By Sam Louie, Photo: Thirteen .J/Unsplash, Psychology Today, April 26, 2023
With Asian American Pacific Islander month upon us this May, I wanted to focus on my specialty in working with Asian Americans. What exactly is Asian American mental health and how is it different from others?
Asian Americans struggle with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and addiction, just like anyone else. In addition, due to immigration, cultural, and generational patterns, a therapist needs to be even more aware of the extra layers that can possibly impact the underlying issues that bring clients into therapy in the first place.
“Cultural issues” is a broad term, but these issues often surface in how couples communicate with each other. Due to the Asian collectivist value of harmony and group cohesion, couples with Asian backgrounds (or just one spouse with an Asian background) may not have learned how to directly express their thoughts and feelings if it could lead to tension or discomfort. Asian traditional culture typically discourages expression of anything deemed negative and it’s up to the other party to infer displeasure via non-verbal communication and nuanced means of transmitting negativity (body language, tone of voice).
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