The John Tung Foundation yesterday said that many elderly people suffering depression are often neglected, with the symptoms being put down to being common effects of aging, and that based on related studies clinical visit rates of elderly people are relatively low compared with the prevalence of depression.
The foundation’s chief executive officer Yau Sea-wain (姚思遠) said that according to a survey the foundation conducted in 2010, about 11.8 percent of elderly people have experienced depression, while statistics from the WHO last year estimate that the overall prevalence of depression is about 5 percent.
“Fatigue, memory loss and physical discomfort are the three major warning signs of depression in the elderly,” Taiwanese Society of Geriatric Psychiatry standing director Huang Chung-cheng (黃宗正) said.
The symptoms are manifested through physical ailments, such as becoming tired easily or complaining about pain in different parts of the body.
Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong superintendent Chen Yung-hsing (陳永興) said that “family members often mistake depression in elderly people for merely physical deterioration or the effects of aging,” because elderly people often display symptoms common to both depression and dementia at the same time.
Huang said that a conservative estimate based on research results showed that the prevalence of depression in elderly people could be about 12 percent, accounting for 310,000 people in Taiwan.
However, Chen said the clinical visit rate for depression among elderly people at Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong only accounted for 1.3 percent of total clinical visits for depression, indicating that many people have still not received the care and treatment they need.
As symptoms of depression often occur when the seasons change, people should pay attention to elderly family members during the forthcoming Lunar New Year holiday, because they may feel especially lonely at home when other family members get together for outings, Chen said.
Huang suggested that family members spend more time listening to how elderly people feel, and seek medical assistance when needed.
“Caregivers often carry heavy physical and mental burdens from taking care of elderly people with depression, and may also show symptoms of fatigue, such as crying or other displays of emotion,” Huang said.
He said caregivers should pay attention to their own wellbeing and work on reducing their stress levels.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy