24 Reiko True

General Biography

Dr. Reiko Homma True is a mental health professional and advocate for culturally sensitive mental health care. She was born in Niigata, Japan in 1933 and is currently still alive at the age of 89 years old. She was raised in a strict Asian household under the idea of
Confucianism which essentially states that women should obey their fathers, husbands, and sons (APA, 2006). However, she chose to abandon that belief and chose a more individualist way of life over the life of obedience. She graduated from the English and International Business Program at Tokyo University. She was one of only a couple female students from that university. She struggled to find work and was rejected due solely to the fact she is a female or was offered positions extremely below her qualifications (APA, 2006).

In 1958 she got married and had a son and then moved to San Francisco, CA where she got a job at a California state agency. Once she was in this occupation, she then went to graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley and got her master’s degree in social work in 1964 (APA, 2012). When she completed her master’s degree she established a support group for Japanese women, particularly Japanese “war brides” (women married to American soldiers), who were experiencing abuse and abandonment called Himawari-kai – japanese for sunflower (APA, 2012). After experiencing providing mental health support she decided she wanted to continue her education and returned to school in 1972 and earned her doctorate in 1976 from the California School of Professional Psychology.

After receiving her Ph.D she started working at the National Institute of Mental Health where she created community health programs in Arizona and Nevada for minority groups that fought against the stigma about mental health issues in these minority communities (APA 2006).

Following her time at NIMH, in 1981 she then served as Deputy Director for the SF Community Health Services where she worked with mental health initiatives to aid children who were abused and a rape crisis center. She was also a big contributor to aiding disaster victims like the ones from the San Francisco earthquake as well as the Kobe, Japan earthquake in 1995 and the earthquake/tsunami in 2011 in Tohoku (Brandman, 2022). Following her time in the SF public health department she served as president of the Asian American Psychological Association from 1997-1999 where she implemented efforts to support Asian-American women
in psychology (Brandman, 2022).

Fast forward to 2012, True took leadership of the Clinical Psychology Master’s Program in Tokyo. Today True continues to work on bettering the Asian-American community, especially with careers in psychology and providing mental health services.

Important Achievements

Reiko True contributed a significant amount to mental health treatment all over the world, specifically culturally appropriate treatment. True won a multitude of awards/honors of her work in psychology. She received the Okura Community Leadership Award in 2002 and in 2003 won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asian American Psychological Association (Brandman, 2022). Additionally, she was awarded the APA’s Committee on Women in Psychology Leadership Award in 1999 and recognized as an outstanding alumna by the Japanese American Women Alumnae of UC Berkeley in 2001 (Brandman, 2022). To continue, in 1984 True was the vice chair of the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Women in Psychology. Six years later True received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Contributions Award for her contributions to Asian American/Pacific Islander psychological issues in the areas of scholarship, practice, and leadership. She was then president of the AAPA from 1997-199. On top of that she also served as an officer for Section 6 of Division 12 as a Mentor Awards Chair (Brandman, 2022).

Historical Context

Japan in 1933, the year of True’s birth, was in major turmoil. This year and some years both proceeding and succeeding were all marked by misfortune for Japan. With their shortage of natural resources combined with their involvement in events such as the Shanghai incident (combined with their leaders’ ruthless ambition), Japan began to slowly slip into favoring and admiring what the Axis had to offer; this ultimately became the path towards their eventual alliance in WWII (Braistead, 2009). As a result of Japan gearing up for war, True’s family had to move from her hometown of Niigata to Shanghai where her father would serve as a civilian in the Japanese Army (True, 2017). A few days after her twelfth birthday, Nagasaki and Hiroshima were bombed (True, 2017). The cultural ambiance she experienced was not just influenced by the war’s events and ideologies; it was a mixture of both war-time worry and deeply ingrained conservative values Japan had long kept and revered. True’s life was dictated by the three Confucian obediences: girls obey their fathers, wives obey their husbands, and old women obey their sons. These obediences mixed with the turbulence of her home life, which mimicked the war plaguing the innocent Japanese commonfolk as her father often beat her mother (and eventually killed her), made her vow to a pacifist way of life and to seek something other than the ordinary life as a homemaker (True, 2017).

