Abstract
This chapter argues that, in addition to acculturative stress, racism heightens the risk of suffering from depression among Korean American young people. It explores the effect of racism on depression by employing the self-dynamic among self-preservation, self-loss, and selfobject-augmentation that she developed drawing on the work of Heinz Kohut. The chapter suggests that Korean American churches proactively resist racism to enhance self-preservation and to reduce self-loss experiences for Korean Americans. This chapter then offers some specific pastoral strategies for Korean American churches to provide selfobject-augmentation in order to address the harmful effects of racism on Korean American youth and young adults, as well as the lack of knowledge of and shame attached to mental health disorders, in particular depression, in the Korean American community.
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Notes
- 1.
Eun Koh, “Prevalence and Predictors of Depression and Anxiety among Korean Americans,” Social Work in Public Health 33, no. 1 (2018): 64.
- 2.
Heeseung Choi et al., “Psychometric Properties of the DSM Scale for Depression (DSD) with Korean-American Youths,” Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 23 (2002): 735–756.
- 3.
National Institute of Mental Health, Major Depression, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml (accesssed January 4, 2019).
- 4.
Phillip D. Akutsu and Joyce P. Chu, “Clinical Problems That Initiate Professional Help-Seeking Behaviors from Asian Americans,” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 37 (2006): 407–415; Frederick T. L. Leong and Anna S. L. Lau, “Barriers to Providing Effective Mental Health Services to Asian-Americans,” Mental Health Services Research 3, no. 4 (2001):201–214.
- 5.
Miyoung Kim, “Cultural Influences on Depression in Korean Americans,” Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 33, no. 2 (1995): 13–18; Keum Young Chung Pang, “Symptom Expression and Somatization Among Elderly Korean Immigrants” Journal of Clinical Geropsychology 6, no. 3 (2000): 199–212.
- 6.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity—A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, (Rockville, MD: U.S. DHHS, 2001).
- 7.
Heeseung Choi et al., “Psychometric Properties of the DSM Scale for Depression (DSD) with Korean-American Youth,” 750.
- 8.
Joseph D. Hovey, Sheena E. Kim, and Laura D. Seligman, “The Influences of Cultural Values, Ethnic Identity, and Language Use on the Mental Health of Korean American College Students,” The Journal of Psychology 140, no. 5 (2006): 499–511.
- 9.
Yuri Jang, David A. Chiriboga, and Sumie Okazaki, “Attitudes Toward Mental Health Services: Age-Group Differences in Korean American Adults,” Aging & Mental Health 13, no. 1 (2009): 131.
- 10.
Cara S. Maffini and Y. Joel Wong, “Assessing Somatization with Asian American Clients,” in Guide to Psychological Assessment with Asians, eds. Lorraine T. Benuto, Nicholas Thaler, and Brian Leany, (New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014), 357.
- 11.
Drexler James, “Internalized Racism and Past-Year Major Depressive Disorder among African Americans: The Role of Ethnic Identity and Self-esteem,” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 4, no. 4 (2017): 659–4670; Tony N. Brown et al., “‘Being Black and Feeling Blue’: The Mental Health Consequences of Racial Discrimination,” Race and Society 2, no. 2 (2000): 117–131; Gwendolyn Y. Davis and Howard C. Stevenson, “Racial Socialization Experiences and Symptoms of Depression Among Black Youth,” Journal of Child and Family Studies 15, no, 3 (2006): 293–307.
- 12.
Jiwon Choi, Arlene Miller, and JoEllen Wilbur, “Acculturation and Depressive Symptoms in Korean Immigrant Women,” Journal of Immigrant Minority Health 11 (2009): 13–19; Su Yeong Kim et al., “Parent-Child Cultural Marginalization and Depressive Symptoms in Asian American Family Members,” Journal of Community Psychology 34, no. 2 (2006): 167–182.
- 13.
Thomas DiBlasi, Jin Y. Shin, & Charles A. Dill, “Bullying and Discrimination Experiences among Korean-American Junior High School Students,” Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology 20, no. 2 (2018): 34.
- 14.
Kunsook Song Bernstein et al., “Acculturation, Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Immigrants in New York City,” Community Mental Health Journal 47 (2011): 31.
- 15.
Angella Son, “Making a Great Man, Moses: Sustenance and Augmentation of the Self through God as Selfobject,” Pastoral Psychology 64, no. 5 (2015): 751–768.
- 16.
