The Taiwanese Society of Suicidology (TSOS) yesterday said the suicide rate in Taiwan had gradually dropped over the past few years, but people who are out of a job have a higher tendency to want to commit suicide than those with a job.
On World Suicide Prevention Day yesterday, TSOS chairman Lee Ming-been (李明濱) said “suicide has become a world-wide problem, and an average of about one million people commit suicide in the world each year, with an average of about one person that dying through suicide every 40 seconds and one person that attempts to kill themselves in every 4 seconds.”
Lee said that according to a telephone survey conducted by the TSOS this year, the results showed that 1.4 percent of the people surveyed had been disturbed by the thought of committing suicide in the past week, 6.9 percent of the people surveyed have emotional problems and 21.8 percent among these people have asked for help from medical facilities.
Photo: CNA
The survey results also revealed that the number of unemployed people under 40 who claim to have suffered from emotional distress was 1.98 times higher than the number of those employed and the number of unemployed people who have thought of committing suicide was 3.77 times of that of those with jobs.
In addition, for people aged over 40, the number of unemployed people who suffered from emotional distress was 3.55 times that of employed people, while the number of unemployed people who have thought of commiting suicide was even 6.13 times higher than that of people in employment.
“Suicidal tendencies are attributable to many factors, they are not down to just one simple reason, and our goal of suicide prevention by instructing people to deal with emotions is to help them achieve mental health and live happily,” Lee said.
He also said training “gatekeepers” to enforce the measures of “ask, respond and refer” — actively caring and asking, responding and accompanying, refering the individual to counseling or medical care facilities — have assisted suicide prevention in recent years.
Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said “according to the WHO’s classification of suicide rates, the suicide death rate of a nation is considered high when it reaches more than 13 per 100,000 of the population, and the suicide death rate in Taiwan finally dropped to about 12.3 per 100,000 of the population last year,” indicating suicide prevention measures proved effective.
The TSOS said everyone can become a gatekeeper of suicide behavior if they are willing to care a little more for others, pay more attention to listening to them and lending a helping hand to those individuals who showed signs of suicidal tendencies.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS