There’s growing concern about depression in Taiwan. That’s with official statistics showing the number of people on anti-depression medication has surpassed one million.
National Health Insurance Administration statistics show that the number of people on anti-depression drugs topped one million in 2013. That’s in a country of 23 million people. When compared with the figures for 2009, it’s a sharp increase of 260,000 people in just five years.
A closer look at the numbers shows that the highest number of users is not in the capital city of Taipei, but in the central Taiwan city of Chiayi. The total number of people using anti-depressants is 35,308 people. Even though that’s only about a fifth of the number of users in Taipei, it’s about 13% of the population of Chiayi City. That’s nearly double the percentage of antidepressant users in Taipei, which is 7%.
The areas with the highest percentage of antidepressant users in Taiwan are, in order: Chiayi City, Taipei City, Hualien County, Hsinchu City, and Taichung City.
A doctor with the Chiayi Branch of Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Huang Min-wei, says that one possible explanation of the high numbers in Chiayi is that it has a large ageing population.
Huang said that nearly a quarter of people over the age of 65 have varying degrees of depression. Also, official statistics show that more than 60% of the people on antidepressants in Taiwan are over 50 years of age.
Another explanation is that Taiwan has an increasing population of people with dementia. A psychiatrist with Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Pan Chia-ho, said that some of the early symptoms of dementia include mood swings and insomnia. He said that doctors will often prescribe antidepressants to improve the quality of life for those patients.