He has applied his psychological theories to analyze culture and groups such as the German people and Hitler (Heinz Kohut. Self Psychology and the Humanities, ed. Charles B. Strozier (Introduction), (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1985)).
- 17.
Instead of delving into a more detailed discussion of the key concepts of Kohut’s self psychology, I explore mainly the notion of the selfobject in order to focus my discussion. See my article “Relationality in Kohut’s Psychology of the Self” (Son, 2006) for a more detailed discussion of key concepts in self psychology.
- 18.
Heinz Kohut, The Restoration of the Self, (Madison, CN: International Universities Press, 1977), 177–178.
- 19.
Ibid, 182.
- 20.
Kohut originally included twinship transference as a sub-category of mirroring transference (1971, p. 115) and later set it forth as the third transference (Heinz Kohut, How Does Analysis Cure? ed. Arnold Goldberg (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1984), 192–207). Twinship experience is one’s sense of alikeness with others, a human like others, or belonging with others.
- 21.
Heinz Kohut, The Restoration of the Self, 171–191.
- 22.
Heinz Kohut, How Does Analysis Cure? 49.
- 23.
Heinz Kohut, The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1950–1978. ed. Paul H. Ornstein. Vol. 3 (Madison, CN: International Universities Press, 1978), 236.
- 24.
Mable Blake Cohen et al., “An Intensive Study of Twelve Cases of Manic-Depressive Psychosis.” In Essential Papers on Depression, ed. James C. Coyne (New York: New York University Press, 1986), 82–139. See also my work for further discussion, Angella Son, “Pastoral Care of Korean American Women: The Degeneration of Mothering into management of an Inadequate Sense of Self,” in Women out of Order: Risking Change and Creating Care in a Multicultural World, eds. J. Stevenson-Moessner and Teresa E. Snorton (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2009), 57–77; and “Korean American Churches as Positive Selfobjects in Response to the High Risk of Depression among Korean American Youths and Young Adults Caused by the Harmful Effect of Racism,” Sacred Spaces: The e-Journal of American Association of Pastoral Counselors 3 (2011): 101–119.
- 25.
Jinah K. Shin, “Help-Seeking Behaviors by Korean Immigrants for Depression,” Issues in Mental Health Nursing 23 (2002): 461–476. See also Zornitsa Kalibatseva and Frederick T. L. Leong, “Depression among Asian Americans: Review and Recommendations,” Depression Research Treatment, Vol. 2011, 3. Doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/320902
- 26.
Hee-Sun Cheon et al., “Mental health Disparities Impacting Christian Korean Americans: A Qualitative Examination of Pastors’ Perspectives,” Mental Health, Religion & Culture 19, no. 6 (2016): 548. 538–552.
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Davis, Gwendolyn Y., and Howard C. Stevenson. 2006. Racial Socialization Experiences and Symptoms of Depression Among Black Youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies 15 (3): 293–307.
DiBlasi, Thomas, Jin Y. Shin, and Charles A. Dill. 2018. Bullying and Discrimination Experiences Among Korean-American Junior High School Students. Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology 20 (2): 28–36.
Hovey, Joseph D., Sheena E. Kim, and Laura D. Seligman. 2006. The Influences of Cultural Values, Ethnic Identity, and Language Use on the Mental Health of Korean American College Students. The Journal of Psychology 140 (5): 499–511.
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Jang, Yuri, David A. Chiriboga, and Sumie Okazaki. 2009. Attitudes Toward Mental Health Services: Age-Group Differences in Korean American Adults. Aging & Mental Health 13 (1): 127–134.
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———. 2009. Pastoral Care of Korean American Women: The Degeneration of Mothering into Management of an Inadequate Sense of Self. In Women out of Order: Risking Change and Creating Care in a Multicultural World, ed. Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner and Teresa E. Snorton, 57–77. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
———. 2011. Korean American Churches as Positive Selfobjects in Response to the High Risk of Depression Among Korean American Youths and Young Adults Caused by the Harmful Effect of Racism. Sacred Spaces: The e-Journal of American Association of Pastoral Counselors 3: 101–119.
———. 2015. Making a Great Man, Moses: Sustenance and Augmentation of the Self Through God as Selfobject. Pastoral Psychology 64 (5): 751–768.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2001. Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity. In A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of Surgeon General.
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Son, A. (2020). Racism as a Heightening Factor in the High Rate of Depression among Korean American Youth & Young Adults (KAY&YA). In: Son, A. (eds) Pastoral Care in a Korean American Context. Asian Christianity in the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48575-7_8
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