As the global state of emergency surrounding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic ended last year, the directors of Aging Self-Help, an agency serving San Francisco’s Asian American community, have been working to increase the expected to emerge from quarantine and return to the social activities they once embraced: community lunches. , a tai chi session, a walk in the park.
Instead, it turns out, many people are continuing to stay home, alarmed by continued reports of anti-Asian violence.
“They have such a strong fear of being attacked that they don’t dare to go outside,” said Ani Chan, the agency’s president and CEO. . “That leads to a lack of physical activity, which ultimately leads to signs of depression.”
Nationally, pandemic-related isolation, anti-Asian rhetoric and abuse, and the mass shootings of Asian victims in Atlanta and California have contributed to the mental health challenges faced by Asian Americans in recent years. is exacerbating the challenges of Meanwhile, research shows that Asian Americans are the least likely to seek mental health services. This is partly because of the cultural bias that exists regarding seeking such help.
“Having these conversations and seeking mental health care remains stigmatized across the Asian American community,” said Nicole Dowd, director of public programs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington. Stated.
That’s one reason the museum has chosen mental health and well-being as the theme for this weekend’s second annual Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Festival.
“Focusing on this highlights the importance of dialogue across AANPI’s communities and generations,” Dowd said. “Our goal is to create a gathering space for dialogue, learning, and mindfulness.”
The fact that May is also Mental Health Awareness Month makes it relevant, she said.
The festival will feature a music listening space, a series of sound bath meditation sessions, and conversations with mental health writers and practitioners, providing tools that festival attendees can use to address mental health in their own lives. She said she will provide.
The difficulties faced by some communities suggest that post-pandemic challenges remain. According to the CDC, racial and ethnic groups with the highest increase in suicides from 2021 to 2022 include Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
In San Francisco, as the pandemic waned last year and government agencies began reopening community centers, many seniors still proved reluctant to gather. Instead, the center offered grab-and-go meals, and hundreds of seniors lined up outside to take their meals home and eat them alone.
Now, with all centers reopened and takeaway options eliminated, attendance at the same centers is barely hovering around 80 people.
“The fear is still there,” Chong said. “COVID-19 and anti-Asian attacks have affected their behavior. They have no one to talk to and interact with, and without that connection, they are physically and mentally weakened. It will be put away.”
Why some Asian Americans avoid getting mental health care
Community members and advocates say Asian Americans may be reluctant to seek mental health care for a variety of reasons, especially those whose ancestry is Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino or Vietnamese. It said that given the wide range of experiences and cultural traditions that people have, depending on their Hmong or Hmong heritage, they may be reluctant to receive mental health care. South Asian.
“There is no monolithic experience in the Asian American community,” Dowd said. “Everyone has their own history and reasons.”
Dowd said some people are reluctant to discuss mental health issues out of empathy for what older people go through.
“A lot of it stems from the general immigrant experience of hesitation to talk about the past and wanting to move on,” she says.
Grace Kim, dean of Boston University’s School of Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development, says many people think of physical health and mental health in tandem, and it’s possible to separate mental health. They said they instead viewed the problem in terms of fatigue and low energy rather than depression or anxiety. .
Chong said that for her agency’s senior Chinese clients, the translation of the term “mental illness” has negative connotations.
“When translated into Chinese, it means ‘crazy,'” she says. “No one wants to be labeled like that, and no one wants their family to be labeled that way, so they try to hide it because it’s so taboo.”
Additionally, many people refuse to take what is considered a mind-altering drug.
“They’re hearing about the effects of taking the drug and turning them into a different person,” Chong said. “That’s why people stop taking their medications. It’s difficult when the provider doesn’t speak their language or understand their culture.”
Psychology workforce suffers from lack of diversity
A lack of culturally competent mental health providers plagues most communities of color.
“Even in Chinatown, where there are 200,000 Chinese people, I don’t think you can easily find a bilingual psychiatrist practicing in the community,” Chong said.
According to a 2020 American Psychological Association report, 84% of psychology employees are white and only 4% are Asian.
This means Asian American clients face the challenge of finding mental health professionals who understand their lived experiences and are able to support them well. Many of the few therapists who meet these qualifications already have increased workloads due to the pandemic, and waiting lists are not uncommon.
“We know there are fewer language providers who can meet the needs of all minority communities, including Asian Americans,” said Ann So, a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago.
Earlier this year, the National Museum of Asian Art convened a group of artists, community leaders, and health care providers to discuss mental health issues facing the country’s Asian American community.
“What we have learned is that challenges stem from a variety of experiences, including intergenerational trauma, identity issues, discrimination, pandemic-related violence, and the general stresses we face as humans.” said Dowd. “But there is also a lack of available tools.”
So said if there’s a silver lining to this crisis, it’s that some people in the community are becoming more willing to talk openly about mental health.
“That stigma is still there, but people have become more willing to engage in conversations like this because they’ve seen firsthand the impact that all these stressors have on families and children,” she said. Ta.
Kim agreed.
“Many Asian Americans, especially young people, are talking about mental health and seeking support, especially through Asian American therapists and other therapists of color,” she said. “It’s great to know what they need and be able to ask for it.”
Find ways to overcome mental health stigma
In San Francisco, seniors are afraid to go to mental health clinics, so Chong’s agency has found a way to get them there. For example, Chong knows that a city’s mental health provider visits the agency’s community center, picks out symptoms of depression from casual conversations, and makes suggestions to help solve the problem, such as increasing social interaction. Ta.
“If you ask patients to go to a mental health clinic, there’s no way they’ll go,” Chong said. “So it was a cultural way of dealing with difficult and taboo subjects, and it was more like a normal conversation than a therapy session.”
The agency relies on six other retired clinicians who occasionally drop in to engage with seniors in a similar way, Chong said.
Meanwhile, Chong said some social workers now avoid raising alarms when talking to older people when asking about obvious signs such as lack of sleep, decreased appetite, or missing family and friends. He said he uses terms such as “psychological” or “mental health” to
“Seniors never say they’re depressed or anxious,” she says. “They don’t want to be stigmatized.”
So said another way to approach some people’s reluctance may be to highlight the importance of family in Asian American culture, and the impact mental health care brings to such relationships. emphasized the benefits. She also pointed to a program that indirectly addresses mental health through social activities that bring people together around her hobby, Tai Chi.
“These are more engaging ways to get people out of the house and connect them with people who can support them,” she said. “These are probably programs that will be a model for us going forward.”
