[NYAPRS Enews] Experts: Asians' Mental Illness A Growing Problem

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Experts: Asians' Mental Illness A Growing Problem

Suicide Rates High For Women Older Than 65 And Those 15 To 24

By Renee C. Lee  Houston Chronicle January 3, 2011

 

When Asian American Family Services opened 12 years ago, the Houston
area had no social service agencies offering mental health services
targeted to Asians and just a few bilingual mental health professionals.

The situation hasn't changed much since then, but mental illness in the
growing Asian community has - it's more severe than ever before, say
local mental health experts.

Asian-American women, for example, have the highest rate of suicide
among women 65 and older and the second-highest rate for women between
15 and 24, according to a 2003 national study by the Ford Foundation.
And Chinese immigrants have a depression prevalence rate of 34 percent,
compared with 9 percent in the general population, based on a 2006 study
by Asian American Family Services. Yet, Asians are less likely than the
general population to seek treatment for mental illness, studies show.

Cultural and language barriers are major factors that keep Asians from
getting help. Add the lack of available and accessible mental health
resources and the result is a woefully underserved community, mental
experts said.

"We have been grappling with the issues since day one," said Kim Szeto,
a founder and director of Asian American Family Services, which began
providing services in 1998.

'Model minority myth'

Experts say mental health issues in the Asian community often evolve
around family and social status. A high priority is placed on income
level, profession and family respect because they contribute to a sense
of success. However, the pressure to live up to those cultural
expectations or the "model minority myth" sometimes leads to emotional
problems and conflict within the family, they said.

But for many Asians, talking about emotional problems is socially and
culturally unacceptable. They believe the stigma will shame their family
and make them appear weak. Additionally, mental illness is a Western
concept that some Asians do not fully understand. Some Asian cultures
don't even have a term for mental illness in their language.

When Asians have mental health issues, they're likely to go to a medical
doctor or rely on alternative medicine to treat physical symptoms, such
as insomnia or stomach aches, which are usually indicative of
depression, anxiety or other mental disorders, experts said.

"There is a misconception about mental illness in the community," said
Dr. Venus Tsui, assistant director of Asian American Family Services.
"Some Asian cultures associate mental illness with something bad a
person did in a past life, like Karma. Public education is very
important."

But even with awareness, Asians have few places to go for help. The
Houston area has only a handful of Asian mental health clinicians and
even fewer who speak the different languages of a diverse Asian
community, which mirrors what's happening nationwide, local experts
said. Asian American Family Services is still the only social service
agency in Houston with mental health services and Asian and bilingual
staff, Szeto said.

Located in the heart of Houston's Asian community on Bellaire, the
agency tends to see an increase in clients when it has a high number of
bilingual clinicians, representing different cultures on staff, she
said. They come because they feel comfortable talking to someone who
knows their culture and speaks their language. But they don't come on
their own. They're usually referred by schools, hospitals and medical
doctors, she said.

"We're the last resort," Szeto said. "When they come to us, they're in a
crisis situation."

The counseling center, which offers treatment based on sliding scale
fees, sees many cases of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress
triggered by cultural adjustment,cultural isolation and refugee
experiences. Recently, it has seen an increase in mental problems
related to domestic violence, particularly against Asian men.

Torn between cultures

Last year, the agency formed a therapy group for Asians between 18 and
24 dealing with cultural adjustment issues. Many of the young adults
feel torn between their parents' culture and the American culture. Dr.
Phuong Nguyen, the agency's director of clinical services who leads the
group, said they don't feel they belong in either culture and it affects
their mental health.

According to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health,
Asians born in the U.S. or who come at an early age have higher rates of
mental illness because they're more exposed to peer pressures and
different institutions.

A 23-year-old patient of Dr. Nguyen's, whose name is being withheld to
protect her identity, said she often complained about having insomnia
and a friend recommended she see a doctor. She was diagnosed with
bipolar disorder last year after she graduated from college. Around that
time, she had no job prospects and no plans to continue her education,
and the cultural expectation to be a high achiever, she believes,
contributed to her problems.

A few months later, however, she had a bizarre episode that landed her
in the hospital because her parents didn't know where else to go for
help. That's when she learned she also had schizophrenia.

She said her parents were not familiar with mental illness and had no
clue about what was wrong with her. Though supportive, they've had some
difficulty accepting her illness and are uncomfortable with the idea of
her taking medication, she said.

She said she is thankful to have an Asian therapist and psychiatrist.
"They could understand what I was going through and I could identify
with them," she said.

With continued therapy and medication, she said she feels better and is
preparing to go back to school.

renee.lee at chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7363149.html 

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