Mental Health and the Asian American Pacific Islander Community

by Samantha Gutierrez Agtarap, BSW

     As National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month is in July, it is important for social workers to keep engaging in diversity practice as the demographics of our country keep changing. As someone who identifies as a member of the Asian American Pacific Islander community, it is one of my goals to see a change in perception of mental health in my community.

     Currently, there are 19 million people in the United States who identify as Asian American Pacific Islander. In addition, according to Ryan Tanap (2019), the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) said 14% of Asian American Pacific Islanders live with a mental illness. However, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are three times less likely than White individuals to go out and receive help for their mental illness (Nishi, n.d.).

     For many people within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, there is a stigma surrounding mental health diagnosis, as individuals do not want to bring shame or burden upon their families. In other words, Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals internalize the negative views that the Asian American and Pacific Islander community have about mental illness, and this prevents them from seeking help.

     Also, current mental health diagnostic models and services are centered/guided around a Euro-centric point of view. Therefore, not many culturally competent mental health services and treatments are available to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. To properly address the needs of minorities, it is important to educate ourselves about their different cultures.

     I hope to address the problems Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders face when coping with mental health issues, such as the lack of symptom expression among AAPI populations, and linguistically/culturally appropriate interventions. By teaching our communities to use a comprehensive, public health approach when addressing mental and behavioral health, we will enable community members to seek education, services, and positive change.

References

Nishi, K. (n.d.). Mental health among Asian-Americans. https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/asian-american/article-mental-health

Tanap, R. (2019). Why Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders don't go to therapy. https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/July-2019/Why-Asian-Americans-and-Pacific-Islanders-Don-t-go-to-Therapy

Samantha Gutierrez Agtarap, BSW, is a 2020 graduate of Stockton University.