‘You will go insane’: mental health eye-opener spurs Singaporean to create an online platform for people feeling lonely and lost
- Viaano Spruyt was ‘scared’ before interning at Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health but discovered the patients were genuine, heartfelt and talented
- He realised there was a huge gap in mental health social support, so he created Huddlehumans, now Huddleverse, for people to discuss their own challenges
Viaano Spruyt was in his teens when he went to a doctor’s office for help with his crippling anxiety. He was turned away.
“I tried to seek help, I mustered up all my courage, but Singapore is very conservative. We don’t really talk about [mental health]. People tell you to toughen up, that everything will be fine, so I was very nervous to step out,” he says.
“When I did, the doctor invalidated my experiences completely, refused me medication and refused me a referral. The reason he gave was that my parents weren’t there with me.”
Spruyt’s anxiety was exacerbated by a neurological condition called essential tremor, a movement disorder that causes uncontrollable shaking of the hands, arms and other body parts.
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According to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, about 50 per cent of essential tremor cases are thought to be caused by genetics.
The causes of essential tremor are unknown but there are medications to help manage the condition, such as beta-blocking drugs like propranolol, anti-seizure drugs like primidone, and tranquilisers.
Spruyt was frustrated by his experience and wanted to understand what he was feeling. That’s why when he was offered the chance to intern at a mental health hospital, he was keen to learn, help and validate his own experiences.
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“I was very privileged and lucky to get an internship to the only state-run mental health hospital in Singapore,” Spruyt says, referring to the Institute of Mental Health, formerly the Woodbridge Hospital, in Singapore’s Hougang neighbourhood.
“There was a huge amount of stigma, discrimination and misrepresentation surrounding this specific hospital. If anyone knew you went to the hospital to receive treatment, no one would talk to you, and you would be treated like an outcast.”
The hospital has a varied past, transitioning through different purposes in its history – it even served as a care facility for wounded civilian casualties when Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942.
Spruyt remembers that when he was young, people would call the facility an “asylum”. They would say it was a place where mental health patients were often admitted against their will, and the feeling was there was a lack of professional understanding of patient conditions and how to treat them.
“People talked a lot about this place. Back then people would say derogatory things like the patients are dangerous and crazy and if you go there, you will go insane,” Spruyt says. “I was scared before taking the position.”
Instead he was inspired by what he found.
“Whatever I was indoctrinated with as a child growing up, the experience I had on the ground with patients was the complete opposite,” he says.
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“I interacted with a lot of patients with everything from mental health disorders, depression and eating disorders to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.
“These were some of the most genuine, heartfelt and talented people I had met. I had found my calling. What was obvious was that nobody outside [the hospital’s] walls understood what they were going through, and society shunned them in fear.”
These experiences from his past had a profound impact on his future.
“I found there was a huge gap in the social aspect of mental health, which has been neglected for far too long.”
Human connection is very important – it’s what makes us who we are
In 2017, Spruyt founded Huddlehumans, an online forum and message board for people going through mental health challenges, to help them meet, chat and connect through their stories and experiences.
“I wanted to create an online platform to support those lonely, lost and unsure about where to start with their mental health experience so that no one would have to experience what I, and people like me, did.”
The platform evolved into Huddleverse, a digital community for like-minded people interested in discussing their mental health challenges.
A key appeal is the ability to chat anonymously. If users are not ready to share their identity, are new to mental health assistance, or just want the freedom of anonymity in a judgment-free network, they have the option.
Viaano’s story echoes a common theme – a lack of mental health support.
Society faces a loneliness epidemic, and men in particular are increasingly affected.
A recent study suggests that lonely individuals may process social information differently, which can contribute to feelings of isolation and disconnection.
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Loneliness was also recently announced as a new public health epidemic in the United States, which labels almost half of the adult US population as being lonely.
Men report higher levels of loneliness than women. According to the Survey Centre on American Life, just 27 per cent of men reported having six or more close friends in 2021. Fifteen per cent of men reported having no close friendships at all, a fivefold increase since 1990.
Experts point out that middle-age men increasingly report feeling lonely, isolated and cut off from one other, with factors like gender norms and societal boundaries hindering companionship.
More importantly, when it comes to mental health issues, many middle-aged men have no support network to discuss their struggles and choose to not seek help, counsel or treatment, which can lead to devastating consequences, such as suicide.
American statistics are telling when it comes to suicide rates. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the rate of suicide is highest in middle-aged white men and in 2021, men died by suicide 3.90 times more than women.
On average, there are 132 suicides per day in the US and white males accounted for 70 per cent of suicide deaths in 2021.
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For Spruyt, these facts only fuel the need for apps like Huddleverse.
“The global mental health landscape is facing so many challenges,” he says. “We need to condition and teach people to approach these issues in a better way.
“Our platform simplifies point of entry for mental health support, [offers] accessibility and provides peer-to-peer social support, something desperately needed in today’s world.
“By meaningfully addressing the missing element of social connection in the mental health field, we want to bring a very fresh perspective to the mental health space.
“Human connection is very important – it’s what makes us who we are.”
