April 06, 2007
Psych Med Use In Taiwan Up, Way Up
In fact, almost a doubling from 1997 through 2004. Beyond the obvious, it's significant because Asians, particularly ethnic Chinese (hope I can say that about Taiwan!), are loathe to address psychological issues to the point of obsession. That's what my Chinese friends tell me at any rate.
From a report in Psychiatric Services:
"The prevalence of any psychotropic drug use increased from 7.1 percent in 1997 to 12 percent in 2004. The changes in prevalence of use of four kinds of psychotropic drugs from 1997 to 2004 were as follows: antipsychotics, 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent, although this finding was not significant; antidepressants, 2.2 percent to 4.4 percent; mood stabilizers, .6 percent to 1.3 percent; and anxiolytic-hypnotic drugs, 3 percent to 7.3 percent."
I wonder what changed in Taiwanese culture over that time period to account for such a huge increase.
Posted by Philip Dawdy at April 6, 2007 12:03 AM
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Maybe Big Pharma entered the Taiwanese culture .
Cymbalta for fibromyalgia syndrome
Testing outside of the USA--one of them Taiwan
Maybe this is why there is an increase of medication use there? Eli Lilly's in town.
Lilly and Cymbalta trial
On a side note, you reminded me of what I saw at my last psychiatrist's visit. An Indian woman was there for an appointment, and her husband came with her. She was dressed in her culture's traditional garb, and was very meek. I wonder what the statistics are for that culture? I've definitely never seen someone from India - at least a traditional Indian - seeking psychiatric help.
