Mental Health

Information about Asian Americans is often not included in mainstream reports partly because, although Asians compose 25 percent of the Bay Area population, they still compose only 4 percent of the U.S. population. In 2004, Asian Outlook reports on two issues that have great importance now to Asians: immigration services and mental health care.

• Early studies found that more than half the members of some Asian ethnic groups suffer from a range of mental illnesses, including chronic depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, family violence, alcoholism and substance abuse.
• Nearly one out of every two Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders will have difficulty accessing mental health treatment because they cannot find services that meet their language needs.
• The state budget for the Naturalization Services Program (NSP) declined from a high of $6.65 million to $0 between 1999 and 2004.
• Non-profit agencies serving the Asian community provide a trustworthy alternative to a growing number of unscrupulous immigration brokers who take advantage of the complex green card process in order to exploit immigrants.

Please click here to view the full report.