Center Helps Asian Americans Combat Mental Illness Ching Ching Ni 2009 LA Times According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four American Adults suffer from some sort of mental illness. The thought is that the numbers may be similar in other racial and ethnic minorities. We don’t know this however due to the lack of services and poor health care. There is also the stigma that many cultures place on people with mental illness. Due to the numbers of immigrants coming into the United States, this issue is being put more on the forefront. The Asian Pacific Family Center helps Asian immigrants that battle mental illness. They don’t know much about it and have a hard time addressing it because of the shame put on them by their culture. They are finding that many Asian people actually have a higher showing of mental illness. They attribute his to experiencing war and the stress that comes along with it. Many of the people who experience war have depression and ptsd. Huong Ly escaped from Vietnam and spent three months crammed on an overcrowded boat before she reached Hong Kong. She had seen her entire village be bombed and wiped out. She desperately needs help, but due to very high numbers, she is on a long waiting list to receive counseling and support. Some people just need to talk about things, and recognize what happened. Then the healing can begin.
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