Americans face several barriers to accessing mental health care, whether it be cost, time or availability of providers. However, people of color face even more deterrents, further isolated by stigmas in their communities and the lack of cultural competency among providers — and Asian Americans are no exception.
Compared to those of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, Asian Americans are least likely to receive mental health treatment. In fact, only 21% of Asian adults with a mental illness received care in 2020, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. While concerning, this data point isn’t surprising given the cultural divides between western and eastern societies, says Adora Du, founder of FAUNA Mental Health, a non-profit dedicated to providing written resources on mental health support for Asian and BIPOC communities.
Du is Chinese-American, and has sought mental health help in the past. With a background in mental health research and clinical work, she knows firsthand how the system fails Americans like her.
While Asian and Asian Americans may feel pressure to conform to certain behaviors and customs, that contrasts with the U.S. and other western countries in their approach to mental health. People are more expected to behave according to personal preferences — the individual comes first, not their community. Du points out that both individualism and collectivism can be problematic, with either extreme isolating the individual.
Providers do not often understand this key difference and look at mental health care from a solely western lens. A therapist may ask an Asian-American patient to draw boundaries with their parents or focus more on taking care of themselves rather than the people around them. Du notes that while this may be effective advice for some, it may feel out of touch, if not impossible for others.
Read more at BenefitNews.com.
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