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Growing Pains
Diverse voices on mental wellness in Singapore that bring you closer to your emotional and mental truth Growing Pains talks about pains experienced by children and youth that can leave deep emotional wounds on us. In our formative years, we yearn to be accepted and loved by our family and friends, all while trying to find our place and identity in the world. As we show the people around us who we are, an identity that is still in its raw and unchanged form, it can sometimes be met with disappointment and rejection even from those closest to us. These experiences can either make us stronger and more resilient individuals, or tear our inner worlds apart. Trauma is a word that is still very often misunderstood. Just the word alone by itself caries a negative taboo and social stigma. We have an obligation to re-educate ourselves in our understanding of how we become the person we are today, such that we can move our lives forward to the future that we yearn of, and to pay it forward to the next generation and ensure that they become the best version of themselves through their growing years.
Today, young people have to find their way in an increasingly noisy and uncertain world, on top of navigating their relationships with family, friends and loved ones. The stories in this book capture the challenges of youth, and provide insights on what it takes to support the young as they go through the ups and downs of life.
Today, young people have to find their way in an increasingly noisy and uncertain world, on top of navigating their relationships with family, friends and loved ones. The stories in this book capture the challenges of youth, and provide insights on what it takes to support the young as they go through the ups and downs of life.
248 pages, Paperback
Published December 13, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 3, 2022
As someone who went through several depressive phases throughout my entire schooling years, this book really hit me hard, because it showed exactly all the ways in which others, as well as I, felt lost, useless, and worthless in the face of the education system in Singapore. Yet, I didn’t know how to talk about these things I was feeling, nor did it come to my awareness that they were things I could talk about to someone to seek help for.
“Growing Pains” brings to light so many of these struggles that I went through – except that I now know I am hardly the only one, and it contextualised mental health in a way that got me to really think about how mental health is really being approached. Is it just about feeling better each time you feel bad? Is it just about talking it out to someone for a moment, before life goes on and nothing fundamentally changes? Is it just about looking out for signs and symptoms in other people, when I can hardly decipher my own in the first place? What is the bigger picture behind all this?
Getting to read about the perspectives from many of these contributors who are working in the field of social enterprise, social work, education, and mental health also got me to start thinking about how we think about mental health. When do we start becoming concerned about it? How far do solutions and treatments go?
I think this book will immensely benefit anyone working in the fields of social work, education, mental health care, and the like – because there is much in-depth discussion about the systems and structures that need to be in place, and how different organisations can work together more effectively, so that the younger generation can experience a more mentally healthy and supportive environment as they traverse through their growing up years while they try to make sense of themselves and the world around them. And when I look back at my own journey, as was also discussed in the book – the things that I experienced as a kid are exactly what unfolded into the struggles I had in my later years as I crossed over into my late teens and early twenties. That is why it is all the more important for these revamped support structures and systems to be in place for them. And this book is an extremely loaded source of information that is power packed with insights from many, many professionals on what is necessary so that we can effect change from an individual level, to a community level, to a societal level.
“Growing Pains” brings to light so many of these struggles that I went through – except that I now know I am hardly the only one, and it contextualised mental health in a way that got me to really think about how mental health is really being approached. Is it just about feeling better each time you feel bad? Is it just about talking it out to someone for a moment, before life goes on and nothing fundamentally changes? Is it just about looking out for signs and symptoms in other people, when I can hardly decipher my own in the first place? What is the bigger picture behind all this?
Getting to read about the perspectives from many of these contributors who are working in the field of social enterprise, social work, education, and mental health also got me to start thinking about how we think about mental health. When do we start becoming concerned about it? How far do solutions and treatments go?
I think this book will immensely benefit anyone working in the fields of social work, education, mental health care, and the like – because there is much in-depth discussion about the systems and structures that need to be in place, and how different organisations can work together more effectively, so that the younger generation can experience a more mentally healthy and supportive environment as they traverse through their growing up years while they try to make sense of themselves and the world around them. And when I look back at my own journey, as was also discussed in the book – the things that I experienced as a kid are exactly what unfolded into the struggles I had in my later years as I crossed over into my late teens and early twenties. That is why it is all the more important for these revamped support structures and systems to be in place for them. And this book is an extremely loaded source of information that is power packed with insights from many, many professionals on what is necessary so that we can effect change from an individual level, to a community level, to a societal level.
