Have you ever heard your South Asian family, friends, or relatives say “mental disorders aren’t real, you are just being negative” or even “it is all in your head, people will think you are crazy”? If I got a dollar every time I heard something negative about mental health in South Asian communities, I wouldn’t have to work to pay my tuition anymore. There are many reasons why South Asians have higher rates of mental health disorders compared to other communities. South Asian communities follow collectivistic culture which means they value group harmony, needs/desires of the society over theirs, and a sense of belonging to others. Everything in collectivistic culture is framed in the context of “what will society think about your actions?”.
If you have been reading thoroughly you can already see the problem here, but in case you missed it, South Asian communities teach each other to not prioritize themselves and their needs. This constantly causes us to suppress our own emotions and choices, and this does affect our mental health in the long run as we have to pick partners, careers, and other important decisions to impress the community/family rather than trying to make ourselves happy. Other reasons for higher mental illness rates in South Asians include academic pressure, financial pressure, divorces, mental illnesses in the family, and intergenerational conflict. Many South Asians might already know they have mental health problems, but they refuse to open up or seek help due to the stigma. Here’s why the stigma exists. It could be due to the lack of understanding of mental health and how it affects someone. Some might think of mental disorders as a cultural embarrassment or reputation breaker, being crazy/possessed, prevent people from having valuable relationships, or even being ungrateful when they are low/down despite having a “successful” life. This stigma causes individuals to be afraid of speaking up as it might affect career outcomes, cost our relationships, and not be understood by loved ones. We often hear things like “keep going" or "tough it out" or "be grateful, you have a successful life that no one else does and you have nothing to be sad about”. It is often tempting to say such statements to someone being down/low, but this shuts people with mental disorders from recognizing their feelings and getting help.
Here’s how you can help break the stigma and improve South Asian’s mental health the next time you hear a South Asian parent judge someone with a mental illness. Start talking about your day and your feelings with your family, communicate how constantly prioritizing others is affecting you, educate yourself and others about mental health/resources, refrain from using words/statements like “you are crazy/possessed” or “it’s a down phase in life”, use the collectivistic culture to your advantage and build a strong support system, and lastly get help if you need it just as you would for any other medical conditions. There is still a lot to learn about mental health across different communities. There needs to be further research done on South Asian’s mental health to develop interventions and policies that can be applied in collectivistic cultures to improve their quality of life and also to understand the gender differences in mental health in this community.