Week 6

Elizabeth Chang

Section 1

Week 6

This week’s article “On Some College Campuses, a focus on Asian American Mental Health” by Katherine Kam in New America Media talks about the issues Asian American students face when it comes to mental illnesses. Many students of Asian descent feel the pressure of the Model Minority myth and the stereotypes associated with good academics. These stereotypes create a pathway for mental health issues to develop, but many of these students are reluctant to seek help.

From my point of view, I think that there is indeed pressure for students of Asian descent to get good grades and that many of these students get some sort of mental illness that could lead to severe consequences like suicide. I believe that although the reason that many students are not seeking help is because they have been raised as people who are always expected to do more, and therefore should not be seeking professional help, an important factor is the family’s culture. Many Asian cultures view people who go to counselors and psychologist as being people who one cannot be seen associated with. There is an erroneous view of people who seek mental help as being “crazy”, when one should be seeking help when feeling overwhelmed before getting to a more serious illness. This misconception should be erased because of the barrier that it provides for students from Asian descent. It makes students “carry everything on their shoulders”, and therefore not willing to seek help when it is needed.

Question: How can we help Asian students change the view of having to always live up to other people’s expectations?

References

Kam, K. (2013, September 13). On Some College Campuses, A Focus On Asian American Mental

Health. New America Media. Retrieved from http://newamericamedia.org/2013/09/on-some-college-campuses-a-focus-on-asian-american-mental-health.php

GeoBeats News (2014, May 07). Asian-Americans Study Harder to Be Academically Successful. Retrieved May 07, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm9Ca67Lc0M