/

These are some other ACT therapists in Malaysia: https://www.actmalaysia.com/?page_id=299 (if you would like to join us, please write to actinmalaysia@gmail.com)

That’s me on the website: https://www.actmalaysia.com/?page_id=367

Utterly grateful with their hard work of putting things together and connecting us! Looking forward to this community growing stronger and better together, supporting each other.

线上/网上心理治疗

Basic & General, Treatment Approaches, , ,

在过去的几个月里，我越来越常被问到关于线上治疗的问题，而且也因为患者搬到海外并希望继续她的治疗，我已经做过一些。我一直有来自柔佛不同地区的患者，以及一些来自沙巴和砂劳越的，很多时候大老远过来就只是为了接受治疗。这些人必须花时间和钱定期过来。而我当然理解，现实的各种限制和拘束会导致其他很多人无法这么做。

所以今天在这里，我想更清楚地表达我对此的看法：

  • 我很乐意进行在线心理治疗，最好是用Skype。我也在Wechat上做过在线讲座，也是可考虑的。
  • 情况允许的话，我要亲自见过你至少一次（理想情况下是两次），进行评估，可以的话也进行一些初步干预。这对我作为治疗师来说非常重要，能够恰当地评估我的病人并一起决定最佳治疗方案。
  • 这不只是即时文字通讯，而是透过视频通话（我要看到你）。我早就听说过一些病人尝试通过电子邮件或即时文字通讯进行在线心理治疗，但通常效果不太好（尤其是问题相对严重的话）。反正我原本就为我的所有患者提供免费whatsapp / wechat支持。

所以是的，如果你在寻找线上心理治疗，或想讨论更好的想法，请联系 017-2757813 或 hello@huibee.com。你也可以在这里留言。

附：我也将从明年（2020年）年尾开始在柔佛州（新山或峇株巴辖）开始作咨询和服务。

Re: Online Psychotherapy

Basic & General, Treatment Approaches, ,

I’ve been asked about this quite often in the past few months, and have done it a bit due to clients moving overseas and wanting to continue with her booster sessions. I have always had clients coming all the way from different parts of Johor, and a few from Sabah and Sarawak, just to see me (or sometimes with the psychiatrist drs in my clinic). These are people who have to spend time and costs travelling regularly. I understand it’s not always possible due to all sorts of constraints and logistic issues for many others.

So in this post today, I’d just like to make my opinions about it clearer.

  • I’m happy to conduct psychotherapy online, ideally over Skype or Zoom. I’ve done online lectures over Wechat and Microsoft Teams as well.
  • If the situation allows, I’d like to see you at least once in person first, for the assessment and hopefully some initial intervention. This is important for me as a therapist, to properly assess my clients and decide what’s best for them together.
  • It’s not just instant messaging, I’d want to be able to see you live (video call). I’ve long heard of others trying online psychotherapy or counselling that runs through emailing or instant messaging, but no, it doesn’t usually end well. And I offer free instant messaging (whatsapp/wechat) supports to all my patients and clients anyway.

So yes, if you’re interested, or have better ideas, do be in touch on 017-2757813 or hello@huibee.com. You can also leave a comment below.

P.S. I’ll also be starting my practice and service in Johor Bahru or Batu Pahat next year (2020).