Features and Services
Medical Services
The Department of Psychiatry comprises a multidisciplinary treatment team that provides comprehensive mental health care. Facilities include acute inpatient wards, day wards, and a community rehabilitation center. Clinical services encompass outpatient clinics; 24-hour emergency psychiatric care; general and involuntary admissions; interdepartmental consultations; home visits; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS); electroconvulsive therapy (ECT); psychotherapy; esketamine treatment; long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAI); and forensic evaluations.
At the Daqing Headquarters, specialized outpatient clinics are available for geriatric psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, psycho-oncology, substance abuse (alcohol and drugs), and general adult psychiatry. Among these, group psychotherapy programs for anxiety and mood disorders have the longest history and are a distinctive specialty in central Taiwan’s psychiatric care. Individual psychotherapy primarily uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and in recent years group therapy programs for ADHD and family support have expanded rapidly. In line with government policy, the hospital also offers diversified therapeutic services, including group psychotherapy for domestic-violence offenders and individual therapy and assessment for sexual offenders.
The hospital’s Suicide Prevention Center employs dedicated case managers who provide continuous follow-up for patients referred from outpatient and emergency services with a history of suicide attempts, effectively reducing the risk of recurrence.
At the Zhongxing Branch, services include psychiatric outpatient care, a Substance Abuse Prevention Center, and a Methadone Maintenance Treatment Clinic. Through professional counseling and psychotherapy combined with medication-assisted treatment such as LAI or esketamine, individuals with substance use disorders are supported in maintaining stability in daily life and work. The center also provides psychological, social, and community resources to help patients reintegrate into society as early as possible.
Research and Education
The department has a strong record of research. Current work focuses on interdisciplinary studies that leverage the combined strengths of the affiliated medical university and medical center, particularly the interactions between psychological and physiological mechanisms. Research areas include sleep neuroimaging, physiological signal analysis, cognitive function, and psycho-oncology, covering topics such as ADHD, depression, dementia, substance abuse, and insomnia. Multiple research teams are actively engaged in these fields.
The department offers a comprehensive, well-structured training program. It is accredited as both a psychiatry specialist training hospital and a geriatric psychiatry specialist training institution by the Taiwan Society of Geriatric Psychiatry, and it also provides general medical education. In addition to training medical interns, the department provides clinical training for family-medicine residents in psychiatry and for geriatrics fellows in geriatric psychiatry.
With multiple ongoing research projects and a strong faculty, the department offers robust training in psychiatric research methods for medical students and residents, cultivating well-rounded professionals skilled in clinical practice, research, and education.
Future Outlook Looking ahead, the department plans to expand into a comprehensive Department of Psychiatry comprising the divisions of Adult Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. The goal is to establish a leading center of excellence in psychiatric medicine in central Taiwan.