Compiled by C. ARUNO, MANJIT KAUR and R. ARAVINTHAN
THE number of children physically abusing their parents in Taiwan nearly doubled in the last five years, China Press reported.
According to statistics released by the Health Ministry, the reported cases of adolescent-to-parent violence, which refers to incidents where minors harm their parents or elders, rose from 2,358 in 2020 to 4,253 last year.
Dr Zou Huiying, who works in the Child Psychiatry Department at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei, said many of these young attackers suffer from psychological issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (22.7%), being on the autism spectrum (17.8%), or have suicidal thoughts or behaviour (16.4%).
According to her, nearly all parents (88%) said they hesitated to seek help due to worries of being blamed, having a lack of trust in resources in society, or concerns of not getting immediate results from treatment.
Dr Liu urged society to offer support rather than blame to prevent both parents and children from falling into a spiral of helplessness and isolation.
“You have to take the first step to make change possible,” she said.
> A woman in China’s Fujian province had a severe infection after the bracelets she wore “grew” into her wrist as she had not taken them off for the past 10 years, China Press reported.
The 33-year-old, known only as Gong, had been wearing a silver bracelet and a string of beads continuously for the past decade.
She felt a tightness in her wrist and noticed itching and redness in the area six months ago.
Gong merely applied ointment, without much concern.
However, the pain intensified late last month. Her wrist was swollen and began oozing pus.
She tried removing the jewellery but to no avail.
Gong went to see a doctor who found that both the silver bracelet and the beads had “grown” into her flesh.
She went for an hour-long surgery to remove the items.
The doctor, who cleaned the wound and drained the pus, said jewellery should be removed regularly, cleaned and kept dry.
And if ever a piece of jewellery feels tight, the wearer should remove it to prevent the restriction of blood flow, said the doctor.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.
