I am dealing with an unfortunate case of major depression.
I have met my threshold of tolerance in dealing with the pdocs I have seen at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital. They exist to throw benzos at you. They do not even ask how you are doing.
I have heard I should look into the Tianmu area and those associated with TAS. This is all the information I have. If anyone could expand on this I would be grateful.
I am going to see a non-native English speaking psychologist at the community services center. Time will tell how this pans out.
I am not responding to the standard SSRI treatment and am looking for someone who I can explore further options with. Options like atypical AD’s, thyroid testing, hormonal panels and the like.
I can only refer to what others have posted, but these threads or posts may be helpful to you:
Both talk about this organization, which is perhaps the Tianmu-area organization you’re thinking of:
However, for what it’s worth I get the impression they’re more about counselling than psychiatry; but perhaps they’re a good step in finding more information or suggesting good ways forward for you.
The center only does counseling, they don’t do psycharitry. You’ll find most doctors in taiwan just throw benzos at you to get you to shut up. I wonder why there isn’t more benzo addiction here. They’re not good long term treatment.
I went to the center for years at one point, the session itself is great but just know that you have to keep going and going without expecting much. They can’t prescribe meds after all so if your problem require meds they can’t help you. If you just need someone to talk to weekly they’re great for that. They charge on a sliding scale, but honestly I find a meal at an all you can eat pizza hut to be far more therapeutic than going there. The cost for me was about the same.
I have already received what they will charge me. It is based on income as you alluded to. There is a wait time of up to a month.
I am looking at fancy places in Daan and the like.
The comment on benzo addiction is what I have thought often. Depending on who you ask the withdrawals can range from non-perceptible to a nightmare. I have been doing what I can to limit benzo usage, as we all know depression’s ugly brother is anxiety.
I am trying other avenues to heal myself. Unfortunately, sometimes one is left in a position where there is no bright side that can be seen. It is there. It is just heavily occluded when you exist so deep in the abyss.
The other problem is if you need medication for ADHD they will put you through a battery of tests before they will even considering prescribing them. They’re so controlled in taiwan that they might as well not exist.
What other strategies are you utilizing to combat the depression? I dunno if I’d go with “heal” depression. It’s depression. It may just be part of you. I do think it can be minimized though. Something physical and confidence boosting like yoga would probably help. What do you think?
I think it is fairly well documented that masturbation can make you depressed. I am too lazy to Google right now. I can confirm from experience. It has something to do with the dopamine, I think. Now if you do it once every two days and you make it quick (no two hour sessions) it may be manageable.
Tried a clinic in tienmu and another near songshan airport. They spoke English but it was no different than the rushed experience I’ve had at hospitals and most other clinics in Taiwan.
I highly recommend this clinic in central Taipei: https://resonanceclinic.com.tw/ if you click the button to message them on Line you can communicate with them in English to schedule or just use the translate feature on your browser.
Please share your experience there if you think it will help. I’m sure you’ll get at least some support there. What I mean is, while you’re looking for a psychiatrist and even after you have found one, you can use this forum for at least some additional support.
My wife had a bad bout of postpartum depression after our first child. For her, exercise, getting rid of social media and changing some perspectives in life helped enormously.
For example, it used to be important to her how people thought of her. Then she started living 100% for us, rather than in part for other people, and it helped her self-confidence and self-reliance a lot.
Nhi doctors kinda have to rush as they see lots of patients. If you’re willing to pay there are non nhi doctors out there that will give you more personalized attention. Be prepared to pay 4000 per consultation though.
I went once. In the end I just went to a nhi doctors because they just give you the same meds. Also doctors here prescribe benzos like candy. Just ask for Xanax, vallium, or whatever. They got loads and nhi pays for it.
Really weird for a country that arrests people for weed.
