These resources discuss the narratives about Asian American and Pacific Islander communities being the “model minority” in American society and how that crosses over into mental health care. The below list highlights book that speak about truths and the stigmas experienced around mental health in the AAPI community, and provide insight on how to move past those stigmas.
Asian American Elders in the Twenty-First Century by
Asian Americans make up a diverse ethnic group in the Unites States and are among the fastest growing population of adults sixty-five years and older. Most Asian Americans are either first-generation immigrants who grew up in the United States or individuals who joined their American families later in life. Yet despite the significant presence of Asian Americans in this country, adequate resources tracking their health over the life span are surprisingly scarce. With this book, Ada C. Mui and Tazuko Shibusawa provide necessary data on the psychosocial well-being of Asian American elders. Focusing on the six largest Asian American groups (Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese), they address issues relating to methodology, physical and mental health, intergenerational relationships, informal support, acculturation, stress, economic well-being, productive aging, and the utilization of services, such as Medicare, food stamps, physician care, home health care, community-based outreach, and emergency rooms and hospitals. By linking research findings to policy, practice, and program recommendations, Mui and Shibusawa create a vital resource that can be used in multiple disciplines, including social work, public health, nursing, geriatric medicine, social policy, and other helping professions. No other text offers such a comprehensive and up-to-date portrait of the unique challenges facing Asian Americans as they age.
Asian Families in Canada and the United States: Implications for Mental Health and Well-Being by
This book presents a comprehensive overview of Asian families residing in Canada and the United States by portraying and analyzing Asian Canadian and Asian American immigrant families in an integrated yet nuanced way. Chapters use an interdisciplinary approach to provide more comprehensive coverage of the vast diversity as well as common trends and shared characteristics of Asian families. Specifically, the volume examines the experiences of families whose ancestry can be traced to East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. Key areas of coverage include: Integrated overview of Asian American and Asian Canadian families, including an exploration of the historical and current immigration policies. Experiences of families of East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and West Asian ancestry across Canada and the United States. Asian religious traditions and worldviews, traditional practices, and religio-cultural views on gender, sexuality, and family. Specific Asian immigrant groups on immigration demographics, family dynamics and relationships, gendered roles, parenting practices and beliefs, and implications for mental health. Challenges and issues that families face as Asians and immigrants, the strength and resilience of families, with extensive reviews on various intervention and prevention programs. Methodological strategies in investigating Asian families and their impact on the field. Asian Families in Canada and the United States is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, graduate students as well as clinicians, professionals, and policymakers in the fields of developmental, social, and cross-cultural psychology, parenting and family studies, social work, and all interrelated disciplines.
Cultural Considerations in Asian and Pacific Islander American Mental Health by
In America's increasingly diverse society, it is imperative that mental health providers prioritize the development of their cultural competence to assure that they are equipped to meet the needs of their clients. Cultural Considerations in Asian and Pacific Islander American Mental Health offers a broad array of perspectives from clinicians and researchers actively working with racially/ethnically diverse populations. This book addresses psychosocial cultural issues that impact the mental health of the growing Asian American population. The book opens with the concept of what and who is an Asian American, as well as the myriad distinctions and differences among various Asian groups. Covered chapter topics include a historical overview of the diverse populations among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans; a discussion of the tensions and similarities between empirically supported treatments and cultural competence; Asian and Pacific Islander American elders and depression; and a psychodynamic perspective regarding the treatment of dual diagnosis with an Asian American client. This book is a must-read for mental health clinicians, students, community workers, school counselors, and nurses who work with diverse populations.
Culturally Responsive Counseling with Asian American Men by
Asian American men represent a complex group with distinct psychological and mental health concerns, yet the current counseling literature is lacking in resources for clinicians working with this population. The purpose of this text is to provide practitioners with a comprehensive overview of the current research and theory related to the important and unique issues that Asian American men experience. It offers clinicians culturally-responsive, practical counseling techniques and strategies to help inform them on how to work effectively with this group. Chapters are written by leading figures in the field and explore such topics as intergenerational conflict, racism, challenges associated with masculinity and fatherhood, sexual orientation identity development, substance abuse, and career counseling. Numerous clinical vignettes and case conceptualizations are included to assist clinicians who work with Asian American men and to demonstrate appropriate treatment responses.
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki: A Memoir by
National Indie Bestseller World Literature Today Notable Translation of the Year Salon Favorite Book of the Year The South Korean runaway bestseller, debut author Baek Sehee's intimate therapy memoir, as recommended by BTS. PSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm - what's the word - depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek Sehee is a successful young social media director at a publishing house when she begins seeing a psychiatrist about her - what to call it? - depression? She feels persistently low, anxious, endlessly self-doubting, but also highly judgmental of others. She hides her feelings well at work and with friends, performing the calmness her lifestyle demands. The effort is exhausting, overwhelming, and keeps her from forming deep relationships. This can't be normal. But if she's so hopeless, why can she always summon a desire for her favorite street food: the hot, spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like? Recording her dialogues with her psychiatrist over a twelve-week period, and expanding on each session with her own reflective micro-essays, Baek begins to disentangle the feedback loops, knee-jerk reactions, and harmful behaviors that keep her locked in a cycle of self-abuse. Part memoir, part self-help book, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki is a book to keep close and to reach for in times of darkness. It will appeal to anyone who has ever felt alone or unjustified in their everyday despair.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * ONE OF TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE * A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness "Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more human."--Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen In development as a television series starring and adapted by Greta Lee * One of Time's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year * Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, New Statesman, BuzzFeed, Esquire, The New York Public Library, and Book Riot Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative--and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world. Binding these essays together is Hong's theory of "minor feelings." As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Cathy Park Hong grew up steeped in shame, suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that these "minor feelings" occur when American optimism contradicts your own reality--when you believe the lies you're told about your own racial identity. Minor feelings are not small, they're dissonant--and in their tension Hong finds the key to the questions that haunt her. With sly humor and a poet's searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche--and of a writer's search to both uncover and speak the truth. Praise for Minor Feelings "Hong begins her new book of essays with a bang. . . .The essays wander a variegated terrain of memoir, criticism and polemic, oscillating between smooth proclamations of certainty and twitches of self-doubt. . . . Minor Feelings is studded with moments [of] candor and dark humor shot through with glittering self-awareness."--The New York Times "Hong uses her own experiences as a jumping off point to examine race and emotion in the United States."--Newsweek "Powerful . . . [Hong] brings together memoiristic personal essay and reflection, historical accounts and modern reporting, and other works of art and writing, in order to amplify a multitude of voices and capture Asian America as a collection of contradictions. She does so with sharp wit and radical transparency."--Salon
Stigma: Breaking the Asian American Silence on Mental Health by
Suicide is the leading cause of death among Asian Americans ages fifteen to twenty-four. But most would never guess this due to mainstream representations, which portray Asian American and Pacific Islander groups as "model minorities" in health, wealth, and mannerisms. Stigma: Breaking the Asian American Silence on Mental Health is both a narrative account and an informative look into the world of AAPI mental health. Exposing harmful narratives, while uplifting their voices and experiences, Tanaya Kollipara sets out to bring to light how the Asian/Pacific Islander identity impacts the stigma experienced and barriers faced by those with mental illness. Weaving together stories with research and professional advice, Stigma dispels the myths and reveals the truths about mental health and mental illness within the AAPI community. Tanaya shows what happens when fear and cultural stigmas obstruct your ability to care for yourself- and, more importantly, what's waiting on the other side, when you take that step towards mental wellness.
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