COVID-19 and the Asian Community: Here's my story
Yahoo Finance West Coast Correspondent Melody Hahm opens up about her experience with the stigma of therapy in the Asian American community. Through her experiences she has gained understanding about herself and has educated those around her to the dangers these stigmas can have on mental health and society as a whole. Watch the video above to hear her story and learn how we can all find unity during this difficult time.
Video Transcript
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MELODY HAHM: There are quite a few stigmas, I would say, in the Asian-American community. Both my parents are Korean immigrants. The concept of therapy was not in their psyche. It was kind of like, you don't air your dirty laundry. You save face. You don't really talk badly about your spouse, or your children, or anything. I remember saying, I'm so stressed. And my dad quickly quipped at me, stress is your imagination. And I think that really stuck with me, because that sort of represents one of the stigmas that you should not necessarily be turning to other people to relieve your stress.
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But it was my junior year that things really changed. My mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And I think that's when my stress felt very debilitating. It felt as though things were very much out of my control, right? Like, circling back to my dad saying control your stress. And so I finally made my first appointment, and I've never looked back. But it definitely was not a smooth journey. I probably saw four therapists before I found my therapist who is a Chinese-American woman. She's in her early 30s. And she saw the world in a similar way that I do.
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When my mom came to audit my therapy session, she actually got very emotional. So it was kind of beautiful, because I think it was a step closer to her understanding the need and the catharsis of a space like that. I think therapy has really taught me and helped me find peace within myself, and helped me try to understand myself better so that I can navigate this world better, and I can treat the people in my life better.
Right now in this COVID-19 pandemic, Asian-Americans are suffering a lot from the discrimination, blatant racism, general sense of xenophobia that they're facing every day. My fiance and I, we go on walks. He's also a Korean-American. And he sometimes walks to the other side of the sidewalk if he sees a couple coming towards us. And I'm like, why are you moving? We're clearly six feet away from each other. And he's like, I don't want to have to deal with anyone being racist towards me. Just to be someone who is not white in this country, I think there is a lot of pain and baggage.
One of the key things for me is to be able to show solidarity for people who are in positions of less power than you. That is the way that we overcome this. To me, resetting your mindset is shedding that extra layer of sweat, and anxiety, and tension, and to be able to, you know, get deeper with yourself, and to get a better understanding of who you are and who you want to be.
