I just spoke to someone who was diagnosed with a mental illness after his time in DB.
He was a calm and introverted youngster when this occurred ten years ago. He was assigned to the SCDF, and after a short period of training, one day in camp he sent an inappropriate SMS to a superior officer.
From that point on, his life spiraled out of control. He said it was an accident, but the officer in charge saw it as disrespectful and charged him.
He spent two weeks in DB and confessed to me that he wasn’t accustomed to living in a dark environment. In the end, he experienced mental health problem in two weeks.
He started hearing voices more frequently a week after being released, and a month later his parents brought him to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for evaluation.
After some tests, the doctor informed his parents that he has schizophrenia and that, if quick treatment is not taken, his condition will worsen. He was placed in intensive care and downgraded to PES F a month later.
One year later, his medical condition had significantly worsened; he now screams nonstop, strikes his family members violently, and switches the lights on and off at random.
After going through this with his family for five years, he is now able to function normally. However, if he goes more than two days without taking his prescription, he starts acting violently once more and loses his ability to think clearly.
Edited
*Minor correction, I didn’t ask him if he was placed in a dark room, he only told me that it was a dark environment, so it could be out of context.
I wasn’t sure how to ask him so I avoided the question but there could be chances of him hallucinating, or something that happened in DB that gave him the memory of it being dark.
Netizens’ comments
- 2weeks DB for an inappropriate text? Either they messed up or this dude is lying about the reason why he ended up in DB
- (OP) I think it may have been harassment and misconduct since the text was sent to a female superior officer.
- Unlikely tbh. Unlikely to be sent straight to DB without guard duty or other punishments. The dark DB room I believe is for repeated/aggressive offenders
- lol where got straightaway go dark cell bro?
dark cell is a punishment cell within DB itself. only way to go there is to disobey orders as a detainee else he’ll just be in the normal cells - Fella lied to you lah