To promote research into psychotherapy for people with Chinese roots and to provide in-service training to psychotherapists, the Taiwan Institute of Psychotherapy (TIP, 財團法人華人心理治療研究發展基金會) was inaugurated yesterday.
"The institute was founded because we want to improve the capacity of local psychotherapists, make global connections and integrate resources with our foreign counterparts while conducting related research for ethnic Chinese," Wang Hao-wei (王浩威), a specialist in psychiatry and the executive director of TIP, said yesterday at the TIP inaugural.
The institute was formed by 10 academic psychotherapists and consultant psychiatrists who practice at local hospitals.
According to Wang, since modern society imposes ever-increasing amounts of pressure on Taiwanese, the number of people seeking psychiatrists' help is also on the rise.
"The number of people seeking counseling has increased from 1 percent to 2 percent a few years ago to about 7 percent to 8 percent now," Wang said.
Wang also stressed that it is important to raise the quality of psychotherapists for ethnic Chinese because "we need to work out a treatment taking Chinese culture into account when utilizing psychiatric theories based on Western culture."
According to Wang, most problems with ethnic Chinese result from family issues.
"Due cultural differences, Western doctors often fail to understand the family bonding among ethnic Chinese," said Wang.
"This often makes the patient feel frustrated or humiliated when seeking mental health care overseas."
According to Monika Lan (藍素禎), the executive secretary of the institute, the courses will involve 12 workshop sessions, at the end of which students will receive a certificate confirming their participation.
"We will invite experts in different fields of psychotherapy to teach courses to counselors and psychotherapists without their having to stop working to study overseas," said Wang.
Wang hopes the institute will enhance the integration of resources and boost the quality of care offered by local therapists.
Chen Chu-chang (
"This is the first private organization in Taiwan devoted to the research side of psychotherapy, and it is just what the country needs" Chen said.
"Moreover, with the goal of enhancing the study of psychotherapy for ethnic Chinese, instead of singling out, say, Taiwanese or Singaporeans, the institute is focusing on the global development of psychotherapy for all Chinese."
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