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When God Can’t Help You, Prozac Can
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Art from the JUSTICE CD.
Recently, a new study has suggested that religious Asian-American adolescents suffer from a higher level of depression than any other ethnicity. The studies can be explained here (I’ll wait while you open up a new tab or window and read it).
Done yet?
Not to take any of this lightly, but the word “Duh” seems to come to mind. Aside from other Asian-Americans who have been here for several generations, I don’t know too many who haven’t been raised in a religious home, myself included.
The fact is that if you throw a pile of dogma some kid’s way, they’re going feel burdened between following the example that is provided to them by both God and parental units, not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re five years old, you should probably be talking about Pokemon, rather than have some sort of spiritual crisis. How do I know that five year olds go through this? Because I went through it. Not to say that ALL kids, Asian or not, have these moments of weeping openly in a large Catholic church wondering if God really loves them, or exists for that matter, but – as I said – it happens.
The problem is that, unlike here in the U.S., places like South Korea or the Philippines don’t pretend that religion and culture are two separate entities – they are of one compound cultural force, which, of course, carries over when API folks emigrate and values come with them. Coupled with the fact that in many Asian countries, the idea of mental health (traditionally, anyway) is either dismissed, or merely solved with the concept of retail therapy.
Because of these factors: religious fervor, guilt brought on by religion and a lack of recognition of mental health, you have a generation of young adults, such as myself, who have gone their entire lives dealing with issues like depression and anxiety, all the while not being able to function properly because we WEREN’T RAISED TO DEAL WITH THIS PROPERLY.
I don’t necessarily think that parents are to blame, per se, because if you come from a place where depression is as real as the tooth fairy and all problems can be solved by quoting Scripture, then I can see where the logic is faulty.
But that doesn’t solve the issue either. How can we prevent future generations from having these kinds of emotional and mental hardships? As the agnostic in me would dictate: don’t go to church. But it’s not really that easy, is it? Some people need faith to meet their goals, to feel fulfilled, and to feel something. But the one thing I can offer API parents is to not ignore their kids (which I have seen on many occasions). Go to church, don’t go to church, it doesn’t really matter if your family is falling apart and you’re too blind by your devotion to your church (and probably not God) to see what’s happening before you.
For more info: If you are dealing with depression, visit the Asian Counseling & Referral Service website, also try To Write Love on Her Arms to find other local services.
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