Spatial Relevance: Teaching History to Medical Students at a Medical Museum in Hong Kong.

This article examines the pedagogical significance of history workshops as part of the mandatory medical curriculum in Hong Kong. At the University of Hong Kong, year one medical students must take a three-hour long history workshop at the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences. We argue that by immersing experiential museum learning into the official medical curriculum, students can grow interest in Hong Kong's local medical history and discover its spatial relevance to their future practice. Moreover, students are equipped with analytical skills to tackle important agendas, such as historical contingency, multicausality of diseases, and perspectivism in dealing with conflicting narratives. However, we also notice that the way histories are curated in the museum and through the heritage trail could potentially constrain students to develop a limited historiography. The museum exhibitions and the trail walk mostly curated by medical professionals emphasize too much of the comparison of the bubonic plague and SARS that took place in 1894 and 2003. Students might assume the linear progression of medical sciences and the oversimplified dichotomy between traditional and modern medicine. In addition, disproportionate narratives of infectious and non-infectious disease in Hong Kong might result in oversight of the chronicity of general ill health conditions that have long been suffered by local people. Workshop conveners, therefore, need to constantly modify discussion questions to balance demands between the advancement of contemporary medicine emphasized in medical education and the critical thinking process offered by history.

Relaying station for empires' outcasts: managing 'lunatics' in pre-World War II Hong Kong.

This article explores how 'lunatics' emerged and how they were managed beyond the capacity of institutionalization in colonial Hong Kong in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. The story contests the conventional historiography about madmen that focuses on institutions. Unlike in Britain or in other East Asian colonial cities, inpatients stayed at the asylum only for very short periods. Instead of psychiatric admission, they were then transported by ship, either to Canton in China or to London for further care until after World War II. This article analyses how this was done to maintain a 'clean' cityscape, as well as an instrument to ensure the smooth operation of the port city.

Comparing stress and behavioral coping strategies during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis among domestic and overseas Taiwanese.

This study reported domestic and overseas Taiwanese people's perceived stress levels and examined the mediation effect of their coping strategies during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited 2727 Taiwanese respondents from the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey (N = 173,426) between March 30 and May 30, 2020. The self-report questionnaire included a modified 10-item Perceived Stress Scale and a 16-item coping strategy scale. Three stress-coping factors were extracted with principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Their effects were examined through a regression and mediation analysis. The overseas Taiwanese participants had a significantly higher stress level than domestic counterparts (2.89 to 2.69 in 1-5 scale, p < 0.001). Government guidance was associated with lower stress level among domestic (- 0.097, 95% C.I. [- 0.131, - 0.063]) but not overseas Taiwanese (0.025, [- 0.114, 0.163]). The association of stress level with residency was mediated by coping strategies, for government guidance (0.04, [0.01, 0.07], ref: domestic participants) and supportive social networks (- 0.03, [- 0.05, - 0.01]). All results hold after the propensity score matching on samples. Government guidance on COVID-19 as a channel for coping with stress is correlated with the residency status of the respondents. Public health authorities should recognize the importance of various mental health interventions during pandemics.

Between drift and confinement: What can the study of "lunatics" in Hong Kong contribute to the historiography mental health in East Asia?

In this essay, the author reflects on his past and current research in transnational history psychiatry and the history of lunatics in Hong Kong, attempting to develop an alternative narrative in the unique free port between the East and the West concerning the conventional colonial historiography of psychiatry. He emphasizes that, in Hong Kong, the historiography of psychiatry should broaden its focus and not limited to the role of mental asylums, for modern psychiatry was almost absent in Britain's crown colony until the end of World War II, and custodial care for lunatics was only one temporary measure in a much broader network of patient repatriation. The grand project was designed not for the well-being of the mentally ill but the smooth operation of the international commercial port. In addition, the post-war institutionalization of psychiatry, including the expansion of hospitals and the creation of the psychiatric specialty in Hong Kong, did not improve the mental health of Hong Kong residents. The author argues that this is because the rapid development of modern psychiatry in the former British colony overlooked the social determinants of mental suffering. A historical understanding of psychiatry in Hong Kong is helpful to address such ignorance.

From mechanical objectivity to narrative turn: how film has inspired science on trauma.

This essay discusses the relationship between film and psychological trauma from the perspective of the history of science. It examines how the psychological sciences were influenced by image technology, primarily after the two world wars. Taking a closer look at the development of film production and mental imagery experiments as cultural and scientific institutions, this essay examines the challenges psychologists began to face when the paradigm of the trauma film was established in the pursuit of positivist evidence informed by mechanical objectivity. Over the past century, psychological trauma have been explained through the lens of psychiatric sciences and literary critics. However, they were not evenly emphasized and experimental psychology became the mainstream institution to manage trauma in clinical settings. This essay argues that explanations of trauma in the past century have been interdisciplinary. The limitations of trauma-related brain sciences could be ameliorated by re-emphasizing narratives explored in films produced for artistic or moral, rather than scientific, purposes.

Historical reflection on Taijin-kyofusho during COVID-19: a global phenomenon of social anxiety?

Although fear and anxiety have gradually become a shared experience in the time of COVID-19, few studies have examined its content from historical, cultural, and phenomenological perspectives concerning the self-awareness and alterity. We discuss the development of the ubiquitous nature of Taijin-kyofusho (TKS), a subtype of social anxiety disorder (SAD) originated and considered culturally-bound in the 1930s Japan involving fear of offending or displeasing other people. Considering the historical processes of disease classification, advances in cognitive neurosciences, and the need to better understand the content of suffering, psychiatric nosology for SAD still appears controversial and requires further investigations.

Psychiatrists' agency and their distance from the authoritarian state in post-World War II Taiwan.

