English-speaking Counselor/Psychologist in Kaohsiung City

Are you looking for a Conselour /Psychologist in order to treat your mental health ( worries, stress, agony ) ?

When is about open up with a stranger, is NOT an easy thing to do, specially if you ever had a Trauma which is very hard to talk about it.

So, do you guys know a good English Speaker Conselour /Psychologist/Shrink that is worth to visit in Kaohsiung ? If you do, please share.

But while I wait for replies, I will tell you WHICH NOT TO GO ! haha.

There’s one in Zuoying near the HSR , and I’m not throwing all the shit to the entire clinic, but yes to one psychiatrist. This is in case you don’t want to waste your courage and time for someone that can be replaced by talking to the air and where you lost 2200 NT for 50min.

I’m a guy that ben throught a lot of hard obstacles in life, either financial, relationship, dreams, problems etc. But always found a way to have a solution. I’m not the guy who gets a problem and then just save it or pass by it saying " It’s okay, will be better tomorrow " , no I’m not that kind of extreme positive man but at least I find a way to fix it and make that problem into something positive.

And any stress type or worries, I always had my circle of friends and activities to distract and share with a cold beer and laugh.

10 yrs has pass, now I’m married with a child, all my friends gone back to their countries and my activities now is less due to time, the TIME of work and be a father and the TIME of COVID restrictions.

Now I have a new problem, and this problem is something I cannot solve, because is not financial, is not from work, is not from marriage, is not dream frustation no…

Is about Alzhaimer+Distance+Family , and this was the trigger to make me now urgently look for a psychiatrist, because now I have ZERO patience to any small problem either is a person, an object or situation…it makes me automatically feel anger and smash things before I can say a word or even think twice before act. I lose my breath and feel to faint.

So in order to treat this issue asap, I found this clinic in Zuoying. I saw they have one psychiatrist ( we will call her “A”) this “A” Psychologis beside be taiwanese, also have some degrees from other countries, so I thought " This is very good, because for our cases as Foreigners, we need someone that is more open, that not only view the problems and world of Taiwanese Life, abut also how’s the world in western countries )"

I add their clinic LINE and I start to fill the application and when they ask me which psychiatrist I want : "A,B,C or D " I choose “A” . After that they ask me to summarize "WHY I NEED A Psychologist "

They ask me to confirm the date and hour, and then to deposit in advance 2200NT

I do all that, and they say they will wait me at the door at 19:00.

So i drive there about 30mins, because yes, was far from home but I thought it will be worth it. I arrived and no one there, all lights turned off and doors closed. I call to their number and nobody answer.

-So if you receive a patient , at least you be delicate to receive them on time, specially after you know the REASON of why they come. They dont need another Frustration/Dissapointment situation right?

Anyway, I walk around the building for 5 mins and then I saw a ringbell with a sign of the Clinic. Once I push it, one person came down, opens up and said:
-Hi…are you Sxguier right? We were waiting for you :slight_smile:
In my head was ( Are u kidding me?)
Then she introduce herself: - I’m your Psychologist , lets go upstairs
I notice her face was way differ from the pictures, so I ask: - Are you “A” Psychologist?

-No I’m not, I’m “B” , did they tell you that you made an appointment with “A” ?
Akward moment, I felt pity for her so I said “Don’t worry, its okay, she speaks english, lets give her a chance”

I speak about stuff that was hard to take them out to light, and not only that, when I tried to explain about each member of my family she interrupted everytime asking about another one.

At the end of the session, all I saw was a Saleswoman, not a Psychiatrist. Becuase she insisted to come again, that what i have need more listen. I ask her if there’s any tip ,medicine or suggestion/excersise for me to do to control my issues…she said: - No no no, I can get you pills but the best is you come again, when you can come again, this week ?

This already was piss me off so I said: Ok, I would come again…but honestly I don’t feel this work since I paid 2200 NT for you to listen my problem ( eventhough she always interrupted ) and don’t offer me any small tip or excersise or thing in return…how about you charge me cheaper? 1500n or max 1800nt? Because right now due to my family issues and also my baby spends and bills, 2200 is too much, I only accept for this session cuz im desperate.

And what she said: - Oh no…ehmm sorry but 2200 NT is my price, i cant change it…you might look for other cheaper but I dont know…specially who speak english… But most important…dont think about price… you are a father now…do it for your SON !

Are you guys thinking the same thing right? : "Woww…just wow…that low? "

I bite my tongue to not explode at that moment, and before my lost of air feeling began I just rushed to get out of there. I leave without say thanks or looking at her face.