Japan had reformed its constitution in 1947 as a result of losing WWII. The new changes in the constitution that mandated equality of the sexes had effectively opened higher education up to women despite the continuing cultural guidance towards marrying and supporting men’s endeavors (True, 2017). True attended a prestigious language university and graduated in excellent standing but again found herself under the thumb of the patriarchy. Although the constitution had changed and allowed for certain advancements for women and other disenfranchised groups in Japan, many people still subscribed to Confusianist beliefs and mantras. Women simply were not equal, no matter the amount of legislation. True managed to find a semi-suitable job despite all of this, but resigned soon after as she was forced to perform tea services (a traditional woman’s role) that constantly stood in the way of her actual duties
(True, 2017). True had finally had enough of the inequality and sought something different, something that didn’t require her consistent subservience.

True married and moved to San Francisco with her first child, a son, in tow in the spring of 1958 (True, 2017). Despite True moving in pursuit of a more free life, the U.S. was experiencing many inequalities of its own. Second wave feminism was just beginning and was
characterized largely by the very same issues and worries True experienced. Women did not want their lives to solely be determined by their roles as a mother and a homemaker. Women craved meaningful lives in their own right, not to just support the lives and endeavors of others (Newman, 2011). On the whole, however, America was much more accepting of the idea that a woman might not choose to cling to marrying or serving her nuclear family. True was able to find a respectable job and was even encouraged by her supervisors to pursue a master’s degree in order to increase her prospects (True, 2017).

During her time in her master’s program, JFK passed the Community Mental Health Act in 1963 which funded mental health centers and research facilities for the communities who would apply. This act spurred dramatic growth and discovery in the field of psychology for America. These discoveries consisted of historical findings like that of Harry Harlow who, in 1967, conducted the ever infamous wire mother monkey experiment that determined the need for socialization and comfort in baby monkeys, or even the publishing of the DSM-II via the APA which added 76 new diagnostic categories with which to further stratify mental issues and illness. This burst of opportunity led True to try psychology on for size and it became her life’s passion shortly thereafter (True, 2017). She eventually found work in a psychoanalytic clinic with her supervisor being Mary Goulding (who is famous for co-authoring Redecision Therapy) (True, 2017). It is here that she quickly saw that the Asian American population was greatly underserved and began actively advocating for and supporting her community. True had indeed found herself in the midst of a tumultuous but promising time and it is during this time that civil unrest began to brew in San Francisco.

True found herself quickly being immersed in the political stirrings characterized by the late 60s and early 70s: the Counterculture (APA, 2006). This time in American history is often glamorized by modern day pop culture, but its true nature is something entirely different from the funky rose colored glasses we associate it with. It was markedly anti-war, pro-feminism, and pro-civil rights, all sentiments for which True was very passionate. Though civil rights and second wave feminism activists were mainly focused on better serving Black and Brown communities as well as college-educated women respectively, True saw an opportunity to also speak out for and support her fellow Japanese women, specifically the abused and abandoned “war brides” (current or ex-wives of U.S. soldiers of WWII) (True, 2017). She noted that these women were not thriving in the U.S. because of the lack of support they received in the process of cultural adjustment. Many simply did not know that they could safely claim their freedom to make a life for themselves on account of their heavy indoctrination of Confucian obediences and therefore felt lonely, disenfranchised, and generally looked down upon as both meek and whorish (True, 2017). She created a support group for these women and others like them within the Japanese community to share in their hardships, but also to grow stronger together and uplift each other.

Though True went on to achieve many, many more advancements for her community, these events in time are what truly shaped and influenced her and what she stood for. The war, injustice, violence, encouragement, inclusion, and opportunity she experienced during her beginnings all melded together to create an unshakable advocate and trailblazer for both her local community and her countrymen and women abroad.

Historical Impact

Reiko True’s impact on her local Asian American community is unmistakable. Her creation of the Himawari (sunflower) support group for Japanese women marked the beginning of her footprint in her local community and only began to branch outwards from there. As she began to gain notoriety for her continued advocacy, she began to have more and more funding to help her wider Asian community, specifically those living in San Francisco’s Japantown as well as Chinatown (Loo & True, 1989). She learned that the Asian American’s psychological plight as not that they disdained the idea of asking for help, but that they simply did not know there were services to help them in the first place. She spearheaded the effort to raise awareness in her community and provide as many opportunities as she could for those who wanted or desperately needed help (True, 2017).

