SINGAPORE: "It's the moment that you have all been waiting for. The people I will be killing."

Those chilling words were in a 21-page manifesto written by a self-radicalised 14-year-old student who was planning a mass-casualty stabbing attack at his secondary school during the school holidays.

With just weeks before his planned attack, the teen was arrested by the Internal Security Department (ISD) in May. Authorities called the incident a "close shave".

This year marks 10 years since the launch of SGSecure, the country's community response to the threat of terrorism.

CNA spoke to psychologists from ISD and the Ministry of Home Affairs' Home Team Psychology Division on whether Singapore and its people are psychologically prepared to deal with a terror attack. 

PSYCHOLOGICALLY PREPARED?

People tend to associate terror attacks with fear, but being psychologically prepared goes beyond that, said assistant director of the Home Team Psychology Division Jasmine Tan.

"When we talk about our psychological preparedness, ultimately what we really want to do is we want to move beyond the fear. We want to translate it into people being able to take action," she said.

That preparedness has both cognitive and emotional aspects.

Cognitively, people need to know what a terror attack looks like, through realistic drills or scenarios to prompt them to think about how they would navigate such a situation, said Ms Tan.

They must know the reporting channels and the steps to take.

"So that we don't just focus on the fear alone, but it's (about) equipping them with coping, the agency, so that they know that they can actually do something in that situation," Ms Tan added.

That could mean helping others evacuate during a crisis or administering first aid. Being emotionally prepared helps people keep calm and not panic, said Ms Tan.

"Ultimately, these are the different domains when we talk about psychological preparedness. What we eventually really want to do is that we hope that in times of terror or crisis, people will not freeze up."