History of the psychiatry department
- 1959-1975: The history of the psychiatry department begins with a small division from medicine department, that is, neuropsychiatric division since 1959, when most of the involved psychiatrists are neurologists. Back then, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and insulin shock therapy were among the most common ways to treat severe psychiatric disorders.
- 1975-1983: Since 1975, a formal department, neuropsychiatry department, was found and the first department chief was Dr. FL Chu (朱復禮). Back then, there were two divisions (neurology division and psychiatry division) and two units (neuro-electrical diagnostic unit and psychiatry rehabilitation unit). First psychiatry division chief was Dr. YG Yang (楊雲官). Our current department chief Dr. Ying-Chiao Lee was one of the very first residents. In 1970s, psychiatry board in Taiwan took 5 years for training. The board training included clinical courses in internal medicine and neurology. There was no psychiatric inpatient ward until 1976, when ex-superintendent Dr. JS Chou (鄒濟勳) gave psychiatry a great support and promoted the settings of psychiatry inpatient units. In 1979, psychiatric inpatient acute wards began to run and 40 beds were provided. Ex-chief YG Yang recruited professor YL Chen (程玉麐) from the united states, whose expertise is psychiatry dynamic theory, to build up the first schedule for the training of psychiatric analytic therapy. In 1982, Taichung branch of Taipei Veterans General Hospital ran in public for the first time. In 1983, the psychiatry department was built up and the first department chief was Dr. CM Chae (闕清模).
- 1984-: Since 1984, neuropsychiatric department of Taipei Veterans General Hospital separated into two independent departments, that is, psychiatry department and neurology department. Dr. TW Shen (沈楚文) was the first department chief. He promoted psychiatrists to receive advanced training abroad. Afterwards, Dr. YS Chen (陳映雪) went UCLA, Dr. JP Huang (黃正平) went Menninger foundation, Dr. YC Lee went Stanford university, Dr. Tung-Ping Su (蘇東平) went to the United States where he received psychiatry board, Dr. Shih-Jen Tsai(蔡世仁) went to UCSF, Dr. KL Huang (黃凱琳) went to MGH, Dr. Chia-Fen Tsai (蔡佳芬) went to USC, Dr. Cheng-Ta Li (李正達) went to the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Albert Yang (楊智傑) went to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Dr. Wei-Chen Lin (林韋丞) went to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In 1987, psychiatry department expanded to three divisions: general psychiatry, child and adolescence psychiatry, and geriatric psychiatry. In the same year, Taipei Veterans General Hospital developed a first geriatric psychiatry ward, Dr. JP Huang was the first division chief.
- 1998-: In 1998, Dr. TP Su was invited to become the department chief and recruited many good psychiatrists, including Yuan-Hwa Chou (周元華) and Dr.Ya-Mei Bai (白雅美), to join the department to promote the education and research. In 2000, Guan-Du hospital has been taken over by Taipei Veterans General Hospital. First chief of psychiatry department was Dr. JW Hsu (徐如維) and Dr. JW Hau is now in charge of division of child and adolescence psychiatry since 2014. With the efforts of Dr. YS Chen, Dr. JW Hsu, and Dr. KL Huang, the child and adolescence psychiatry is gaining maturity gradually and obtains the Golden Award of Hospital Specialties in 2003. In 2003, community and rehabilitation psychiatry division was developed and chief YC Lee (李鶯喬), ex-chief of the division, was in charge of daycare rehabilitation unit and started to get funding supports from government to fill many gaps of psychiatric vocational rehabilitation. In 2010, the first medical center-based shelter center for the disabled was established. Special thanks for TP Su for his great support. The comprehensive rehabilitation program also received many awards from the goverment. Since July 2015, Dr. Yuan-Hwa Chou is the new division chief of the community and rehabilitation psychiatry division.
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