A majority of Taiwan people are biased against mental patients, a spokesman for the Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry (TSP) said yesterday.
"This was the finding of a recent TSP telephone survey of 1,090 local residents over the age of 15," TSP Deputy Secretary-General Liao Shih-cheng (
Nearly 80 percent of the respondents said they think that mental patients are dangerous and are susceptible to losing control of their emotions at anytime.
More than half of those interviewed also said they are unwilling to live next door to a mental patient.
The same poll also found that one out of every six respondents thinks that mental patients are like people "possessed by evil spirits."
Meanwhile, 57 percent said they think that mental patients cannot take care of themselves.
"All of these poll results show that a majority of local people have a flawed perception of mental illness, " said Liao, a psychiatrist with National Taiwan University.
Throughout his career as a psychiatric practitioner, Liao said, he has never been hurt by any of his patients.
As a matter of fact, he said, he has often encountered cases where mental patients commit suicide or hurt themselves.
Quoting medical records, Liao said, the number of cases involving mental patients hurting themselves is 10 times the number involving mental patients hurting others.
Liao lamented that the trend of "demonizing" mental illness and patients has hindered local patients' willingness to seek professional treatment for their mental disorders or illnesses.
According to a previous TSP survey, three out of every 10 local people have at one time suffered from one or more of the various forms of mental or emotional problems.
Such disorders could range from simple sleeping problems to chronic and acute depression.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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
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
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS