“Hi, it’s Konny Chan,” says the calm, confident voice on the other end.

“Hi! How’s Natasha doing?” Suhani says, relieved her sister has one of the strongest residents on her case.

“Fine. It’s still early so I’m hoping we see progress every day. She sleeps a lot,” Konny says. “I know the Prozac will take time to kick in, but if I can encourage her to go to some therapy groups and at least stay out of bed more, she’ll start to feel better. She’s already really close to her roommate, which is good. And we’ve had a few good one-on-one talks. I think long-term individual therapy will be very helpful for her.”

“That sounds great,” Suhani says. “I’ll stop by this afternoon to check on her.”

“There’s also one more thing you should be aware of,” Konny says. “We recommended family therapy. And Natasha didn’t seem too keen on it but we really believe it could be helpful.”

“For our family?” Suhani asks, even though there’s obviously no other family Konny would be referring to. The thought of all of them, especially Mom, sitting in a room and being guided by a therapist, is unimaginable. Even though her husband and daughter are psychiatrists, Mom thinks Americans focus “too much” on therapy and “telling strangers their business.” She’d make that poor therapist wish they went into another career.

“I hear what you’re saying,” Suhani says. “But do you think that would be productive? Or even good for her?”

“I do. Natasha has brought up a lot pertaining to your family’s dynamics. And it seems as though many of the ideas she has about herself are shaped by her role in your family. We really do feel even a few sessions would be useful for her,” Konny says, then adds, “for everyone.”

Suhani thinks back to how often she and Natasha were compared to each other throughout their lives. Relatives, aunties, and friends would say things like, Look at how talkative your sister is! Then they’d turn to Natasha and remark, You should dress more like your sister! Suhani assumed both of them got used to this nonstop commentary. But now she wonders how much damage things like this caused over the years.

Is it possible that all of them played a part in making Natasha feel inadequate? Unaccepted? How would her parents even process those possibilities? Suhani can’t imagine them taking it well. She tries to picture Mom smiling and saying, Oh! Natasha’s depression partially stems from my parenting? Thank you so much for that insight! I’m enlightened!