Taiwan has been under pandemic social restrictions since May, causing Eden to have to temporarily halt some of its projects and services. As a result, during these past six months, many patients, and the family members of these patients, who have come to depend on Eden’s support have suffered greatly.
Mr. Chen, who is a volunteer for the Eden Mental Illness Caregiver Hotline, shares how these last few months have affected his son, who suffers from a delusional disorder. Usually with regular visits to the clinic, his son’s delusions can be controlled. However, due to the pandemic social restrictions, his son was unable to go to his regularly scheduled appointments. As a result, his mental state deteriorated, leading to an influx of severe and dangerous delusions. At one point, it got so bad that he even suspected his own family of spying on him, driving him to arm himself with a knife whilst hiding away in the corner of a room, as feelings of irrational fear and anxiety overcame him. Thankfully, he became better after his doctor injected him with some prescribed medication.
But even with the lucky quick fix in the case of Mr. Chen’s son, it still does not take away from the fact that many community consultation services provided by health clinics, as well as various helplines are no longer active. These resources are very much essential for people like Mr. Chen and his son; people who care for someone, or personally, suffer from mental disorders.
In order to raise awareness for the huge impact that the pandemic had on families with mental disorders, a press conference known as “Isolated Island in the Epidemic: Crisis of Isolation for Families with Mental Illnesses'' was held. During the conference, legislators Wang Wan-Yu and Fan Yun pushed forth four major demands for the government.
1. Provide mental crisis treatments
2. Allow inpatients to use communication devices
3. Keep community support services going
4. Provide complete medical support measures and have the government acknowledge the crisis that families with mental disorders face while under the pandemic prevention policies
The Director of Eden Social Welfare Foundation, Liao Fu-Yuan, announced “the five major dilemmas”, a list compiled by analyzing and summarizing the most common topics mentioned by hotline callers during the course of the pandemic.
1: Reduced medical capacity, interruption of emergency medical treatment, and lack of placement mechanism
2. Restrictions on visitation and communication during hospitalization, and loss of external contact for patients with mental disorders
3. Temporary closure of psychiatric day wards and community resources
4. Unorganized medical systems, medication and medical appointments could not be carried out routinely
5. In-house services were halted, and families with mental disorders became even isolated
With pandemic cases once again on the rise, Eden would like to call on the government to plan ahead and take into account the needs of the people. We hope that if similar situations were to occur in the future, the social cost would be lessened and, unlike the past few months, no one will be left behind.
