'Some feel relief through crying, others through eating, drinking alcohol, exercising or talking to someone else.' A CRYING SHAMEĬulturally, crying is often deemed a sign of weakness, says Ms Sarah Poh, a mental-health counsellor and founder of The Therapy Platform, a therapy booking platform. The reality is that crying is one coping mechanism among many. 'Patients with true mental illness undergo long periods of such emotions and are unable to come out of it, leading to the presence of physical symptoms and loss of daily functioning,' he explains. 'However, this does not mean we are suffering from any mental condition,' he says. In non-coronavirus situations, people may get emotional over a job loss, examination results or a child's birth. Related Story Mental health must not be ignored 'I think I was frustrated and wrung out of my unrealistic hopes that we would see each other again very soon.' MENTALLY WELLĬrying more easily now, or even falling into depression, does not mean one is mentally unwell.ĭr Morrison Loh, head of the medical directorate at Raffles Health Insurance, says crying is 'a release of emotion' for some people - to relieve stress from Covid-19 uncertainty, to mourn a death or to share the joy of someone dear who recovers from the virus. But when the circuit breaker was extended to June 1, I burst out crying for the first time,' she says. 'But I think I was suppressing all of it, keeping myself busy. That did not happen, of course, and it was hard, especially without him around at her milestone 40th birthday this month. Since then, she had visited him twice in Sweden and he was planning to fly here in early April.

Last December, the two travel lovers met for the first time in Lebanon. Ms Mandy Tay, a visual storyteller who produces commercials, sobbed for lost time with her Swedish beau. 'The disruption to our routine and normality of life contributes to this universal uneasiness and sadness we all are feeling,' she notes. Weddings are postponed and hugs are deferred.

There are no baby showers and no large send-offs for funerals. Placing Covid-19 cathartic crying in perspective, clinical supervisor Jasmine Yeo from Safe Space, a digital platform that facilitates online counselling, says: 'One unspoken devastation of the coronavirus pandemic is the stolen moments across the globe.' Related Story Mental health fallout: How Covid-19 has affected those in SingaporeĬonversely, not being able to express emotion may be more worrying, they caution, even if tears are deemed very private in Singapore and many societies.

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