Cultural Scripts: How Asian Identity Can Shape Mental Health
Mental health is an ever-evolving topic of discussion in Asian culture. While there have been a lot of gains in understanding around mental health and wellbeing in recent years, a lot of stigma undoubtedly continues to persist to this day in our communities. As a second-generation Asian American and a mental health counselor, I have witnessed in my personal and professional life how culture and identity shows up in one’s mental health journey. Below I have highlighted some common themes on how Asian American identity may tie into a person’s mental health challenges.
Identity Confusion
Many Asian Americans may struggle to navigate their different cultural identities. While at times being Asian and American may not be at odds with each other, other times it can feel like we don’t fit into either world. We might feel too “whitewashed” to mesh well into Asian culture, but at the same time we are not “Americanized” enough to blend into American culture. To complicate things further, the degree to how Asian or American we feel varies by context and situation. I personally have been in situations where I felt pressure from others to justify my values and identity in this context (for example, “You were able to speak up at the meeting last week, so why are you having trouble telling your supervisor this week that you disagree with them?”). When we start to internalize this lack of belonging, we may blame ourselves and start to see it as something inherently “wrong” with us. This can take a toll and feed into other mental health challenges.
Stigma & Cultural Norms
As I alluded to earlier, there is still a lot of stigma that exists around mental illness in Asian culture. For many, asking for help or having a mental illness is equated with being “weak”, being spoiled or undisciplined, or lacking resilience. Additionally, in many communities, mental health may not be seen as a “real thing”, or it is frowned upon to even discuss it. In Asian culture sticking out or being different is often seen as an undesirable trait. For example, idioms like “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down” or “A tall tree attracts wind” highlight how sameness is deeply ingrained in the culture, and this mentality often carries over when talking about mental illnesses. If your environment and culture of origin doesn’t support discussion around mental health challenges, it is no wonder that many Asian Americans struggle to overcome the stigma and seek out help or support.
Lack of Family Support or Understanding
Many Asian families prioritize academic and professional performance over emotional wellbeing, and will normalize the use of strict parenting tactics and punishment to enforce school performance. For many, these authoritarian parenting styles may become the seeds for deeply rooted trauma and traumatic invalidation later in life. Additionally, the constant pressure to perform well academically and constantly achieve high benchmarks, mixed in with expectations from the Model Minority Myth, can really take a toll on someone’s stress level, self-esteem, and overall well-being. Because many of these expectations and practices are so normalized in the Asian community and culture, it can take a long time for someone to recognize an experience was traumatic for them.
Many Asian Americans also report that feelings and emotions were never a topic of discussion in their family of origin, let alone mental health. After all, noticing, labeling, and communicating emotions is a learned skill. Many of us can feel like it is a struggle to connect with our feelings because this was not a skill we practiced in childhood. When it comes to mental health as a whole, many Asian parents may have had a language and cultural barrier, and struggled to understand what mental wellbeing looked like or how to provide support for it. Many Asian Americans may also resonate with feeling a lack of empathy from their family, or even judgment from family members around the validity of their struggles in comparison to the generational trauma of others in their lives.
The themes I have described above are common, relatable experiences that many Asian Americans can resonate with. At the same time however, I do not want to overlook some of the strengths that Asian American identity can bring into the picture of mental health. For many of us, there is pride and resilience in being part of the Asian American community and being able to share in a rich, multidimensional culture. It can also be helpful for many to find commonality with other Asian Americans. Sharing these common experiences can normalize the Asian American experience and help us define our own sense of identity and community.
In my own private practice, I work with Asian and Asian American clients to navigate mental health challenges in the context of their cultural background and experiences. Many Asian Americans - myself included! - find it hard to find a therapist that “gets it”, especially if the therapist is not Asian and does not understand the nuances that come with the Asian identity. I hope that my fellow Asian Americans reading this post can find validation and solidarity in some of the patterns I described. I also hope that non-Asian mental health providers reading this post can gain a more nuanced understanding of the various barriers and challenges Asian Americans may face in the process of accessing and engaging with mental health care.
About the Author
Adora (she/her) is a licensed clinical mental health counselor associate and owner of Spring Day Therapy PLLC. In the past she has worked in various mental health settings with different age groups, populations, and levels of care. In the therapy room, Adora operates from a DBT-informed and culturally-responsive lens to support clients in working through challenges and create real-life changes. Her work is further enhanced by her passion and training in supporting Autistic individuals and providing culturally responsive care for Asian populations.
Outside the therapy room, Adora has experience working in mental health research, and is also the founder and president of FAUNA Mental Health Foundation, an Asian mental health advocacy nonprofit. She currently leads an international team of volunteers and interns to provide accessible mental health resources through their website and workshops with community partners.
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