An alarming increase in the prevalence of depression has been found among Malaysian young adults which necessitates responsiveness. This study sought to better understand the subjective personal growth experience in terms of the processes among young adults recovering from major depressive disorder (MDD). A qualitative, transcendental phenomenological design was adopted by collecting data through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, audio recordings, interview transcripts and documents. Nine Malaysian young adults with MDD (Mean age=28) who reported being in recovery from MDD for at least one year were recruited from local mental health settings through purposive sampling. Data analysis involved Colaizzi’s eight-step method. The findings revealed eight personal growth processes themes: revealing the struggles, self-discovery and personal strength, personal responsibility, readiness for change, hope, redefining the meaning, forgiveness, and acceptance. Noticeably, each theme was interconnected to facilitate personal growth among major depressive young adults. The implications for mental health psychotherapy practice and future research were discussed.
Depression ; Young Adults ; Malaysians

Convergence insufficiency is a common binocular vision disorder. It has been reported that the frequency of this anomaly has reached as high as 6% among school children and young adults and may affect their quality of life and near work performance. One of the treatment modalities is the Dot Card therapy. However, there is scarce research report on the effectiveness of the Dot Card therapy. Hence, this study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of the therapy given to convergence insufficiency patients among young adults. A total of 33 university students (age range=22.55±1.66 years) with convergence insufficiency problems participated in this study. Convergence insufficiency symptoms based on the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS) and binocular vision components such as near point of convergence, fusional vergence and phoria were measured before and after the Dot Card therapy was given to each participant. All participants were reviewed after 2 weeks and 4 weeks. The results indicated that participants demonstrated statistically and clinically significant changes and improvement in symptom from CISS score (22.30 to 15.30, p<0.001), NPC (11.08 cm to 6.50 cm, p<0.001) and PFV at near (13.82Δ to 18.36Δ, p=0.035) at the end of 4-week visit. Participants’ near phoria were improved (2.12 exo to 1.79 exo, p=0.369) even though it is not statistically and clinically significant. The convergence insufficiency patients have achieved significant improvements in symptoms and near point of convergence both statistically and clinically, within one month of the Dot Card therapy treatment.
convergence insufficiency ; Dot Card ; vision therapy ; effectiveness ; young adults