A Taichung psychiatrist warned the public to be aware of the signs of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations and difficulty with social interaction, and to seek timely medical attention if symptoms occur.
Chungshan Medical University’s Liao Yin-to (廖尹鐸) said symptoms of psychosis can sometimes go unnoticed until something drastic happens, citing a patient who was brought to him after lashing out at her coworkers, accusing them of listening to her telephone calls.
The woman had been in a well-paid job for six months when she began disassembling her smartphone after suffering from hallucinations.
Schizophrenia generally occurs in younger patients and it manifests itself as paranoia and a loss of connection with reality in the early stages, Liao said.
The illness can affect anyone, he said, adding that the patient had been good academically and had maintained good interpersonal relationships.
Not long into her career she began calling home frequently, complaining that her coworkers were “scheming against her” and that her supervisor was excessively monitoring employees.
Assuming that she had not yet adapted to working life, family members encouraged her to be patient and not to give up her job.
Then the family received a call from her supervisor describing her strange behavior and advising them to take her to hospital, Liao said.
The patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but refused treatment, staying at home and not speaking with anyone and not washing, he said.
As her condition worsened she began telling family members that they were also being monitored by her company, he said, adding that the family sought assistance from Chungshan Medical University, who gave the family advice about treating her at home.
After a year of therapy the patient reported no hallucinations and expressed a desire to return to work, he said.
Schizophrenia must be treated promptly within the first five years of its onset or the possibility of a relapse would be high, he said, encouraging family members to seek help from the Ministry of Health and Welfare in the case of patients who refuse to be hospitalized.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching