Karina Akira Reiny asks:
What's Korea's take on mental illness?
I wanted to know if it's a stigma, how people are treated and is it a taboo?
Well the first thing we should say is that we're not experts in this field whatsoever
we could only talk about our personal experiences on the matter
As people who are teachers in Korea
and as people who have friends in Korea who have dealt with this topic before
So first we're gonna talk about our experience as teachers in Korea
And for those of you that don't know, we were actually teachers back in Canada
So we had a lot of training to learn how to identify students in our class
that might be struggling with something for example, ADHD or autism
We had specific courses to teach us about this
So when we came to Korea, we were actually really surprised to find
that we had students in our classrooms that were definitely going undiagnosed
Students with ADHD that were just being called troublemakers who can't concentrate
and who bother everyone in class
and I would take aside my coworkers and be like,
No, I'm pretty sure that this student is suffering from ADHD
They've got all the signs and they're a good kid
and they're just like 'No, no, no, they're a troublemaker with bad grades'
'They're bad kids'
I remember personally I once had a student who--
when I had a face to face test with them--
I tried looking him in his eyes, but his eyes would go all over the place like this
He couldn't actually have eye contact,
His eyes were physically shaking like this
and then afterwards when I spoke with the teacher about it, I said,
'Do you know anything about this student? Is there any way that we can help him?'
'Has he been diagnosed with anything whatsoever?'
And the teacher's like, 'What are you talking about? He's fine.'
'Nah, he's just a little bit distracted that's all.'
I had two students in my class over three years that were autistic
one which is a really severe case who you couldn't actually touch her
she would freak out and she could barely speak Korean, let alone English
and she was being put in class
and all the other students were kinda treating her like a wangda
Like she was kinda like this outcast student
and she was really struggling
But there was no assistance offered to her whatsoever
They just threw her in there be like, 'Go ahead, fend for yourself'
Yeah. Interestingly, when I talked to my teachers about it,
they said that the reason she's at our school is because she was treated
much better by the students at our school who just ignore her,
while when she was in public school she was actually beat up, people threw rocks at her
Like that's friggin awful!! Okay?
And what bothered us at teachers in both of our schools was that
There were no guidance counselors for any of these students
there were no special ed courses
Pretty much there was nothing for these students whatsoever. No help at all
And I'm not even just talking about students that are struggling from something,
just students who are struggling from life in general
Considering that there's a really high suicide rate for teenagers in Korea,
they really need an output, someone they can talk to that's a safety zone
A guidance counselor I think is a critical, CRITICAL job
I'm really surprised that it's not actually implemented in Korean schools yet
If I could make one wish about a big change in Korean high schools,
it would be the addition of a guidance counselor that can help students deal with stress
And that plea comes from someone who has experience with counselors
I definitely saw counselors in university when I was battling with depression
and if it wasn't for those counselors in university
I'd really not be the same place that I am today
So not only is it really difficult for students to be treated or diagnosed in school,
It also carries on into adult life
where it's very difficult to get proper treatment as well
Now the thing is that it does exist in Korea There are psychologists and psychiatrists
and there are counselors
But it's not really as embraced and as accepted as it's become in North America
If you were to say to your friend
'I'm really depressed. I feel really down I'm having suicidal thoughts.'
People would be like 'You need to see a counselor'
'We need to help you find someone to talk to.'
That would be the normal response
But in Korea, people don't really talk that much about it
If you wanted to go to talk to someone about your issues,
it actually goes down on your medical record
and then if you go to get a job at a big company,
they will look into your medical records
Isn't that absurd?
If you want to work for Samsung or LG or whatnot,
it's not just like you give a cover letter and your resume in an interview,
they check your medical record
And if it winds up showing that you have any kind of history of mental health,
you will not get the job
Yeah because why would the pick you over someone else who
looks like they don't have any problems but might have tons of problems
But just the idea that these companies can look at your medical health is just absurd to me!
I know
So it's something that I think needs to be worked on
because I think everybody at one point in their life goes through a struggle
They go into depression or they're stressed out--
or they have problems
You don't think that it wouldn't benefit them to see a counselor
And FYI, in a similar vein, when you apply for a job in Korea,
they actually ask you for a picture
So a lot of foreigners that apply for jobs in Korea are like,
'Oh my god, this is racism, you can't ask for my picture'
but everyone in Korea does it, it's not just a foreign thing
and they photoshop it as well so like--
and they make glamour shots
You know if I was to apply for a job, I'm just gonna give them a picture of David Beckham
and then when they see me they'd be like,
'Yeah, that's David Beckham'
They hold up the picture and they pull it down and they're like, 'Oh, still the same.'
And when it comes to our personal experience,
we have had friends who have had difficulties with this as well
Foreign friends and Korean friends
Our foreign friends have had a real difficult time
finding counselors here in Korea that speak English
but this was a couple years ago, I'm not sure if things have changed since then
I hope that it's changed
I'm pretty sure the best place they were able to find was on a Korean university
who apparently they have some psychologists or counselors that you can talk to
but they didn't speak English so--
That's not very helpful when it's kind of crucial to speak and communicate
That's a major key
-And we can't expect them to speak English -Yeah, of course
because it's not like English is the first language here
but he was having difficulty finding someone who speaks his language
My Korean friend-- I was really upset about it because they opened up to me
after getting to know them for three years
and they couldn't even tell their employer where they were going
because they were going to get medication for their depression
but they couldn't mention that to their employer
because their employer wouldn't want them to work anymore
So they had to make up all these excuses as to where they were going and it was really stressful
And it was also the issue that the boss is really badgering your friend like
'Where you going? Tell me where you're going. Why won't you tell me where you're going?'
and your friend would actually stand her ground against it
The last thing I wanted to say is that Suzy was telling me about
how in the morning there are a lot of shows now that deal with like counseling
So like fighting couples going into counseling offices
or people who can't deal with their out of control kid
So I feel like there is kind of a push coming
on the acceptance of counselors being an important part of Korean life
-It's still not fully there but it's-- -Still taboo right?
It's still a little bit taboo, but it's developing
We're gonna talk a lot more about this in the blog post
so click on the link here if you want to see more of our thoughts on the topic
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I'm pretty sure we're just gonna end this with the blooper reel
of you trying to pronounce the person's name at the beginning
I don't want you to
It's Karina Akini--
Akira. I know Akira
Karina--
-Karina Akiri Reiny asks -Akira!
Karina Akira--
Akira! Like the anime