Sikhs seeking mental health aid battle ‘weakness’ stigma
Editor s Note This article was written for Mosaic an independent journalism training initiative for high school students who account and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists Sikhs in the Bay Area who seek mental healthcare care sometimes face disapproval from other members of the Sikh area who may regard mental robustness problems as fabricated or as a character failing Noor Khera of Livermore reported she has struggled with mental wellbeing issues but was hesitant to get help out of concern about being perceived as weak I have heard it multiple times Be strong she stated One day I started wondering why am I so weak My husband declared to me You re not weak you re sick It allowed me to accept what s wrong with me and to work on that She declared her decision to take a medical expert s advice and start antidepressants has made her feel much better Dr Ravinder Randhawa a Sikh psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente Fremont Diagnostic Center explained patients she s seen have mentioned this reluctance a large number of multiple times They re scared of being judged by family and friends She herself faced judgment when she chose her profession My own father he was extremely disappointed He questioned the field I was choosing He would tell people I am a professional but what kind of healthcare provider So I had to take that disappointment in and it did bother me a bit But ultimately she stated I was able to educate all my family and encourage them to be more open to seek help This issue is not special to Sikhs of program A lot of Asian communities struggle with emotional expression Randhawa stated Related Articles High-traffic boulevard raises concerns in three South Bay cities Santa Clara cafe combines cats coffee and Korean way of life South Bay schools shape AI policies to catch up to tech-savvy students More small businesses starting to go cashless Floral design career began with San Jose man s coffee shop encounter Naz Khera of Tracy explained her efforts to confide about mental fitness issues to family and friends were shut down at once She added that only made the concern worse with disapproval from others piling onto mental soundness problems It would get so bad I would crash but that is also where rebuilding comes in She added that the issue can be especially complex for women and girls We have to appear a certain way which is not ourselves in front of any locality member that we meet As dated as it may sound there is still a strong sense among selected that fitness issues are all in your head Randhawa reported But I can say the same thing about habits and hypertension You can control these by eating well running and exercising But when it comes to mental fitness she added for certain reason people just don t understand Several younger Sikhs note there is a gap exposed between them and older generations A great number of Sikh families in the Bay Area include immigrant parents who may have come from an atmosphere where mental fitness was downplayed Kamalpreet Kaur is the Sikh Scholar Association president at Sacramento State A lot of men are sent out of Punjab to work and save money he commented They have to end up keeping their struggles buried inside them Anticipated answers lie within Sikhism itself There is a lot of meditation in our religion disclosed Arsh Kaur Sidhu president of a wellbeing advocacy group at Sacramento State University as well as peacefulness and acceptance Agamjot Aulakh is a member of the class of at James Logan High School in Union City
