Jumping Hurdles and Recanting

I know it's been forever since I wrote anything in this blog, but now I'm committed and keeping up this blog because I think my journey through this project has been many jumps over Olympian hurdles. It's been life-changing in both positive and negative ways. Positive in that I have never had so many people, some of whom I have known for many years, come up to me and tell me about their struggles with mental illness. It has opened up a whole new life to me. Negative — in the stresses that this project has brought on in my life.

Much has been uncovered since the Virginia Tech massacres — including the revelation that Asian Americans are the least likely to seek treatment for mental health issues. Many articles have cropped up citing the statistics, which of course every one in AA mental health had already knew for decades. Only when there's murder and mayhem to substantiate it, do such statistics get much attention. Another revelation was that Seung-hui Choi was, in fact, treated by an art therapist as a youngster. His parents, despite the cultural injunctions again it, were conscientious enough to send him to proper treatment, which is commendable on their part. I am sure that they must have suffered through the maze questions and decisions when their son was identified with his diagnosis of selective mutism and possibly other unidentified mental health issues. I do not know if his parents were provided with culturally sensitive mental health providers who spoke their language and was sensitive to cultural differences is another issue. Some mainstream mental health providers without any cross cultural training can actually do more harm than good. The fact that Seung-hui was treated does not mean that he was helped unfortunately, because good therapists are a rarity. And good culturally competent therapists are even rarer.

I am sure that I will get criticized for saying this — many Korean parents do not recognize mental health issues in their children or in themselves — despite this statement being true. Denial is not knowing because to acknowledge it would be deadly painful. You know what I'm here to break through the defenses of denial and fight for the truth to emerge. I'm not going to be popular for speaking the truths soon. Many Korean-American groups have rallied to say that the massacre caused by Choi is NOT a Korean issue. I can in general agree with that, especially since the event was an intersection of several socio-political issues such as gun control, lack of healthcare resources in colleges, the stigma of mental illness and rise of violence in the U.S. It is an Asian issue insofar as there is some overlap with Asian American socio-cultural phenomena such as the lack of awareness about mental health issues in Asian American combined with the harsh stigma of mental illness. The issue of denial and shame within the Asian American community IS our issue and must be dealt with. To the extent, Seung-hui may not have been given the quality care and attention that he very much needed and deserved because of linguistic and cultural barriers that have been documented by the 2001 Surgeon General's Report and the President's New Freedom Commission. The fact that

I think, I too, am guilty of jumping the gun and instantly assuming that Seung-hui was another victim of this blanket denial of mental illness in Asian American communities. I apologize for my blunder, but unfortunately, I have witnessed firsthand many Korean families hiding the relative with mental illness. My Chinese friend in LA told me an elder in her Chinese church was hiding her son with mental illness in the basement (this is not a metaphor; I mean literally in the basement.). Frightening stories of Asian Americans with mental illness abound in our communities. And I mistakenly was convinced that Seung-hui Choi's family was another that denied their family member the treatment and attention they desperately needed and deserved. Mea culpa.