Once I arrived home, I just google if there’s any Psychologis available at that hour to make a session via Skype, but a psychiatrist of my country. I found one and only charge me 800NT.

She don’t only patiently listen so later ask me more detail questions, but at the end of the session she gave me a lot of excersises, tips and how to handle my rage moments.

She told me all the things that im doing that subconsciusly trigger my anger too and how to solve them. And she encourage me to only follow her instructions and to make an appointment whenever I’m reasy to share my results of if there’s another problem.

So, how about you guys? In my opinion, if you can, just make an appointment with someone of your country. But it would be MORE BETTER if is a Taiwanese because they might connect better since they know the life stress here and also western life stress issues.

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I dunno, man. She has a fixed price she can’t suddenly change. And seeing a psychiatrist is a longterm commitment. She can’t just prescribe you some pills to make you feel better (I guess she could prescribe antidepressants, but those can carry risks too). That said, I can empathize with your situation. I can’t imagine the psychiatrists here are that good considering psychiatry is still somewhat taboo in Asia. And Taiwanese are not known for their great bedside manner. Plus, there might be some language barrier issues. Yes, you’re probably better seeing the online Skype therapist, but tbh I didn’t see anything that unprofessional in your account of meeting her.

I’ve also thought about seeing a psychiatrist for my anxiety issues, but tbh I don’t think I’d find a good one here I could connect with. Hope your Skype sessions go better!

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The only thing I complain about this therapist was:
1- Example she ask me about my brother, so when i’m not even getting to the half of the things about my brother she interrupts me and ask about my Father. When i siad i dont have she ask me to continue, and as I continue in less than 5 secs she ask about my Sister.

2- I have no problem to pay 2200 nt IF at least can give me some help in return, NOT PILLS but maybe say: Ok, now when you feel anxiety, or you are exploding in rage do this " breath 3 times and imagine a rainbow" or don’t know, ask me to do some excersise to become more calm. But Even when i asked about these tips, her reply was: " I’m sorry…but you need to keep coming, what you have is very dangerous and need to be treated, so I need you to come:

So, very dangerous but don’t give any tips of how to calm this dangerous stuff?
What if another patient goes due to suicidal tendencies? She will say: "I cannot give you a tip to cheer you up, but you need to come again just to “listen” you and leave this clinic without any help or tips to make you feel better. "

3- And the worst part, is that a mention mi SON thousend of times and yet at the end, she first said to me: You have a baby right? Do it for your Daughter !

  • I said: It’s son…I have a Son.
    -Yes…Do it for your SON ! comeback again !

Anyway,
Drew buddy, also hope the best for you. Try Skype/Meet/Zoom with someone from your country. Mine session in Skype she gave me a lot of helps and tips and now 3 days after I’m dealing good with these stuffs.

Have a great weak !

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Sounds like you need a psychologist, not a psychiatrist.

Psychiatrists are medical doctors whose solutions are medication, so if you don’t want pills, don’t go there!

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Haha, maybe I used the wrong word, but yes the general term is SHRINK, the profesional that listen to you and give you tips to face your problems. So again, I didnt aske for PILLS but for a tip or exercise to do to control the problem. And at the end I leave the clinic without any “Pills” or TIPS…so result the same…bad.

Until I got my Online Session :slight_smile:

Doesn’t matter that you didn’t ask for pills. You went to a “psychiatrist” their job is to give pills. They are medical doctors, their whole job description is to adjust the chemicals in your system so you can function.

If you want to talk and go deep find a “psychologist”, aka counselor. They are not medical doctors, they are the ones that walk you through your experiences and help you figure emotions out.

From your post it looks like you went to the wrong person. Not the doctors fault. Go to a counselor, they will help you find someone who can help you (they can’t help you themselves on deep issues but they are supposed to point you to the right person).

Ok, I went to a Conselour /Psychologist. My bad if I wrote Psychiatrist.
Like I said, this is my FIRST time looking for mental health help. So I don’t know the exact name. English is not my native language so it get confused.

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It’s ok. I’m just trying to help you understand the differences between a bunch of similar sounding job titles that do very different things.

If you want to talk, find psychologists. They are not even allowed to give you pills. They will talk with you for as long as you need.

And that’s what I did, and this post is about my first experience.

So I encourage other foreigners that if you feel not happy about your first experience, dont give up, still have more people to try and feel comfortable and feel that you got HELPED.

Like me when asap I left that psychologist more frustrated than when I arrived, I make an Video Chat appointment with a psychologist from my country that DID HELP ME A LOT showing me excercises and tips to control and solve my problem :slight_smile:

I can personally recommend Dr Tang.

唐子俊診所/高雄身心科
07 556 4028

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