The strength of True’s impact lies in the strength of her advocacy for the mental wellbeing of Asian American women both in her local community and abroad in her humanitarian efforts. She introduced to the psychological community that Asian women (particularly Japanese women) are to be treated with a level of cultural sensitivity based upon the values and doctrines instilled in them over many, many generations. True knows firsthand what it means to be a Japanese American woman and what that means for her in a broader context. Because of this, she was able to use her experience as well as her expertise in the field to show others in her field that her methodologies were effective in treating and leveling with women of her cultural background. She championed feminist ideologies and contextualized them in Asian myth and folklore to better understand what it is that oppresses Asian women and how they can redefine themselves not as a “fragile cherry blossom” but as a strong, empowered woman who can thrive and grow in her own right whether it be in her homeland or abroad (True, 2017). This is the ideology that catalyzed her Himawari group and paints the impact she had and continues to have on the psychological community.

Reiko True’s impact affected not only her greater Asian American community, but also the field of psychology as a whole. Her efforts in advocating for the Asian American population helped lead to the creation of the first ever mental health center devoted to any minority population (APA, 2006). This program was a major milestone for Asian Americans, and for psychiatrists around the country who took an interest in underserved populations in other parts of the U.S. Her creating her mental health center helped pave the way for other minorities to receive their own as it illustrated the merit and necessity of having a specialized unit and personnel for a minority population in need of culturally nuanced help. It is researched that the Asian community, especially foreign-born Asians living in America, underutilize the mental health services offered in their community (Le Meyer et al., 2009). This can be due to many reasons, ranging from these services not being accessible to many Asian immigrants, to the stigma of having to seek help for any mental health issues that may occur. Research by Le Meyer et al. shows that native born Asian-Americans are twice as likely to seek out mental health services rather than foreign-born Asian-Americans. It is usually difficult for many Asians to pursue mental health services, but Reiko True has helped make that a bit easier. She has written countless articles advocating for mental health awareness for both
Asian American men and women. Her push to make sure that everyone is able to access and receive mental health treatment has had a significantly positive impact on all communities she is involved in.

Because of Reiko True’s endless advocating for more mental health sensitivity for Asian Americans, the field of psychology has grown and changed significantly. Not only have more Asian Americans started seeking out mental health services in their communities, but we are also seeing an increase in Asian Americans, as well as other minorities, entering the field of psychology. With more Asian Americans entering this specific workforce, we will be able to see significant progression towards a mental health community that can further benefit both native and foreign Asian Americans across the nation.

References

American Psychological Association. (2006). Reiko Homma True. Monitor on Psychology, 37(2). https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb06/true

American Psychological Association. (2012). Reiko True, PhD. https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicityhealth/psychologists/true

Braisted. (2009). The Shanghai Incident. In Diplomats in Blue. University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813032887.003.0019

Dr. Reiko Homma True. (n.d.). National Women’s History Museum.
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/dr-reiko-homma-true

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Featured psychologist: Reiko True, Phd.

Le Meyer, O., Zane, N., Cho, Y. I., & Takeuchi, D. T. (2009, October). Use of specialty mental health services by Asian Americans with psychiatric disorders. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3938184/

Loo, Tong, B., & True, R. (1989). A bitter bean: Mental health status and attitudes in chinatown. Journal of Community Psychology, 17(4), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6629(198910)17:4<283::AID-JCOP2290170402>3.0.CO;2-C

Newman. (2011). Talking About a Revolution: New Approaches to Writing the History of Second-Wave Feminism. Journal of Women’s History, 23(2), 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2011.0014

Reiko Homma-True (2017) Feminist Psychology and Psychotherapy: A Personal Journey, Women & Therapy, 40:3-4, 427-441, DOI: 10.1080/02703149.2017.1241584

True, R.H. Psychotherapeutic issues with Asian American women. Sex Roles 22, 477–486 (1990). https://doi-org.unr.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/BF00288165

American Psychological Association. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from
https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/psychologists/true