About 25 percent of Taiwan's population suffer from depression, a psychiatrist said yesterday.
Only one-third of them, however, seek professional help, according to Chen Kuo-hua (陳國華), a psychiatrist at the Cathay General Hospital (國泰醫院).
And only one-third of those seeking help are men, said Kuo, citing statistics released in June by the Department of Health.
"Although more and more men are willing to see psychiatrists nowadays, most still hesitate to do so because they think it's a sign of weakness," Chen said.
Recent statistics released by the Taipei City Psychiatric Center (台北市立療養院) showed that in the first half of this year the center saw a 35 percent increase over the same period last year in the number of male patients seeking psychiatric help.
Chen made the remarks at a public forum held at the city council yesterday morning. He was one of a number of medical experts and private groups invited by KMT city councilwoman Chen Hsueh-fen (陳雪芬) to discuss the current plight of men in the run up to Father's Day, on Aug. 8. Chen attributed the increase in male patients seeking psychiatric help to the recent economic slowdown and changes in men's traditional roles.
"Many people have lost their jobs because of the current recession. Fortunately, we do see that more and more men are willing to show their emotions and talk about their feelings," he said.
Wu Mei-hui (吳美惠), chairman of the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women's Rights (台北市女性權益促進會), said that men should try to express themselves more freely. "I know it's hard because they're not brought up that way, but times have changed and men have to catch up with them," she said.
Lu Chung-hsing (魯中興), director of the Taipei City Community Mental Hygiene Center (台北市社區心理衛生中心), echoed Wu's view.
Citing a survey conducted by the center in May, Lu said many of the city's children are reluctant to talk about personal problems with their fathers because they believe they are less caring than their mothers.
"While 25 percent of the 350 junior high school students questioned turned to their mothers for help, only 5 percent turned to their fathers," Lu said. The survey also found that 35 percent of students polled talk with their fathers for less than 10 minutes a day.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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