In many Asian Americans communities, such reluctance to seek mental health care is common. A 2007 study by Jennifer Abe-Kim, a psychology professor at Loyola Marymount University, found that less than 9 percent of Asian-Americans sought any type of mental health services compared to nearly 18 percent of the general population nationwide. A survey released in October by the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) found that 77 percent of Asian Americans with mood disorders reported struggling to talk about their condition compared to 69 percent of white people.
Yet access to mental health care has never been more important. According to The Household Pulse Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2020 and 2021, about 30 to 40 percent of adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression during the pandemic, up from 10 percent in 2019. For Asian Americans, the rise in anti-Asian hate has taken an added toll on mental wellbeing, increasing their need for mental health support.
Stigma is one of the main barriers preventing Asian Americans from seeking mental health services, experts said. Julian Chow, professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, said that some Asian cultures believe that mental health problems are the result of wrongdoings in a past life. This leads people to accept mental illness as a hardship they must endure, rather than seek help.
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