With the number of deaths by suicide in Taipei increasing by more than 10 percent last year, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the city should establish a social safety net and find ways to refer those in need to talk with trained counselors.
The Taipei Department of Health said that 349 Taipei residents died by suicide last year, an increase of 10.6 percent from a year earlier.
To raise public awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention, the department announced that it would be holding a series of events from yesterday to Oct. 31 to mark World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The majority of deaths by suicide in Taipei last year involved people aged 45 to 64, or 38.1 percent, followed by people aged 65 or older, or 28.9 percent, Mental Health Division head Tseng Guang-pei (曾光佩) said.
While the causes of suicidal behavior are complicated — more than 40 percent of suicides stem from multiple causes — relationship problems often affect young people, parental and workplace issues affect middle-aged people, and health and mental problems affect elderly people, she said.
However, interpersonal relationships affect people of all ages, so if people suspect that someone intends self-harm, they should give them support and advise them to get help from a professional counselor, she added.
A survey conducted last year by the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center of people aged 15 or older showed that only 24.8 percent would ask for help when having suicidal thoughts, and among those who would ask for help, 57.25 percent said they would talk with “family or friends” and 22.17 percent said they would seek help from a hospital psychiatric department.
Studies have shown that death by suicide among people with suicidal intent drops by about 63.5 percent if they receive specialized consultation services, and that about 60 percent of those with suicidal intent left messages revealing their conflicted emotions before attempting suicide, said Chang Shu-sen (張書森), an assistant professor at National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health.
Attending the news conference yesterday, Ko said that many people aged 45 to 64 experience the pressures of raising children and caring for elderly parents, so the government must enhance childcare and care for elderly people to relieve the stress of family caregivers.
The city government also needs to set up a better social safety net for those with suicidal intent so that they have a support network and people can take care of each other, Ko said, adding that better ways of referring at-risk people to professional help must be found.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS