Long-term confinement in an enclosed environment can impair responsiveness, expressiveness and sociability, an expert commenting on Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) release said on Saturday.
Ko was on Friday released on bail after prosecutors on Thursday indicted him on charges of bribery and corruption in connection with real-estate dealings during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.
Ko had been detained and held incommunicado since Sept. 5.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Thursday told TPP supporters that Ko showed decreased responsiveness when he replied to the judge’s questions in court.
When reached for comment, Association for Psycho-Social Rehabilitation chairman Chang Tzu-chiang (張自強) said that people confined to an enclosed environment for a prolonged time can undergo a degeneration of gross and fine motor skills.
Such people’s expressiveness and social skills can be affected, and when they return to daily life, it might seem to observers that they have grown older, he said.
As the restoration of daily skills is the priority, abilities such as feeding, dressing and toilet hygiene should be practiced in the initial stages of rehabilitation, he said, adding that social skills would follow in the next stage.
Leaders who find themselves falling short of their role’s requirements after prolonged confinement should seek professional help to recover mentally, he said.
They can start restoring their social skills by working on their appearance, he said.
While enclosed environments could inhibit personal expression by standardized hairstyles or outfits, people can reconstruct their self-image by consulting past photos or video clips of themselves, or a mirror, he said.
One should also get back in touch with people, Chang said.
The time it takes for a person to return to their original self depends on their ambition and social support system, he said, adding that encouragement from others helps.
Usually, it would not take long to recover if the social environment is supportive, Chang added.
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