The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on people’s mental health, with psychiatric visits up more than 10 percent from two years ago, National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) data show.
About 1.3 million people visited a psychiatrist or psychologist in the first nine months of the year, up 3.2 percent from 1.26 million during the same period last year.
The change was even more pronounced when compared with 2019, when 1.18 million people visited a psychiatrist — a 10.2 percent increase.
Photo: CNA
March was the busiest for mental health clinics with visits from nearly 804,000 people, while June — at the height of a local COVID-19 outbreak — saw the fewest at 715,000. Visits began to pick up after restrictions were eased in July to reach a standard 793,000 people by September.
Women were more likely to seek treatment than men at 55 percent, NHIA Medical Affairs Division Director Chen Yi-chieh (陳依婕) said on Dec 11.
Age was also a factor, as the majority of visitors, or 51 percent, were aged 40 to 69, she said.
Despite the increase, the most common conditions seem not to have changed, Chen added.
Chronic depression was still the most common with 164,000 diagnoses, followed by nonspecific anxiety at 131,000 and generalized anxiety at 129,000, she said.
Psychiatrist Fang Chun-kai (方俊凱) said that most people seeking treatment for pandemic-related reasons fall into two broad categories.
The first group experiences anxiety induced by difficulty adjusting to changes brought on by the pandemic, said Fang, who is director of the Department of Psychiatry at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei.
They are typically middle-aged or older and highly concerned about their health, but have limited access to accurate information, he said, adding that, for example, their anxiety could be driven by reading reports of adverse vaccine side effects.
The second group began seeking treatment for depression two or three months after the outbreak began, Fang said.
Chan Chia-ta (詹佳達), a psychiatrist at Taipei’s Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital, said he would expand Fang’s list to include people who had to quarantine after coming into contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19.
Chan said that about 20 percent of them develop some type of mood issue, such as anxiety that could worsen into depression, or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
For others, COVID-19 has aggravated existing anxieties, he said.
About 10 to 15 percent of people with an anxiety disorder can live without it affecting their lives during times of low stress, he said.
After the outbreak, Chan said that many of his patients began obsessively reading the news and became afraid to go outside, which affected their mood, appetite and sleep.
Hsu Cheng-dien (許正典), a psychiatrist at Taiwan Adventist Hospital in Taipei, said he treated a person who developed compulsive habits after a family member tested positive for COVID-19.
The person’s family urged them to seek treatment when they began obsessively sterilizing items, Hsu said, adding that they arrive at the hospital covered in plastic wrap.
The person gradually improved after two or three months of medication and therapy, he added.
Even those who have recovered from COVID-19 could face months of more psychological distress, said psychiatrist Yuan Wei (袁瑋) of Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei.
She gave an example of a particularly extreme case of a person who was released from isolation after recovering from their infection, yet continued to test positive for months afterward, despite not being contagious.
Many of their acquaintances were afraid to interact with them, with coworkers refusing to work in the same room and family members asking them not to come over, she added.
The person went into a severe depression, reporting feelings of isolation and worthlessness, she said, adding that their condition only began to improve months later when they began testing negative.
Taipei Medical University Hospital director of psychiatry Lee Hsin-chien (李信謙) said he also treated a few extreme cases, including one who lost a loved one to COVID-19 while they were quarantining.
This type of extreme shock could develop into PTSD and take a long time to heal, he added.
However, doctors have over the past few months noticed a shift in the cause of anxiety among their patients.
Most of the people Chan has treated over the past three months have been anxious about the vaccine to the point of disrupting their lives.
For National Taiwan University Hospital psychiatrist Chen I-ming (陳宜明), there has been another, less expected psychological consequence of the pandemic.
Without the daily activities that usually get people out of the house and interacting with friends, older people have been stuck at home, he said.
Many are frequenting hospitals with complaints of insomnia and physical discomfort, while also harboring anxiety over unspecific vaccine side effects and experiencing symptoms that suggest they have stress-related psychiatric conditions, he added.
Yuan gave four tips to help people keep their minds just as healthy as their bodies.
First, the best thing to do is wear a mask and get vaccinated, she said.
Second, talking about fears is the best way to work through them, especially with a peer who can relate to their worries, she said.
Third, regular exercise also does wonders for mood, and fourth, maintain regular contact with friends, she said.
Chan seconded the exercise recommendation, especially for those already prone to anxiety and depression.
Without exercise, stress hormones start to build up in the brain, causing brain cells and nerve fibers to shrink, which could potentially cause a host of other symptoms, he said.
B complex vitamins have also been shown to improve mood, especially folic acid and deep-sea fish oil, he added.
When people notice a dip in their mood, they should first try exercising and eating a healthy diet, Lee said.
If there is still no noticeable improvement, he said they should visit a psychiatrist with a friend, as there are many pharmaceutical options that could help.
Additional reporting by Lo Chi and Wu Liang-yi
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor
RSS