By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Koreans need to talk more openly about mental health issues and seeking counseling is the best way to manage their anger before it builds up to a boiling point, a Korean-American psychologist and counselor said.
Josephine Kim, lecturer in the risk and prevention program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, stressed the importance of raising awareness about recognizing emotional distress and seeking mental health services in order to ``save lives.''
She was invited to come to Virginia Tech last year to give counseling to ethnic Koreans there after the mass shooting by Korean-American Cho Seung-hui, who killed 32 and himself on the campus. She found that many Koreans were not seeking help for mental health problems even though they needed it.
``According to recent research, Koreans are famous for not seeking mental health services and wait till the very last minute, till they can no longer endure the mental ailment or symptoms, and it means when they finally come and seek help, it's almost too late,'' Kim told The Korea Times Tuesday during her visit to Seoul.
``We tell them, `It's okay to seek help when you need it.' Education is very important to talk about why it's helpful to seek help on mental and emotional issues and what the negative consequences are for not seeking help,'' the licensed mental health counselor said.
Kim said the traditional Confucian culture, which considers emotional problems a sign of weakness, have made Koreans feel ashamed for experiencing mental health difficulties. ``It is difficult to change that mindset, but research also says when you increase knowledge, attitude also changes,'' the 33-year-old said.
She said such lack of knowledge and understanding may be a part of the reasons for growth of violent crime targeting random people or public property, such as the Virginia Tech mass shooting and the arson on Namdaemun.
``If you don't know how to manage your anger and stress, how to resolve conflict, then these things build up. And once it's build up, it's very difficult to repress any longer, and it explodes in an uncontrollable manner. So, we need to be more proactive about emotional stability. We have to train and educate people on how to resolve stress, minimize conflict, improve communication skills, and increase social skills,'' she said.
After the counseling at Virginia Tech, Kim is committed to helping Korean-Americans and Koreans in multicultural environments.
``Korean people focus too much on academic, intellectual achievement, and other parts of who we are get neglected, such as social, moral and emotional aspects. For example, Cho was doing fine academically because he was student of Virginia Tech and performed well at that level. But socially and emotionally he was really lost and totally isolated. The importance is that there are many aspects of who we are and all of those aspects need our attention,'' Kim said.
A non-profit organization Mustard Seed Generation, which Kim co-founded, will hold a conference in Seoul in July, for students of Korean heritage attending international schools or foreign language high schools here, or incoming college freshmen and high school students seeking to attend colleges in the U.S. The participants will learn about things beyond academic success ― social, spiritual, cultural and emotional aspects ― especially in college life.
``The conference will increase knowledge and awareness of the issues and talk about what it means to be Korean and multicultural in the globalized world,'' she said.
For more information about the conference, visit www.msgeneration.com.