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.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
RSS