Open wide and let it all out!

The other week we had a psychotherapist on. She and I had exchanged so many emails, and I'd read up on her work on various internet sites. I was excited because she works with people who are new to Korea, whether they're total strangers to Korean society, or gyopos (like me). She also works with individuals and with families, so it seems that she covers a wide spectrum of people. She's older - over 40 - and perfectly English/Korean bilingual (she lived in California for awhile) so she really does understand both cultures from an insider's perspective.

She told me - not on the air, but before we went on - that one of her previous clients had been a man who came to teach English to children here in Korea, and he felt that he was a pedophile, so he came to talk to her about that. But it was her belief that he was not a pedophile. She said he had never touched a child before (or so he said), and she truly believed that he never would. But she said there was nothing she could do to convince him that he was not a pedophile. After only a few therapy sessions, she said he left Korea and went back to the states, and she never heard from him again.

-------

When we were on the air, I wish she'd been more opinionated about things. I guess I really got my hopes up leading up to her coming on our show. But once we were on the air, she was being way too politically correct. I'd say things like, "What do you think about people like Tom Cruise saying no one should be taking medication, and that all they need to do is eat vitamins and work out?" She says, "Well, everyone has their own beliefs..." That sort of thing.

I was especially excited to ask her about the specific problems that gyopos experience when they're living in Korea since I'm one of them. And she says, "Gyopos have issue with cultural identity..." And I'm thinking, Of course we do. So I agree with her and say, "Yes, you grow up to be this confused person because everything in American culture is telling you to be this way, and then your parents teach you indirectly or directly that you should be a totally different way..." And when I asked her a specific example of the gyopo's plight, she wouldn't give me one.

I'm glad we had her in general, but detailed, personal stories are really what hit home with people, I think. Especially when it's someone with such credibility such as this psychotherapist, so I wish more guests wouldn't censor themselves so much.