June 2008 MIM Event: Dr. Pa Der Vang- Hmong Culture and Mental Illness

Pa Der Vang, Ph D, is a mental health planner for Ramsey County, but this summer she will be moving to California to take a new job as an Assistant Professor at California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Pa Der Vang was able to arrange her now very-tight schedule, to speak to MIM about the Hmong culture and mental illness. She helped us better understand the world view of the Southeast Asian culture and the influence of culture in responding to mental illness.

Before the Vietnam War and the large numbers of Southeast Asian refugees, the Hmong social organization and culture was intact. During the war many Hmong helped the U.S. The Hmong people lost family members in the war, were persecuted by their government, became refugees in other countries and eventually many immigrated to the United States. There were many adjustments needed when they arrived here. The whole social organization was lost or changing; the culture was weakened. Today the Southeast Asian population in the United States has a very high percentage of anxiety, PTSD and depression.

Most people in Southeast Asian countries are animists so they believe everything has a spirit, a soul. They believe that everything is interconnected, body/soul/mental health. A person would not complain of a mental illness, but rather complain about pain, bodily pain. The body and mind and soul--all connected.

Now children and grandchildren of those refugees of about thirty years-ago are more American. Older people still live with more traditional practices. They pray to the spirit of their ancestors to help them. When a person has a mental illness, it is seen as the person’s spirit was so frightened or injured that the soul has left the person. The Shaman will use traditional practices to help the soul return to that person. When the traditional practices aren’t helpful, people do use medicines.

The American world view values independence so the focus is on I. Western treatment would focus on healing the inner self, helping you think good things about yourself. A person with an independence focus thinks: how can I protect myself from all the negative people out there; how do they impact me?

The Southeast Asian focus is on we. I’m not just an individual; I’m interconnected with my family. I’m a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a granddaughter. There are multi-generational households. Adult children aren’t encouraged to leave home. The value of the community says to stay together; it’s very holistic. The focus would be on social obligation to the community, to the family. Western treatment with its focus on the individual would not be helpful. The focus would need to be on helping a person find ways to support the family and the community. An interdependence focus would be: how does my mental illness impact others in my group; how can I better impact others?

Pa Der Vang gave us an example to help us understand the independence/interdependence at the primary level of self. A spouse comes home to find dirty dishes left in the sink:

People in the mental health field with a Western framework need to learn how to work with people from Southeast Asian cultures; how to help a person feel better. As members of the Southeast Asian cultures become more educated and better understand biology, they understand mental illness. Part of Pa Der Vang’s job is to help others understand why the treatments are as they are; understand the ideology of the treatments; to think outside of the world, the culture they have always known.

We realized that it would be impossible to even begin to grasp all of this in one hour, but Pa Der Vang did present the essence of the Southeast Asian (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand—some people also include Myanmar) culture and responses to mental illness. The Minneapolis and St. Paul area has the largest concentration of Hmong in the U.S. and they offer rich resources. The Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, www.hmongcc.org, is the only such center in the Midwestern U.S. Another place to begin a search to learn about more about the Hmong and Southeast Asian cultures is www.hmongnet.org.

Mary Paradis is a long time member of St. Joan of Arc with her husband, Claude. Mary is currently the co-chair of the Mental Illness Ministry. Mary can be reached at claudemaryparadis@comcast.net.
MIM's last book discussion's focus helped us again realize that when we learn a new perspective, we better understand our own perspective. Pa Der Vang did a beautiful, rich job of sharing a glimpse into her world view.

You can hear Dr. Pa Der Vang speak on The Influence of Culture on Mental Health, Thursday, June 19 at Hoa Bien Restaurant, 1105 University Ave W, St. Paul; www.hmongwomenachieve.org/speaker_series.