The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said that the number of suicides of young people in the city has grown rapidly in the past two years, adding that mental health issues are the main reasons for suicidal behavior.
Last year, 339 people died from suicide in the city, a decline of 10 people from 2018, the department said, citing Ministry of Health and Welfare data.
However, the number of deaths from suicide among people aged 15 to 24 increased from 17 to 28, or by 64.7 percent, showing that suicide prevention measures for the age group needs immediate attention, it said.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei City Government yesterday held a news conference and set up an interactive display booth at Taipei City Hall to raise public awareness about suicide prevention.
The city government’s suicide prevention center said the top three reasons for suicidal behavior among young people last year was mental health issues (36.3 percent), family or intimate relationship problems (32.9 percent) and school adaptation problems (10.7 percent).
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said most people think that it is natural to seek medical attention when they are ill or injured, but many people feel embarrassed to see a doctor when they have emotional problems or suicidal thoughts.
However, in many cases, depression is linked to imbalances of neurotransmitter levels in the brain, and the condition can significantly improve after taking medication, he said, adding that although not all mental illnesses can be fully cured by treatment, they are likely to improve significantly.
Data suggest that the risk of suicidal behavior in people with suicidal intentions can be reduced by 63 percent in two years through psychotherapy, he said.
He urged people to remember the four steps — be cautious, ask, listen and refer — if they have friends or family members who seem to be have emotional problems, as sometimes showing concern by asking how they are and listening to them can help them feel better.
If they are experiencing depression, referring them to a psychiatrist or psychological counselor can help prevent suicide, Ko added.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
RSS