Case Study
Katherine
Growing up in a traditional Asian household, there were a handful of subjects I knew never to broach: Academic failure, acting more "American," sex and mental illness ... Need Assignment Help?
I ... fumbled the words to tell my parents about [being depressed] and the avenues of treatment I had researched. Their response was dismissive, but not-as I later understood-in a neglectful vein. When I mentioned the possibility of medication, they became angry-the world that had shaped them was neither nurturing nor particularly nuanced. As Chinese immigrants, they lived shoulder-to-shoulder with poverty and near-starvation. Their experiences were reinforced by an ironclad culture that encouraged stoic endurance and regarded mental illness as a weakness of character, a shame borne not only by the individual, but by the entire family. And here was their daughter, who lived in a manicured middle-class suburban home and always went to bed with a full belly, complaining she felt depressed.
"It's not real. Get over it" was the gist of their advice. Then and now, to our detriment, I'm certain many Asian-American kids have heard the same thing.
So I tried. In high school, I became the poster-child for a "high-functioning depressive," as the terminology goes. I maintained a 4.0 GPA, won national writing awards and earned admission to an Ivy League university-things my parents wanted for my future. This made me a role model for the younger students in our community. I was even asked for lifestyle tips on how to succeed in school. Parents pointed at me and said to their children, "You should be more like her." But the depression persisted, stubborn and malicious, leaching my motivation and compelling me to seek relief in terrible things. After school, I'd shut myself in my room and cut myself until I could no longer stand the pain. (Xie, 2016)
1. How can you summarize what this passage is about?
Textbook: Sue, D.W., Sue, D., Neville, H.A., & Smith, L. (2022). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Wiley.