• Conceptualizing people with mental illness as dangerous

  • Stress and mental illness symptoms being regarded as character problems that need to be individually addressed. 

  • Stigmatizing views discourage Asian Americans from seeking help for fear of being seen as “crazy.”

• Unwillingness to burden others

  • Cultural values of preserving family reputation and “saving face” result in shame and contribute to the lack of help-seeking.

• Cost and language incongruence

• Unemployment

  • Immigrants are more likely to be unemployed than the native population, and Asian-born immigrants are more likely to be unemployed than European-born immigrants. 

  • Employment grants people access to insurance and connections to healthcare, so Asian immigrants often lack these resources. 

• Somatization - Expressing stress as physical symptoms

  • Asian Americans are more likely to “somaticize” stress than other ethnic groups - ie. indigestion, poor appetite, heart palpitations. 

  • This results in underdiagnosis of mental illness, leading to lack of referrals and treatment (Yang et al., 2019).

• Lack of support/hesitation to reach out to family and friends, which is often an important step in the pathway to treatment

• Interventions to improve mental health treatment rates among Asians could target culturally informed views of mental health to improve perceived need among Asians. Increasing recognition of emotional disturbances as medically treatable may be especially important in this population (12). 

• Partnering with Asian-American communities to develop culturally relevant and competent interventions that integrate the Western philosophy of mental health care with existing Asian cultural views may help Asian Americans recognize when treatment is needed.

Yang, K. G., Rodgers, C.R.R., Lee, E., & Cook, B.L. (2019). Disparities in Mental Health Care Utilization and Perceived Need Among Asian Americans: 2012-2016. Psychiatric Services, 71(1), 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201900126.