Help Wanted

Leaders should not send the message that seeking support is weak

On Tuesday, I listened to an episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast “Armchair Expert.” His guest was chef David Chang, who founded the Momofuku restaurants. In his memoir, “Eat a Peach,” due out this fall, Chang opens up about his mental-health struggles and the obstacles he faced to getting help. He also did so in the interview I heard.

Chang told Shepard that as an adolescent he knew something was “not right” because of the thoughts going through his head. “I was just sad and had no explanation for it,” he said. But telling his parents that he needed to see a therapist was out of the question. “That doesn’t exist in an Asian-American household,” Chang said. “You just don’t do it. The remedy is stop crying, suck it up, toughen up.” Unable to seek treatment and medication from a psychiatrist, he began self-medicating with alcohol and marijuana.

At age 26, Chang finally sought professional help, turning not to family or friends, but to a doctor whose name he saw listed in New York Magazine’s “Best Of” issue. The first therapist he called wasn’t a good fit, but he found another one online who was. Chang has been seeing him ever since.

Now in his early-40’s, Chang is culinary rock star. In March, The New York Times called him a “food-world icon.” He’s opened more than a dozen restaurants around the world and hosts a Netflix documentary series as well as a hit podcast of his own. Chang credits therapy and medication…