Shin Shin Tang is a Eugene psychotherapist, who also teaches at Oregon State University. She’s written a new book called “Asian American Psychology and Psychotherapy: Intergenerational trauma, betrayal and liberation.” She spoke with KLCC’s Rachael McDonald.
McDonald: Can you tell us why you decided to write this book that specifically addresses Asian American psychology?
Tang: Yeah, so many reasons. But one of the main reasons was because, of course, of the incredible surge of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic and that, you know, multiplied by several hundred percent and became very violent and unfortunately, still isn’t really abating that we can tell. So that was a main motivator because until the pandemic, a lot of these experiences were glossed over or dismissed and ignored, even though they were also present and have been for a long time in American history. And then the other reason was because, you know, frankly for my clients, the book is dedicated to them and I work with many Asian American clients in my practice and I have Asian American students and I think they were not knowing that their experiences are common, like both with racism and intergenerational trauma and most of them are grappling with both.
So I wanted Asian Americans across the country to know that they’re not alone. And I think finally, I wanted therapists to be able to offer more culturally sensitive care. I think therapists are really trying, but sometimes clients will tell me, well, this person just didn’t quite get this part of my culture. So, I know therapists want to be able to do that. So I wanted to offer a resource that would help them in doing that.
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