Viruses & Xenophobia

What reactions have YOU seen in response to the coronavirus?

• Stores have run out of stock of face masks.
• Travelers from the epicenter are beginning to be unwelcomed.
• Countries have flown their own residents back home for mandatory quarantines. 

Meanwhile, there have also been stories emerging of discrimination in Western Countries such as:

1. Australia https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/world/australia/coronavirus-racism-chinese.html,
2. Canada https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-health-canada-discrimination/coronavirus-stokes-asian-discrimination-fears-in-canadas-biggest-city-idUKKBN1ZS092 
3. and France http://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/digital/2020/01/30/Chinese-people-respond-to-coronavirus-discrimination-We-are-not-a-virus-.html. 
4. The US in not immune either: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/02/811363404/when-xenophobia-spreads-like-a-virus. 

Many thanks to colleagues from the Asian American Psychological Association for sharing resources regarding the relationship between infectious diseases and xenophobia on the listserv. 

From Dr. Sachi Inoue...

• “As coronavirus spreads, so does concern over xenophobia
  ‘More panic, more temptation to blame the outsider ... the other,’ a Columbia professor of sociomedical sciences said.”
  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1125441
• “Rapper 50 Cent Wants Donald Trump to Send Chinese People ‘Back to China’ Over Coronavirus”
  https://nextshark.com/50-cent-trump-china-coronavirus/

From Dr. Grace Kim...
Treating Yellow Peril: Resources to Address Political Anxieties Over China’s Coronavirus...compiled by Asian American Studies scholars, and includes information on history and case examples from other epidemics (such as SARS).

https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1-DLnAY5r-f4DRLZgndR_Bu47nqHVtAOKem5QRmbz7bg/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR2WeS44EeDSXSBhHoUih6FNQvsJhQnkEORjuvWnWSEsXULJS7gplhd2Rms

A "very quick google search...to highlight our history of recent infectious diseases and our societal response¹" was summarized by Dr. Sherry Wang who provided links to articles that can easily be found online. She was also speaking on KQED about personal experiences related to this matter: https://www.kqed.org/news/11800025/to-be-asian-with-a-face-mask-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak. 

·  SARS outbreak (2002-2003) triggered China-blaming attitudes and perceptions that were reflected in national newspapers and expanded to stigma against Asians, worldwide¹.

·  Bird Flu (2003-2007) elicited anti-Asian messages as well as prejudiced attitudes and discrimination¹.

·  Swine flu (2009) fueled anti-immigrant racism³ especially toward Mexican American immigrants⁴.  

·  MERS (2012-present), despite not being an urgent, worldwide threat, the name and geographical location of the disease generated fear of it being a “Muslim illness”⁵.  

·  Ebola (2013-2016) – The racial profiling and overt racism against Black people has been described as Ebola racism, facilitating discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-foreigner sentiments based on skin color^6-9.

·  Zika (2015-2016) – Despite its recognition as a global health emergency, Latin American and Caribbean women, especially poor women, were given differential treatment that rendered them “unprotected” and “badly served” and revealed the “hideously racist hypocrisy”¹⁰.

¹ https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/01/coronavirus-outbreak-sars-swine-flu-viral-history.html

² http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30467300/ns/health-cold_and_flu/t/amid-swine-flu-outbreak-racism-goes-viral/#.XjXFsmhKg2w

³ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-can-we-learn-about-r_n_203602

⁴ https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2009/swine-flu-prompts-anti-mexican-sentiment

⁵ https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/MERS-The-Major-Threat-Thats-Not-on-Your-Risk-Map?gko=ba980

⁶ https://theintercept.com/2014/10/21/cant-ebola-become-latest-racist-national-security-issue/

⁷ https://www.mic.com/articles/101660/ebola-racism-is-real-and-it-s-thriving-across-the-u-s

⁸ https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-29714657

⁹ https://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2014/10/austria-increase-in-racism-due-to-ebola-fear-the-local.html

¹⁰ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/health/zika-virus-response.html

¹¹ http://theconversation.com/coronavirus-fears-can-trigger-anti-chinese-prejudice-heres-how-schools-can-help-130945

The American Psychological Association has a few tips on how to manage viewing coverage of the virus: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/bird-flu. 

www.AsiansDoTherapy.com

Psychotherapist Yin Li, LMFT has been wanting to put together a resource for Asian Americans similar to Therapy for Black Girls or Therapy for Latinx since the Asian American community doesn't have one.

Still in development, but take a look at this first go:

www.AsiansDoTherapy.com

The goal of the site is:

1) normalize therapy services in Asian communities by sharing stories of Asian Americans in therapy

2) lowers the barriers of access through culturally relevant information and resources

Additional parts that are forthcoming are:

- social media presence

- podcast

- blog articles from Asian American clinicians

- therapist directory (or connecting to an existing one)

Want to help?

