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Emma White

When Kenneth Chan Kai-tai was young, he watched his mother battle severe depression.
She had constant doctors’ appointments and took many different medicines. She endured frequent anxiety attacks and became hysterical when no one was around. There were times when Chan had to protect her from herself.
Chan was too young to know how to help her. He hugged her as tightly as he could, trying to keep her safe. Eventually, given time and care, she started to become herself again.
He never thought that the same affliction would affect him. But in the early 2020s, symptoms started to surface.


Chan, a Hong Kong actor and the former host of the local edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, has a lively stage presence and smooth demeanour. His wardrobe is crisp and polished.
Despite his unruffled exterior, Chan has been fighting an internal battle for the past two decades. It started with chronic insomnia and progressed into severe depression.
Chan’s insomnia began in 2002, a year after he started presenting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It would become a constant companion.
Chan tried alternative solutions for sleeplessness, constantly researching and experimenting. He tried fortune-telling, palm reading, cutting out caffeine. He saw multiple herbalists and experimented with feng shui.
“I tried them all,” the 62-year-old says. “I’ve spent a fortune on my sleep.”

According to Dr Ho See-yunn, a family medicine and functional medicine doctor at Restore Integrative Medicine Clinic in Hong Kong, there are ways to battle insomnia, such as cultivating a calm environment for sleep and using relaxation techniques before bed.
But for people who are really struggling, Ho recommends seeing a specialist to find the specific triggers.
“Then [we] work on things like stress reduction, meditation, breathing, breathwork and … vagus nerve exercises to calm [the] nervous system,” Ho says.
If you sit around all day, nothing to do, your mind goes haywire
Kenneth Chan reflects on his mental health during the pandemic
But despite his struggles with sleep, Chan continued to succeed in his professional life. He began to take jobs in mainland China. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he was unable to work there. He sees the lockdown as a small compounding factor in his mental health decline.
“If you sit around all day, nothing to do, your mind goes haywire,” Chan says.
Still, the cause of his depression was 90 per cent hereditary, he says. “If it’s in your blood, you have to live with it.”
Looking back, Chan’s symptoms were textbook depression. He was apathetic and had aches and pains all over his body. He felt cold all the time, often wearing three or four layers of clothing. His insomnia started to intensify, and he went from poor sleep to barely any at all. His days were spent on his phone searching for a cure, and his nights were spent staring at the ceiling.
One day he called his wife, Cynthia, while she was at work, asking her to come home. She put her work and duties at her church on pause and returned to their flat.
They stayed side by side for the next seven months.
Chan took inspiration from his wife’s strength through that period. He also took up religion, since her faith was what helped her get by.
“I was really surprised that she was that strong because she has never experienced anything like that,” he says.

But eventually, Chan woke up one morning knowing that he could not take it any more. He went to see a psychiatrist, where he was prescribed medicine for depression.
On the first night taking the medication, he slept for a full eight hours. Over the next few months, his sleep improved and the depression started to lift.
Sleep medication can offer quick relief
While Dr Michelle NF Leung, a psychiatrist at Central Health Medical practice in Hong Kong, considers talk therapy – specifically CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) – as a gold standard for insomnia, she says sleep medications can be a useful bridge for people in need.
“Medication offers fast relief,” Leung says, “and that’s very useful when people are very distressed or going through a very stressful period of time where they need quick relief.”
The medicine provided Chan time to recuperate and collect himself. But soon, his sleep quality and mental health started to worsen. In need of a long-term solution, he returned to the alternative medicine remedies that he had tried before.
He settled on a two-step strategy prescribed by a Chinese herbalist: detoxification, a way to remove pathogens and toxicity; and replenishment, which nourishes and restores the body after the purge.
‘Detox is good for basically everything’
Ho says a detoxification process can be helpful for many patients. It varies from person to person: for example, some might need to purge their system of substances, others of social media.
“Detox is good for basically everything, so that you clean up your body. Your body also gets less reactive,” Ho says.
At first, Chan noticed a worsening of his general symptoms, which he explains is a typical part of these processes.
“My sleep was even worse,” Chan says. “My pain, everything was worse because with a lot of alternative medicine, it would trigger what’s called the healing crisis. You get worse before you get better.”
Chan powered through the initial shock to his system. Gradually, he started to sleep more. He slowly weaned himself off the psychiatric medications and was eventually able to sustain his recovery without them.

Hong Kong mental health charity Mind HK notes that if someone is considering weaning themselves off psychiatric medication, it is crucial to get support and to understand the possible risks and withdrawal symptoms.
Many of Leung’s patients worry that if they start psychiatric medications, they will stay on them for life. The reality, Leung says, is quite different. In cases of chronic depression, she may prescribe medication as a long-term solution. But for someone experiencing their first instance of depression, she will typically prescribe medication for six months to a year.
That is often a helpful length of time to prevent relapse, Leung finds. After that period, she is happy to work with her patients to wean off the medication.
“In the process, we can see whether they stay well while tapering off, and if they stay well, then that’s perfect,” Leung says. “And if they find that they’re not feeling well any more, then we can just put them back on their previous dose.”
Stick to professional guidance
Chan’s first advice to others struggling with depression is to see a psychiatrist and follow the medication regimen that they prescribe.
“If you cannot fix the major problems, the major symptoms, you wouldn’t have the mood or the energy to do other things,” he says.
Chan has been able to return to the screen. He is finally able to sleep six to six and a half hours a night, and lives a simple life, finding joy and purpose in his family, religion and work. He has found new meaning in the aftermath.
“I never thought life is so fragile,” he says. “And after the ordeal, I guess you tend to treasure everything more, your friends, your family, your health … because it’s not something you take for granted.”
At first, Chan did not want to tell his story because he was unsure if he would ever fully recover. But as his recovery progressed, he realised others could benefit from hearing of his experience.
“I want to go back on the scene,” Chan said. “I’ve been, like, missing for years, and I should let people know … you can get better from depression.”


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Ken Chan Kai-tai (right) , host of the television game show “Who wants to be a millionaire?” gives the cheque to Wong Man-cheung , the winner of HK$250,000 at the ATV Studio in Kowloon Tong on 15 May 2001.

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Chan (right) presents a cheque to a contestant during a May 2001 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Photo: Antony Dickson

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Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

The face of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Hong Kong in the 2000s, Chan wishes to help others battling sleep and mental health issues


The face of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Hong Kong in the 2000s, Chan wishes to help others battling sleep and mental health issues.


How Hong Kong TV star Kenneth Chan overcame insomnia and depression after years of anguish

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The face of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Hong Kong in the 2000s, Chan wishes to help others battling sleep and mental health issues

The face of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Hong Kong in the 2000s, Chan wishes to help others battling sleep and mental health issues