NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 2 – Mental health experts from across the country, representing a diverse array of Asian cultures, gathered at the Academy for a two-day conference this week to address stigma in Asian American mental health. Co-sponsored by The New York Academy of Medicine and the New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health, the meeting was a platform for discussing and exchanging methods and ideas for creating effective mental health practice models for Asian populations.
For Southeast Asians, religious practices and traditions based on Chinese teachings such as Taoism, Buddhism, and Animism shape the stigma associated with mental illness, explained Nang Du, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco. Seeking out mental health services or even admitting to a problem is a mark of shame or extreme embarrassment in this population, not only to the patient but to his or her entire family. Asian cultures in general tend to believe that mental illness violates a code of conduct. Families exert great efforts to confine mentally ill relatives to the home, attempting to keep their condition a secret. Because the patient is thought to have a lost soul, possessing evil within, Southeast Asians practice specific Shamanistic ceremonies similar to exorcisms in which the Shaman asks for forgiveness for the patient’s evil spirit and calls his soul back. Buddhist prayer is also utilized to resolve bad karma.
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| Hochang Benjamin Lee, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Studies at Johns Hopkins University, addresses the issue of stigma in Korean American mental health. |
Hochang Benjamin Lee, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Studies at Johns Hopkins University, stated that 75 percent of Korean Americans are Christian and the majority attend church weekly, so religion plays a key role in tackling the mental illness stigma. Korean Americans are an under-served community, as evidenced by their low psychiatric admissions rates and low utilization of outpatient services. Some major obstacles that Korean Americans face in seeking help for their mental illness are language barriers and confusion as to what mental health services are available. They also face the stigma of seeking treatment for mental illness, fearful of what friends and family may think.
Lee discussed the important role that ethnic psychiatrists can play. Such psychiatrists have special knowledge of a patient’s culture and ethnicity, striving for a culturally specific solution. Current barriers to expanding in mental health services for Korean Americans include a lack of mental health education in the Korean community, and inadequate recruitment and education of Korean American psychiatrists. Future plans for overcoming the stigma in the Korean community should include establishing collaboration among other National Korean American service organizations that can help educate about mental illness.
Overall, the meeting served as a platform for health professionals and experts presenting knowledge and innovative strategies for improving the quality of life for Asian Americans battling with the mental health stigma that exists today.
-by Christine Visich
Posted on 10/02/2004
Contact:
Malini Doddamani
Director of Communications
mdoddamani@nyam.org
212.822.7285
