Yale professor cautions against stigmatizing depression after school stabbing

A Yale University psychiatry professor voiced caution against South Korean media reinforcing social stigma surrounding depression here with their coverage of a recent death of a student at school by a teacher with a history of the mental health condition.

Na Jong-ho, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, shared a post with the title, “Depression is not a crime,” on his Facebook page Tuesday.

Referring to the case of a female teacher in her 40s who allegedly stabbed an 8-year-old girl to death Monday at an elementary school in Daejeon, he wrote, “As a father of a daughter the same age, this is a heartbreaking incident and I can’t even imagine how the victim’s parents feel. I pray for the deceased's soul to rest in peace, and I hope that the bereaved family can receive the help they need. The perpetrator must pay the appropriate price for the crime.”

However, he criticized the media for rushing to report on the suspect’s history of taking a leave of absence due to depression, saying, “In a situation where nothing has been confirmed, it seems inappropriate for the media to immediately highlight (the suspect’s) mental health history.”

Na warned that such reporting would reinforce the existing stigma surrounding depression in South Korea and worsen the country's mental health crisis by discouraging those in need from seeking treatment. He noted that the country’s depression treatment rate remains at just 10 percent, meaning nine out of 10 people do not receive proper care.

Authorities said the teacher had been receiving treatment for depression since 2018. She took a six-month leave of absence to treat the illness on Dec. 9 but returned to school earlier later that month, after receiving a doctor's note confirming she was fit to resume her duties.

During questioning, she reportedly told police she wanted to kill someone because she was "upset" about being excluded from classroom teaching responsibilities.