Mental health is a tough subject to tackle. It’s messy, it’s unclear, and it’s difficult to pin down. It has stigma attached to it and people do not want to touch it. This is especially true for Asian Americans. According to the NLAAS (National Latino and Asian American Study) on mental health and many subsequent studies that were based off of its findings, Asian Americans exhibit help seeking behavior at a lower rate than the general population. Even though they have the same or greater amount of need.
This is due to a number of things. Namely: lack of time, money, knowledge, and the influence of Confucian and Buddhist values in many Asian cultures. The lack of time and money is a common complaint that is familiar to many. The knowledge There is an emphasis on philosophies that encourage people to save face, value social harmony, and to “roll with the punches”. While these values are not inherently bad (in fact they can be the exact opposite), they can negatively impact an individual’s likeliness of help seeking.
My project is a short podcast that hopes to help combat this. By interviewing other Asian Americans and shining light on their relationships with mental health, I hope to validate the experiences of my audience and then to give them resources on the subject. The podcast will be published online for free on social media to increase its chances of circulation and to keep the resources free, relatively easy to access, and discrete.