By the end of World War II and in the shadow of the Cold War, many Asia-Pacific nations developed their psychiatric disciplines and strengthened their mental health care provision. This article examines the activities of the first generation of psychiatrists in Taiwan during the postwar period, focusing on their self-fashioning during the transition of a medical discipline. At this time, psychiatry was imagined by the state and by professionals as a science serving different clinical and political objectives. Psychiatrists, however, enjoyed a relatively unrestricted environment that allowed them to gradually form a professional identity. At the height of the Cold War, the state attempted to use psychiatry for political ends. Because of its initially malleable nature and undeveloped content, psychiatry could be employed by various authorities for diverse purposes, including patient care, scientific inquiry, psychological warfare, and even political probes to obtain crucial information. Nevertheless, psychiatrists sought to create spaces where they could develop their professional autonomy and prevent exploitation amid complicated political polemics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychology and psychiatry in the global world: Historical perspectives.

Introduces articles in the special issue of History of Psychology, Psychology and Psychiatry in the Global World Part I. The special issue seeks to consolidate and extend the historical analysis of psychology and psychiatry in the global world by bringing together seven articles detailing how theories, techniques, and practices have been translated, adapted, and appropriated in the colonial and postcolonial eras. The contributions demonstrate that it is fruitful to conduct research in the history of psychiatry and psychology together as broader ideational frameworks such as social Darwinism, eugenics, degeneration, and mental hygiene have inspired the development of psychological and psychiatric insights as well as the adoption of their intervention strategies worldwide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Conundrum between internationalisation and interdisciplinarity: reflection on the development of medical humanities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. This article reviews the development of medical humanities pedagogies in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. We reflect on the curricula formation and implementation regarding their interdisciplinary nature and point out the challenges educators face under the climate of current university practices. We first indicate that the emergence of medical humanities in the three societies was enabled by various social forces across the Strait. It also depended on opportunities offered by the higher education reform. We then provide a detailed experience of interdisciplinary team building at The University of Hong Kong, followed by a critical reflection on the challenges of medical humanities along the pursuit of internationalisation among universities in three Chinese societies. We find that the clashing objectives under universities' strategic planning framework could lead to changes in work environments and research practices, hampering the design and the delivery of the curricula. In the end, the idealised promise of the interdisciplinarity of such curricula could become fugacious.

Transnational Dynamics Amid Poor Regulations: Taiwan's Asbestos Ban Actions and Experiences.

This article describes the history of the asbestos use regulation process in Taiwan and the associated factors leading to its total ban in 2018. Despite the long history of asbestos mining and manufacturing since the Japanese colonial period, attempts to understand the impact of asbestos on the health of the population and to control its use did not emerge until the early 1980s. We attempted to investigate the driving forces and obstructions involved in asbestos regulations by reviewing available public sources and scientific journal articles and conducting interviews with key propagators of the asbestos regulation and ban. Correlation between asbestos exposure and asbestos-related diseases has already been established; however, authorities have been unable to effectively regulate the extensive application of asbestos in various light industries that support economic growth since the 1960s. More stringent regulations on asbestos use in industries and an eventual ban were caused indirectly by appeals made by visionary scholars and healthcare professionals but also due to the subsidence of asbestos-related industries. With the elucidation of factors that affect asbestos regulation and ban, a thorough long-term healthcare plan for the neglected victims of asbestos-related diseases and upstream measures for policy change must be developed.

The Moral Career of 'Outmates': Towards a History of Manufactured Mental Disorders in Post-Socialist China.

This study focuses on 'manufactured mentally ill' (bei jingshenbing, [symbol in text]) individuals in post-socialist China. In Chinese society, bei jingshenbing is a neologistic catchphrase that refers to someone who has been misidentified as exhibiting symptoms of mental illness and has been admitted to a mental hospital. Specifically, it refers to those individuals who were subjected to unnecessary psychiatric treatment during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based on archival analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, this study addresses the ways in which the voices of bei jingshenbing victims and those who support them reveal China's experiences with psychiatric modernity. It also discusses the active role of these individuals in knowledge production, medical policymaking, and the implications for reforming the psychiatric and mental health systems in post-socialist China.

World citizenship and the emergence of the social psychiatry project of the World Health Organization, 1948-c.1965.

This paper examines the relationship between 'world citizenship' and the new psychiatric research paradigm established by the World Health Organization in the early post-World War II period. Endorsing the humanitarian ideological concept of 'world citizenship', health professionals called for global rehabilitation initiatives to address the devastation after the war. The charm of world citizenship had not only provided theoretical grounds of international collaborative research into the psychopathology of psychiatric diseases, but also gave birth to the international psychiatric epidemiologic studies conducted by the World Health Organization. Themes explored in this paper include the global awareness of mental rehabilitation, the application of public health methods in psychiatry to improve mental health globally, the attempt by the WHO to conduct large-scale, cross-cultural studies relevant to mental health and the initial problems it faced.

Gambling in Taiwan: problems, research and policy.

AIMS: This study provides a systematic review of existing research that has evaluated unique gambling experiences in Taiwan. METHODS: A comprehensive review of electronic databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Chinese Electronic Periodical Services and the Index to Taiwan Periodical Literature System, was conducted to identify evaluations of gambling experiences in Taiwan. Studies that met inclusion criteria were synthesized and assessed. RESULTS: Various types of gambling are prevalent in Taiwan, even though the laws of Taiwan forbid illegal gambling. Both traditional and novel types of gambling have brought adverse impacts to Taiwanese people in multiple aspects of everyday life. The strategies and attitudes of the government towards gambling have been forced to change as gambling has flourished. CONCLUSIONS: Various types of gambling have developed in Taiwan in response to social, economic and cultural changes over time. The psychological aspects of gambling, however, need further study to provide fundamental information for developing intervention models for pathological gambling.