October 24, 2022
'Growing Pains' is the first book of 'Threading Worlds: Conversations on Mental Health' series by author Hun Ming Kwang. The books consist of conversations with Singaporeans from various backgrounds that have been dealing with mental health issues.
'Growing Pains' focuses on mental health issues happened to children and youth. This, not only involves the survivors talking about their childhood pains, but also parents, teachers, and mental health professionals. For example, the first story comes from a clinical psychologist that suffered from suicidal episode when he was 12 years old because he performed poorly at school. I think it's a general knowledge that children in some Asian countries dealt with great academic pressure and it has something to do with expectation from parents and society. This book talks a lot about this and the bigger picture. Like this one said:
"...if we zoom Out, mental health is really important because the impact of mental health passes on through generations. We talk about poverty and the intergenerational transmission of poverty -how a lower-income family may pass on the impact of poverty and perpetuate related issues to their future generations."
As a parent, I cried at least twice reading this. Just like 'Stories We Don't Tell', this book is very honest and reflective. Althought it's written specifically from Singaporean perspectives, it can be relatable to Indonesian people in big cities with endless competitions.
'Growing Pains' focuses on mental health issues happened to children and youth. This, not only involves the survivors talking about their childhood pains, but also parents, teachers, and mental health professionals. For example, the first story comes from a clinical psychologist that suffered from suicidal episode when he was 12 years old because he performed poorly at school. I think it's a general knowledge that children in some Asian countries dealt with great academic pressure and it has something to do with expectation from parents and society. This book talks a lot about this and the bigger picture. Like this one said:
"...if we zoom Out, mental health is really important because the impact of mental health passes on through generations. We talk about poverty and the intergenerational transmission of poverty -how a lower-income family may pass on the impact of poverty and perpetuate related issues to their future generations."
As a parent, I cried at least twice reading this. Just like 'Stories We Don't Tell', this book is very honest and reflective. Althought it's written specifically from Singaporean perspectives, it can be relatable to Indonesian people in big cities with endless competitions.
January 28, 2023
In Growing Pains, it weaves a tapestry of voices, bold and true. It's a journey through the mind's dark alley to shed light on the often-stigmatized world of mental health's many facets and peels back the layers on common questions related to mental health, offering a refreshingly diverse perspective on the topic. The conversations shared in these pages are not sugar-coated or sanitized, each contributor brings their unique voice and experiences, delving into the issue of mental health especially in the lives of children and youths.
It's an exploration of mental health from different angles, not just from the standpoints of the patient, but the experiences of family, friends, and healthcare professionals and from the lenses of multiple disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and education.
Part conversations and part advices, Growing Pains is a brave and honest work that very much resonates with the current social climate, imparting an important reminder that mental health is not a one-size-fits-all concept, but rather a complex and nuanced subject that requires empathy, understanding, and ongoing conversation and it is not just an individual responsibility but a collective one as well.
Thank you Times Reads for sending me a review copy of this book in return for an honest review. This book is available in all good bookstores Malaysia and Singapore.
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It's an exploration of mental health from different angles, not just from the standpoints of the patient, but the experiences of family, friends, and healthcare professionals and from the lenses of multiple disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and education.
Part conversations and part advices, Growing Pains is a brave and honest work that very much resonates with the current social climate, imparting an important reminder that mental health is not a one-size-fits-all concept, but rather a complex and nuanced subject that requires empathy, understanding, and ongoing conversation and it is not just an individual responsibility but a collective one as well.
Thank you Times Reads for sending me a review copy of this book in return for an honest review. This book is available in all good bookstores Malaysia and Singapore.
INSTAGRAM | TWITTER
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews