By Emily Nixon
On March 4, the Brooklyn College AANAPISI Project (BCAP) hosted the Hamilton Madison House (HMH) for a presentation about the underrepresentation and prevalence of mental health struggles in Asian American communities.
Connect Project Director Fanny Kuang emphasizes the fact that Asian Americans is a broad term that encompasses various cultures in Asia. “I also like to bring up just the term ‘Asian American’ itself does not describe everybody,” said Kuang. “We are not a monolith. We actually have, you know, more than 100 languages. If you look at China itself, there’s like over 50 ethnicities, and there’s so many countries.”
One major issue plaguing Asian Americans is the lack of research regarding their demographic, according to Kuang.
“My personal issue about this demographic, and the way it’s described as of right now, is that there is a very big lack of research about the community,” said Kuang. “There actually wasn’t even any data at the Pew Research Society or Company until about 2018.”
The overall size of the Asian American demographic causes lapses in specific data being collected, which nullifies the efficacy of the results researchers find.
“There is also the problem where the demographic is so big that there is a high chance of under-recording,” said Kuang. “So, a lot of the things you’re learning about from these specific resource places, or sources is not really representative of the community as a whole.”
Kuang said that she got the information for her presentation from the Pew Research Center, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the 2020 U.S. Census.
Lack of access keeps most Asian Americans from being acknowledged in studies, according to Kuang.
“In terms of under-recording, […] usually this is due to just lack of access,” said Kuang. “People not knowing this research is being done, they’re not being reached. When you really think about it, most research is done in university settings like [BC].”
Asian Americans are not the only demographic consistently disregarded by studies. The basis for psychological research is often based on an exclusionary model to gather data subjects, according to Kuang.
“That’s also the problem with psychological research. It’s based on ‘WEIRDD’. Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic Demographics,” said Kuang.
The HMH occasionally does surveys of communities in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. One study revealed some disheartening truths about the community.
“The numbers for suicide, it was a leading cause of death for Asian Americans from ages 15 to 20. This is only from 2018 to 2022,” said Kuang. “That number has only risen since then.”
The history of mental health struggles in Asian Americans is not new, despite the lack of research until recently.
“Back in the 70s, […] about 70% of Southeast Asian refugees that did seek treatment,” said Kuang. “This is just the ones that sought treatment, so we don’t know about the ones who are suffering alone, they were diagnosed with PTSD.”
Studies conducted now show that a majority of Asian American young adults experience mental issues affecting their sleep.
“52% [of survey responses] experience anxiety, sleep problems, and depression in the last two weeks,” said Janice Ng, Connect community liaison. “This past [survey] was 25 and above [in the age range of participants who responded affirmatively].”
Often, Chinese Americans describe their mental health symptoms as physical aches and pains rather than giving voice to their mental state, according to Kuang.
“Something interesting to note about the sleep problems there; a lot of Chinese Americans that do come in for treatment when they talk about mental health symptoms or they talk about depression or anxiety, it actually presents as sleep problems,” said Kuang. “Instead of saying, ‘I’m depressed’ or ‘I’m anxious, ’ they’ll say, ‘I have trouble sleeping.’”
Ng said that this biological symptom complaint style is not only present in Chinese Americans but also found in “older generations or even immigrant families.”
When participants in HMH surveys were asked to list complaints about their lives, those who responded said their primary complaints were “public safety, eating disorders, and financial issues,” according to Ng.
Another participant responded to the survey saying, “My friend passed a couple of weeks ago, making four people I’ve lost in four months,” according to Ng.
Another point of lack of access in the Asian American community was discovered when the HMH added a question asking if participants knew where to go to receive mental health treatment, and most responded that they would ask their primary care provider (PCP).
“We also asked, ‘Do you know where to go for mental health treatment?” said Ng. “Most said yes, but they only said yes because ‘I can just ask my PCP … They could not identify where to go for mental health treatment.”
Researchers are not the only ones to blame for underrecording. Participants are scarce in these studies due to the cultural values of their home countries.
“In a lot of Asian American communities, we are collectivistic,” said Kuang. “Which means that we place importance of the community, of the society, over ourselves individually, and that causes a bit of a clash with doing therapy in itself.”
Therapy and talks about mental health do not come naturally to those from collectivistic societies.
“A lot of, I guess, traditional therapy will tell you to separate yourself […] It’s what keeps Asian Americans away from therapy,” said Kuang. “Because there’s this idea that there’s only one way to do therapy, which is to cut everyone off.”
Asian Americans from collectivistic societies often do not have other systems of support outside of their families.
“Sometimes, that’s [cutting contact] not always possible because growing up in these families, a lot of us find family to be a really big support system,” said Kuang. “No matter how toxic they are, no matter how problematic the relationships are, that’s still your biggest support system […] It’s a source of comfort, even though it causes you great amounts of distress.”
Students interested in future BCAP events can find them on Instagram, @bcap.brooklyn.