<p>Lalah-I’m sorry to read your story, but there is help out there. Your parents are Cambodian refugees. I would start by googling support for families of Cambodian refugees in (city, state) and see what comes up. </p>
<p>First of all your parents are ignorant and misinformed about business and “MBA type stuff” being more valuable than EE. Especially NOW with the meltdown in financial services. EE is always in demand, and EE grads command higher starting salaries out of undergrad than undergrad business majors do. Go to your VCU career center and ask them for help in putting some data together for your parents. A woman in any engineering discipline is even more in demand. Quit feeling guilty about EE in any way shape or form and understand that on this YOU are right; your parents are out of touch and either give them data to disprove their theories or ignore them–your call as to which is less stressful for you. </p>
<p>The next point is that your mental health care is none of their business. It really does not matter what they believe about psychologists–all of your care is confidential, and even if you live at home you do not have to tell your parents what you are seeing doctors for. </p>
<p>Finally, and I hate to say it since you are so obviously hurting and the main thing is to save yourself, but if you do have the emotional resources to see your parents as damaged by their own experiences–you may actually, even if you feel lousy now, be in a better placed than they are. Their abusive anger comes from somewhere–not that it is right for them to take it out on you, but if you can see them as scarred from their experiences rather than evil it might help you overcome some of your feelings of being to blame or being a bad daughter.</p>