A friend of mine sent me this article from Self Magazine. Generally a great, women’s, whole body approach to health and fitness magazine from the states. Take a look, I am interested to hear what you guys think about it. I have my own (very strong) opinions on the article, but dont wanna bias you.
Debra
Bad link…
Link doesn’t work, but the article is referred to in this blog entry from three years ago…
Oh my goddess! I assumed that since she just sent it to me it was from last year (the pages of the article are torn on the ends from ripping it from the mag). Shoot. Well, the above link works, but its blogger, so you may have to refresh a couple of times. ugh!
D
Are you talking about the article on depression? If so, great topic.
This one here…
Secrets from the Happiest Place on Earth
If Taiwanese suffer less depression it is because generally they try to stay busy and not to think too much. This seems to results in a lot of frenetic activity that doesn’t have much purpose though, especially a lot of working to buy stuff that doesn’t really contribute to anybody’s well being. Plenty of Taiwanese are beginning to feel a little conned by the consumer game and are looking to experience more natural highs in their lives though I think. Anyway what I can say for sure is that I am happier in this society. To me this place feels like it is on the verge of opening up to all kinds of positive things from the rest of the world while at the same time preserving what is positive about this culture: cheerfulness and humility mainly.
bob…bob…how is this your observation about “working to buy stuff that doesn’t really contribute to anybody’s well being” any different in Taiwan than in the U.S. or any Western country?
In the west we criticize consumor values before going to jobs we hate to earn money to buy junk we don’t need.
Hey TG
From what I understand, there’s not a lot of acceptance of depression here. Being depressed is tantamount to being mentally ill/crazy. And because of a lack of understanding and acceptance they jump from buildings, don’t you know?
It’s a shame really. However, it’s getting better, I think. For one, MDs will more readily recommend a psychiatrist than they would a few years ago and almost every hospital has a psychiatrists on staff.
About 10 years ago the divorce rate in Taiwan was about 5%, if my memory serves me right. Now we could say that (at that time) almost everyone was happily married. Perhaps someone should have written an article claiming Taiwan as having the “happiest marriages” in the world. I think not!
Then, just last year (Jan. if I remember correctly) the govt. was trying to pass a “marriage education bill” requiring couples to attend classes on marriage and family management because the divorce rate in Taiwan had gotten to be the highest in Asia–almost 20%.
What happened? Did everyone stop being happy with their spouses. I think not!
I think that the stigma of being a divorcee has lessened considerably. Nowadays, men will actually marry dovorced women–and women, men–something unthinkable in the past.
Just give it a few years and the stats will start to rise. Perhaps by then people won’t be considered crazy or weak if they admit to being depressed.
There will be fewer suicides too, for sure.
I still can’t get any of the above links to work. Tried them all several times. Is it just me or are they no good?
It’s not you. They don’t work for me either…
Secrets from the Happiest Place on Earth
I was trying to avoid this long post (above), but that damn link took 5 refreshes before it worked! Damn blogger.
Anyway, I am glad to get feedback on the article. It is a bit old, but I think the study would come up the same today versus 2001. The reason why I posted it here is because the info that Dr. Hwu gave seemed 1. contradictory in itself (we are less anxious in one paragraph, and anxiety is better than depression, keeps you active in another paragraph) and 2. it didnt jive (yes, I said jive) with what I was observing and hearing from the locals I know.
Just wanted some opinions other than my own on this one. haha. Thanks, I look forward to move feedback.
D
So nobody has said anything about the article. . .
What was your beef with the article Travelgoddess?
I thought it was a bit unrealistic, a typical cliched view of ‘serene Asia’ by somebody visiting for a few days. But maybe it made some good points. Perhaps family obligations and a bit of temple ritual really are good for people? Less time for brooding? And perhaps a more collective philosophy stops people obsessing about their personal problems?
Perhaps Western culture has become a little egotistical and selfish? For example. . .Everything is somebody else’s fault these days; so many things are based on the idea that simply flashing your individuality around is something people should be interested in (i.e. reality TV, ‘extreme sports’. . .I’m thinking of things like these ultra marathons run over several days or weeks, that kind of stuff that, kind of, any idiot can do if they just decide to go ahead and so so - so why hype it?). Badly expressed ramble, but maybe you get my general point? Personally I think that in this type of culture can (maybe) feed depression as people obsess about themselves, and thus begin to obsess about the (inevitable) lack of perfection in their lives.
But at the same time the article was a bit odd. It didn’t really consider that depression is just underreported. Aren’t there hardly any pschotherapists in Taiwan, which obviously could be the cause of the low rates of reported depression? (of courese could be an effect as well).
But anyway Travelgoddess, why don’t you say more about your feelings on the article.
This thread looked like it was going to be interesting.
Taiwanese aren’t happy, they’re resigned. Westerners are either happy or unhappy.
I am not sure the word
[quote=“the article”]But Dr. Hwu stands by his stats.
I thought of writing a few things, but basically Maoman summed it up in one pithy sentence 
Westerners want to fix! change! improve! The Taiwanese kind of just shrug and work with what they have for the most part. This means they don’t waste their energy complaining about things and working themselves up too much, however they don’t use their energy fixing them either.
And Imani, while I’m sure that’s true, I think it’s safe to say that you work with a very privileged group of kids (compare your monthly school fees to the monthly average income for Taipei 
), who probably aren’t representative of the experience of most Taiwanese women.
Edited to add: Call me cynical, but I don’t believe that most Taiwanese are any more self-absorbed and oblivious to other people than most Westerners are. It’s just that in comparison to a lot of places in the West Taiwan is crowded, under-regulated, under-educated (in terms of public education about safety and civics) and the people are either more resigned or less assertive when it comes to anti-social behaviour. Plenty of Westerners speed, drink-drive, talk on mobiles while driving, run red lights and cut in line either because they just don’t care or if they are in a position to think they can get away with it, and possible consequences to others be damned. It’s just a lot worse here because it’s more crowded and people know they can get away with anything the vast majority of the time.
[quote=“travelgoddess”]
In every category but one, the Taiwanese showed the lowest rates of mental illness, though some researchers contend that the results could be skewed by the Asian cultural stigma attached to talking about emotions. But Dr. Hwu stands by his stats.