1) If you know of folks (celebrities, influencers, everyday folks) who want to share their experience in therapy as Asian Americans, Yin Li, LMFT would love to get connected with them.

2) if you have non-academic articles, books.videos, podcasts episodes that you like on Asian American psychology, experiences in therapy, mental health, wellness, please send them to Yin Li's, way.

3) if you know someone who knows about podcasting (the technical aspects) and interested in collaborating, let her know too!

Here's how to get in touch with someone who's making a difference in the Asian American community:

Yin Li, MA LMFT

Psychotherapist

yin@theralane.com

www.theralane.com

Pronouns: she, her, hers

The story behind the headlines: "A dying mother's plan: Buy a gun. Rent a hotel room. Kill her son."

When initial headlines came out in 2015, an immigrant family's tragedy seemed puzzling.

• http://ktla.com/2015/07/30/mother-accused-of-killing-teenage-son-as-he-slept-in-rosemead-motel-room-charged-with-murder/
• http://abc7.com/news/17-year-old-boy-fatally-shot-at-rosemead-hotel;-mother-arrested/886699/
• http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Woman-Arrested-After-Mans-Shooting-Death-at-Rosemead-Hotel-318722671.html

Recently, investigative reporting helped to fill in the gaps of how lack of awareness regarding mental illness might have led a loved one to search for desperate measures for how to care for their family members.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-mother-murder-mental-20170514-htmlstory.html

The Business of Psychotherapy: An Interview with BJ Kang (of the Asian American Voice podcast)

Special thanks to Mr. BJ Kang for allowing me to think out loud about "The Business of Psychotherapy."

Thanks to BJ for the various formats:

• YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPGoH0mBgk) 
• Itunes Podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/thebusinessofpsychotherapys-podcast/id1208285071?mt=2&i=1000381723048&ign-mpt=uo%3D4) 
• Google Play Music Podcast (https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ilqijw6f6br2keot7ykkwsw2obq) 
• Episode Show Notes Page (http://brianjkang.com/businessoftherapy/6) 

If you have any questions/comments, BJ and I would both enjoy continuing the discussion with our audience members.

And then there were 6...on the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

First 6 of the 20 stepped down on Inauguration Day, then another 10 released a powerful letter to the President less than a month later.

The resignation letter shared concerns of how history of discrimination and exclusionary acts may repeat themselves given the current president's "portrayal of immigrants, refugees, people of color and people of various faiths as untrustworthy, threatening, and a drain on our nation."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/10-resign-president-s-advisory-commission-asian-americans-pacific-islanders-n721386

What are the potential implications of such actions of the current administration (or of the commissioners) and how might they affect the mental health of Asian Americans and allies to the Asian American community?

Is an A- an "Asian F?"

San Francisco based psychotherapist Nicole Hsiang, LMFT blogs about the "Shadow Side to Being an Asian American Over Achiever." Unfortunately, it's also one of the reasons a segment of my private practice is providing psychotherapy to adolescents at competitive bay area high schools who experience academic distress (e.g., I've learned from some of my teens which train tracks are notorious for finding a quick end) and those who identify with Asian values of saving face (e.g., I'm currently working with someone in their 40's who has been having difficulty finding motivation to get back into the job market after being laid off - over four years ago).  What are some ways you think society should deal with such pressures?

https://medium.com/@nicolehsiang/the-shadow-side-to-being-an-asian-american-over-achiever-94d6eb818147#.oatip6928

The Asian American Literary Review have released a special issue on Asian American mental health.  "Open in Emergency" is a creative and interactive kit that features poetry, prose, artwork and photography from Asian American voices related to mental health. 

"Guest-edited by Mimi Khuc...this special issue works to reimagine what counts as unwellness and wellness in our communities through a dynamic mix of writing, visual art, and interactive mini-projects. It includes:

• a deck of tarot cards— featuring original art and text that work to reveal the hidden contours of our Asian American emotional,
  psychic, and spiritual lives;
• a foldout testimonial tapestry— a collectively woven tapestry of written and visual testimonials, a process-oriented art piece that reimagines community care & healing.
• a “hacked” mock DSM: Asian American Edition— a new catalog of “definitions”/reflections, with alternate understandings of un/wellness and critiques of Psychology as field, discourse, and industry,
  featuring fiction and essays on neuro-diversity and race; a queer mixed race WOC self-care package; a play excerpt examining conceptions of mental illness as demonic possession in Lao communities; and poetry on the lasting psychic rupture of Partition, among many other pieces.
• a “treated” pamphlet on postpartum depression— a redaction/erasure/annotation of existing postpartum depression info-literature that centers lived mother of color experience;
• a stack of daughter-to-mother letters— handwritten letters that rethink intergenerational intimacies
  and violences, Asian American daughterhood and motherhood."

For more information regarding this special issue,
http://aalr.binghamton.edu/special-issue-on-asian-american-mental-health/?mc_cid=b875427629&mc_eid=412ab65802