FEATURE
DECODING DISPLACEMENT : AN INTRODUCTION TO THE KID LAB AUTHOR Urooj Yazdani , MD
20 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
“ Just when you think you know something , you have to look at it in another way .”
These words , uttered by John Keating , a professor of Welton Academy , still resonate . The fact that who he was and what he represented was a mere depiction , created as a plot for a fictional motion picture titled “ The Dead Poet ’ s Society ,” seems to be of no consequence .
My path to psychiatry has been the one less traveled and has given me a unique vantage point for evaluating how we serve . The first and only film I created was an accidental one . I did not plan on turning my graduate research on the link between education , systemic poverty and transgenerational trauma into a piece of art . But the impact from the film ’ s premiere included working with international organizations to create incentives for impoverished families to keep their daughters in school . It influenced an educational curriculum on the patterns of trauma in the developing world , and led me to seek the film ’ s distribution into public spaces and international broadcast networks . This taught me how something seemingly linear can evolve into something transformative .
My personal and professional experiences have brought me to the conclusion that psychiatry does overtly recognize culture as an imperative component of how mental illness presents , manifests and evolves . But it stops short of recognizing the fine print , how the very act of immigration can impact those variables . Moving your life from one nation to another is much more than a physical experience . It challenges the identity , self-worth and foundational values within an individual . Being in a foreign environment naturally creates internal chaos , often triggering an exaggerated sympathetic response to benign stimuli . Taking this a step further , these stresses tap into structural anxiety , which can be a means of protection against foreign threats . But how does a person ’ s mind reconcile the perception of such threats if he now finds them part of home ? Children of immigrants face an extra layer of complexity from being raised in an environment they are discouraged from embracing . The long-term manifestations of such inner conflicts create fertile ground for psychiatric etiology that is so layered and convoluted that textbook criteria fail to define it . I hope to help demystify the seemingly unspecified label that minority mental health issues are often given , by creating a unique space where we can explore how the act of migration itself can both create and potentiate dysfunction .
The Kid Lab will be a space where data is collected , analyzed and juxtaposed to traditional guidelines for diagnosis to determine if any altered criteria need to be created on the basis of cultural subtlety . For example , the mental status exam broadly categorizes thought content as abnormal if a belief is perceived to be a delusion . The criteria we use to identify a delusion change drastically with cultural perception . Adjustments to the mental status exam and other psychiatric standards need to reflect the complexity of the patients they serve . Such standardizations will be explored in The Kid Lab , a venue that will aspire to simultaneously decipher and enrich the psychiatric needs of minority communities in the US .
Beyond the research itself , The Kid Lab will place paramount importance on presenting findings in an impactful way . We will create content around immigrant stories and manifestations of mental health . We ’ ll share ideas across various public platforms , and find innovative ways to further cultural competence in psychiatry . Exploration will be prioritized in this creative space , named for the unabashed sense of wonder that comes along with being a kid .
We pitched this proposal to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ( SAMHSA ), the agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services that leads public efforts to advance behavioral health on a national level . Through my acceptance into their minority fellowship grant program , a large sum of federal funding will be allocated to make The Kid Lab come to life .
As I complete my adult psychiatric training at the University of Louisville and start my fellowship in pediatric psychiatry at the University of Chicago , I hope to make this endeavor the foundation through which to serve the mental health needs of immigrants and refugees . Through sensitive and ethical storytelling , The Kid Lab will work to bridge the comprehension gap between practitioner and public , forming a vessel to shed light on the mental health needs of those still perceived to be a proverbial enigma in the fabric of our nation .
Dr . Yazdani is a resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Louisville . She is the director / producer of “ A Destruction ,” creator of “ The Training Office ” podcast , and a trustee-elect on the American Psychiatric Association ( APA ) Board . Dr . Yazdani will start fellowship training in pediatric psychiatry at the University of Chicago this summer .