A mental health program providing young people free psychological consultations is to be expanded to include people aged 45 or younger and deemed to be at risk, starting next month, The Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.
The program was launched August last year targeting people aged 15 to 30, the Department of Mental Health Director Chen Lian-yu (陳亮妤) told a news conference in Taipei.
Broadening the program’s eligibility conditions would save lives by increasing the number of beneficiaries from 30,000 to 60,000, she said.
Photo: CNA
The change would increase the average daily number of phone-based consultations per hospital from eight to 12, she said, adding that the ministry expects 500 hospitals to be included in the program by next year.
The ministry is working on a digital map of the participating hospitals to guide people seeking help so that some of the burden on hospitals could be alleviated, Chen said.
Clinical depression has affected 25 percent to 27 percent of 5.25 million Taiwanese aged 31 to 45 following the COVID-19 pandemic, said Liao Shih-cheng (廖士程), head of the Psychiatry Department at National Taiwan University Hospital’s Hsinchu branch.
Economic pressures originating from the dual burden of caring for the very young and very old in families most likely caused the surge in depression among workers, he said.
Taiwan must deal with the rise in mental disorders as a common challenge, as the number of cases steadily increases nationwide, Liao said.
Mental health problems are linked to a myriad of illnesses, he said, adding that depression increases the probability of developing dementia later in life by 50 percent.
Efforts to make Taiwanese seek professional help for mental health issues have stalled due to an apparent societal aversion to psychological consultation, Liao said.
Improved access might help people overcome that issue, he added.
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