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Mental Health Singapore

Condition

Addiction and gambling

Substance and behavioural addictions in Singapore: what they are, where treatment is provided, and what families can do about money, boundaries and exclusion.

A person alone at night lit by the glow of a phone screen.

Addiction is a condition of compulsion, not of weakness. The clinical marker is continued use despite mounting harm, and the family usually sees the harm before the person does.

What it is

Substance use disorders involve a pattern of use that produces impaired control, social impairment, risky use, and tolerance or withdrawal. Behavioural addictions, most clearly gambling, follow a similar pattern without a substance.

In Singapore, gambling and gaming carry particular weight because both are accessible and socially embedded, and because the financial consequences arrive fast and land on the whole household.

How it shows up

  • Money that does not add up, borrowing, or new secrecy about finances.
  • Rising tolerance, so more is needed for the same effect.
  • Failed attempts to cut down.
  • Withdrawal from family, work or obligations.
  • Irritability or agitation when unable to use or play.
  • Continued use after real consequences have already arrived.

Getting help in Singapore

The National Addictions Management Service, known as NAMS, is Singapore’s specialist addictions service and sits within the Institute of Mental Health at 10 Buangkok View, Block 9 Level 1, Buangkok Green Medical Park.

  • NAMS general line: 6389 2000.
  • NAMS appointments: 6389 2200.
  • All Addictions Helpline: 6732 6837.
  • National Problem Gambling Helpline: 1800 6 668 668.
  • QuitVape programme: 6389 2929.

A referral from a polyclinic, a CHAS clinic for CHAS cardholders, or a restructured hospital is required to receive government subsidies. Appointments can be requested by phone or through the online appointment request form.

What help costs

Start with what is free, because a good deal of it is.

  • National mindline 1771, 24 hours. Phone 1771, WhatsApp 6669 1771, or webchat at mindline.sg. No cost, no referral.
  • Samaritans of Singapore on 1767, and CareText on WhatsApp 9151 1767. Also 24 hours, also free.
  • Community Outreach Teams (CREST) are the general first stop. Community Intervention Teams (COMIT) go further, with counselling, case management and psychosocial support from qualified mental health professionals. Both are government funded and free to you. The wayfinding tool at aic.sg will match you to a team near where you live.
  • Family Service Centres take walk-ins and there are 49 of them across the island. They handle counselling and money trouble in the same conversation, which is often exactly what is needed.

None of these asks you for a diagnosis, a referral or a card.

Subsidised treatment

Four mental health conditions are on the Chronic Disease Management Programme: anxiety, major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Being on that list is what lets you claim CHAS subsidies at a GP and use MediSave for outpatient treatment. Dementia is on the programme too, handled as an ordinary chronic condition rather than under the mental illness heading.

One detail catches people out. For those four conditions, not every CHAS GP can claim. The clinic has to be accredited under the Mental Health GP Partnership Programme. Ask when you book, not after the consultation.

At a public specialist outpatient clinic, including the Institute of Mental Health, subsidies run from 30 to 70 per cent for citizens depending on household income per person, and a flat 25 per cent for permanent residents. The referral is what unlocks that rate. Get one from a polyclinic, or from a CHAS clinic if you hold a CHAS card. Turn up without one and you pay private rates.

MediSave

You can use MediSave for outpatient treatment of those four conditions. The limit is $500 a year, or $700 if your case is complex. Both rise, to $700 and $1,000, in January 2027. Until then the lower figures are what you have to work with.

A 15 per cent co-payment normally applies. It is waived if you use MediSave at the clinic you enrolled with under Healthier SG. Ask your clinic whether that is you.

If someone is admitted

MediShield Life pays $230 a day for psychiatric inpatient care, for up to 60 days a policy year. For a standard ward stay that is not psychiatric it pays $830 a day. That difference is built into the scheme, and it matters if a long admission is a possibility.

What people actually pay

Once subsidies are applied, most people being treated for these conditions pay somewhere between $300 and $500 a year, depending on how complex the treatment is.

If money is the thing standing between you and treatment, say so at the clinic rather than quietly stopping. Medical social workers at the public hospitals assess for further help, and Family Service Centres and Social Service Offices deal with the financial side alongside everything else.

If you are the caregiver

Two things matter more than persuasion. The first is protecting the household financially, which usually means separating accounts and stopping the flow of money before any conversation about treatment. The second is not confusing support with rescue: paying a debt removes the consequence that was doing the persuading.

Families carry real shame about this, and shame is what keeps people out of the services that exist. Support options are on the caregiver support hub.

This page is information, not medical advice. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace an assessment by a qualified professional. If you are in crisis, call 995 or one of the helplines listed on this site.

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