Doctors called yesterday for a greater awareness of depression because a recent survey showed that although depression is the main cause of suicide, over 60 percent of the general public are ignorant of its symptoms and over 70 percent of those suffering from the disease fail to seek doctors' assistance.
The findings of the survey were released yesterday at a press conference organized by Taiwan Against Depression Association (台灣憂鬱症防治協會), Taiwan Society of Psychiatry (台灣精神醫學會), the Taiwan branch of Wyeth-Ayerst Ltd, (美國惠式藥廠), and the department of Psychiatry of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital.
The survey shows that the three major reasons why depression patients fail to seek proper help are that they regard depressive syndrome as unimportant (42.92 percent), they believe that the problem can be self-adjusted (20.04 percent) and they do not know where to turn (10.77 percent).
"Among those who have depressive symptoms and tried to consult doctors, nearly 60 percent of them went to non-psychiatric departments," said Yang Ming-jen (楊明仁), the chairman of the department of psychiatry of NCKU Hospital.
"This shows the depressive symptoms are often misunderstood as non-psychiatric problems and the misconception of regarding mental illness as something shameful," he added.
The survey was conducted by the department of Psychiatry at NCKU Hospital from December to January to 1,391 people above 15 years old from over 25 counties and cities around Taiwan.
Lee Ming-been (李明賓), chairman of the department of psychiatry at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) pointed out that even though depression in itself might not be fatal, it accounts for 70 percent of suicide cases.
"Suicide has become the No. 9 cause of death in Taiwan," said Lee. "Before committing suicide, over 50 percent of the people consulted doctors from non-psychiatric departments and over 50 percent of the people revealed their suicidal intention to their friends or family members."
The doctors said that the most crucial task is to strengthen the public's knowledge of depression because the survey shows that over 90 percent of people will encourage their friends or family members to get proper medication if they have depressive symptoms.
According to Yang, a "multi-layer depression prevention and treatment system," and an interactive network, should be set between individuals, families, communities, organizations and government for the best result in combating the occurrence and reoccurrence of depression.
"It is often through interactions with friends and family members that we discover their depressive symptoms,"Lee said. "And the key for the prevention and treatment of depression relies on early diagnoses and long-term medication."
Despite the gloomy picture painted by the survey, however, the experience of NTUH is that public awareness of depression has improved dramatically over the past three years.
Wu Chia-hsuan (
"The percentage has increased to 35 percent to 50 percent nowadays because people have become more aware of the illness," Wu said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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