Anxiety and insomnia on the rise as people fret over Taiwan’s future: doctors擔心台灣未來 焦慮失眠比率升

As of late the public has been fixated on the anti-service trade pact movement. A significant number of people have been seeing doctors for psychological issues caused by anxiety and insomnia triggered by concern for various social factors, including Taiwan’s future and the student movement.

Hung Chi-wei, an attending physician at Chi Mei Hospital’s family medicine department, says that he has recently treated a spate of clinical cases like this. Some of the patients, originally quite fond of exercising, suddenly became sluggish for reasons unknown and only wanted to lounge around the house, never going out anywhere else. Even if some of them have wanted to see a doctor, they did not know which department to make an appointment with.

Hung says that family physicians often come across this type of patient, who consults a family doctor first because they do not know which type of specialist to see, as they have so many symptoms at the same time. There has been a slight rise in the number of patients visiting psychiatry departments in recent years, Hung says, adding that some of them complain about Taiwan’s stagnant economy, rising prices or how hard it is to make a living. The right amount of stress can easily give rise to mental disorders such as generalized anxiety or depression, Hung says.

Most patients with generalized anxiety disorder tend to be unaware that they have the disorder because the symptoms tend to fluctuate. When stress levels increase in everyday life or at work it typically exacerbates the patient’s condition. Common symptoms include muscle tension, an overly excited autonomic nervous system, feeling keyed up and on edge, sometimes having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, and feeling irritable. The symptoms for depression include feeling dejected and losing interest in things.Regardless of whether it is generalized anxiety disorder or depression, Hung says that as soon as you discover possibly having one of the two disorders, you should see a doctor for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. fixate v.

注視 (zhu4 shi4)

例: Why are you suddenly so fixated on your appearance and body image?

(你為什麼突然注重你的外貌與身材？

2. trigger v.

引起；觸發 (yin2 qi3; chu4 fa1)

例: The reporter’s comment triggered her anger.

(記者的評論觸怒了她。)

3. dejected adj.

沮喪的；情緒低落的；氣餒的 (ju3 sang4 de5; qing2 xu4 di1 luo4 de5; qi4 nei3 de5)

例: The fans were dejected after the team suffered a bitter lost in the finals.

(球隊在決賽輸得很慘讓球迷情緒低落。)

最近反服貿運動引起社會關心矚目，有不少民眾因為擔心台灣未來前途以及學運等社會現象，出現焦慮失眠引發身心疾病情況而求助醫生。

奇美醫院家庭醫學科主治醫師洪啟偉表示，最近在臨床上常有此類病人就醫看診，也有患者原本很愛運動，但卻不知是何原因卻突然提不起勁，只想躲在家中，其他地方都不想去，即使想要就醫也不曉得要掛哪一科。

洪啟偉說，家醫科門診常會遇到此類病人，因為身體多發性症狀不知道該看哪科門診，而先到家醫科做諮詢。近年罹患身心科而前來就診的患者比率略有偏高，有些患者會抱怨這幾年國內經濟成長不佳、物價上漲，日子過得很辛苦等等，在壓力之下很容易引起廣泛性焦慮、憂鬱症等身心科疾病。

廣泛性焦慮症由於病情起伏不定，大部分的病人不會有所察覺，在生活工作壓力增加時病情會惡化，常見症狀包括有肌肉緊繃、自律神經亢奮、過度警戒且過度敏感等，有時也會有難以入睡或睡不安穩、易怒等情形；此外，憂鬱症則是以憂鬱情緒或失去興趣為主要症狀。

洪啟偉指出，不論是廣泛性焦慮症或是憂鬱症，一旦發現有廣泛性焦慮症或是憂鬱症的可能時，建議尋求醫師的診斷與治療。

（自由時報記者林孟婷）

‘Locks of love’ bridge in Paris evacuated after railing collapse 愛之鎖太沉重 巴黎古橋難承受

“Locks of love” attached to a fence of the Pont des Arts bridge over the River Seine are pictured in Paris, France on June 9.六月九日攝於法國巴黎扣在塞納河藝術橋圍欄的「愛情鎖」

Sometimes too much love can be a bad thing, as Paris discovered on June 8 when thousands of “locks of love” attached to a footbridge caused part of the railing to collapse, forcing an evacuation.

Thousands of lovers from across the world visit the Pont des Arts every year and seal their love by attaching a lock carrying their names to its railing and throwing the key in the Seine.

Police were forced to hurriedly usher visitors off the footbridge in central Paris early evening on June 8 after 2.4m of railing collapsed under the weight of the collected tokens of affection.

“The bridge was immediately evacuated and closed,” local police told AFP.

An architect and local officials rushed to the site and a barrier was put in place to stop further access. Police said the bridge would be re-opened on June 9.

The Pont des Arts crosses the French capital’s River Seine just in front of the Louvre museum and is known the world over for its “locks of love.”

The phenomenon has become something of a headache for officials in the City of Light, who would prefer something that poses fewer problems of security and aesthetics.

Two young Americans living in Paris have gathered thousands of signatures for a petition they launched in March calling for the locks to be removed, saying they are eyesores and cause damage to the bridges.

Today, the full 150m length of the footbridge is covered in the locks, and the practice has spread to other bridges around the capital.

Forty locks were also recently removed from the Eiffel Tower.

(AFP)

愛太多有時不見得是件好事，就好比成千上萬個扣在巴黎一座人行橋上的「愛情鎖」，致使該座橋部分圍欄於六月八日發生坍塌的意外。

每年有成千上萬對來自世界各地的情侶造訪這座藝術橋，並在圍欄掛上寫有雙方名字的掛鎖，再把鑰匙丟入塞納河中，以象徵牢牢鎖住的愛情。

因戀人集中在橋上示愛的重量實在太重，導致二點四公尺的圍欄於六月八日接近傍晚時刻倒塌，警察在不得已情況下，隨即急忙疏散遊客離開這座位於巴黎市中心的人行橋。

當地警方向法新社表示：「該橋立刻撤空並關閉。」

一位建築師與地方官員趕赴現場，並設有路障以防有人通行。警方表示，該橋於六月九日重新開放。

這座位於羅浮宮前、橫跨法國首都塞納河的藝術橋，以其橋上「愛情鎖」聞名全球。

這個鎖橋現象讓「光之城」（巴黎的暱稱）官員感到些許頭大，他們偏好其他較不影響安全也較不破壞觀瞻的示愛方式。

兩位住在巴黎的美國人認為這些鎖頭不僅有礙觀瞻還危害橋樑，三月即提出移除「愛情鎖」請願書，目前已募集到成千上萬個連署。

今天這座總長有一百五十公尺的人行橋已掛滿了鎖頭，而類似行為也已蔓延到首都內的其他橋樑。

最近有四十個鎖頭才自巴黎鐵塔移除。