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April 16, 2020

SJSU panel provides help for Asian American students in isolation

SJSU faculty and staff members discuss how the Asian American community can cope with mental health issues while in isolation over a Zoom call Wednesday. Shruthi Lakshmanan/Spartan Daily

Under mandated shelter-in-place orders, self-isolation may exacerbate feelings of loneliness and stress.

Wei-Chien Lee, a licensed clinical psychologist for San Jose State’s Counseling and Psychological Services, often referred to as CAPS, recommended students watch a scene from the 2000 survival drama, “Cast Away.”

It depicts Tom Hanks’ character methodically crossing off each day on his calendar as it finishes.

Lee encouraged students to follow suit and commemorate every passing day as a victory during a panel Wednesday discussing mental health in the Asian American community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She joined other SJSU faculty and staff members, including licensed psychologists from CAPS and professors with backgrounds in psychology, on a Zoom call hosted by the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center. 

“This is a long, arduous [and] isolating process. Asian Americans tend to feel most lonely at home,” Lee said. “[There’s] a lot of internal challenges for Asian American students to ask for help.” 

Special education professor Saili Kulkarni said there is an expectation within the Asian community to pretend everything is OK, but from her perspective it seems to be changing because of isolation. 

“Some Asian American students, depending on their background and their family history, may come from trauma and there may be struggles with anxiety,” said Ellen Lin, a licensed psychologist at CAPS.

Occupational therapy professor Luis Arabit said that the anxiety surrounding the pandemic is in part because of occupational disruption – a disturbance in daily activity.

“Engagement in meaningful occupation, what we call activities of daily living, those activities that occupy our time and lives are important for our physical, mental and spiritual well-being,” he said. 

Arabit said disrupting these daily activities causes unknown change to regular routines which inherently induces stress. A way to combat this issue is for students to establish a daily routine that increases predictability.  

Kulkarni also discussed the importance of physical activity as a mood enhancer and to use online tools that focus on home exercises. 

But many of the panelists also acknowledged students’ emotions and mental distress and said that it was OK not to feel OK.  

“You are normal,” Lee said. “At this time of quarantine, you are supposed to have a distorted reality.”

The panelists finished their discussion with information about services that students can use to ease some of their mental, emotional and unforeseen financial struggles. 

“[We should] not be hyperfocused on the threat because we should focus on what we control, not what we can’t control,” Arabit said.