Mental health in the Asian American community

Despite a cultural adversity to seeking treatment, there are a growing number of Asian Americans who face mental health problems.

A recent lecture from Harvard’s Josephine Kim highlighted this, where she said that Asian college students internalize the belief that their success as a minority group “creates pressure to maintain a successful image and breeds false generalizations about the Asian American community.”

By internalizing that belief, “it makes it hard . . . to seek help, especially from an outside group.”

The numbers stemming from this effect are stark. Asian Americans wait 5.3 years after the onset of symptoms before seeking help, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among Asian Americans, with the suicide rate highest in females ages 15 to 24.

Increasing the accessibility of mental health services, and removing the stigma surrounding mental health are ways that the situation can improve.

topics: asian, depression