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.

This first-of-its-kind, two-volume set examines physical, psychological, social, and environmental factors that undermine—or support—healthy development in Asian American children. How do skin color, culture, racial and ethnic identities, politics, economics, and environment influence children's mental health and academic success? Asian American and Pacific Islander Children and Mental Health spotlights these forces and more. This unique, two-volume work examines a wide range of factors that affect children, including family conditions and economic status, child abuse, substance abuse, gangs, and community stability, as well as prejudices such as the common expectation that Asian Americans are a "model minority" and their children "whiz kids." Since education is key to success, contributors consider the factors affecting Asian American children largely in the context of educational readiness and academic adjustment. However, the set is not limited to exploring problems. It also looks at factors that help Asian American children be mentally healthy, engaged, and successful at school and in later life. Volume one of the set explores development and context, while volume two looks at prevention and treatment.

Scholars of psychology, education, social work, and counseling examine such topics as transracial adoption, women's issues, substance abuse, and the racial experiences of 43 different ethnic groups often statistically lumped together. Among the specific topics are Asian Indian women's bicultural experience, political ethnic identity versus cultural ethnic identity, ethnic variations in the adaptation of recent immigrant Asian adolescents regarding, and sexual abuse.

This book has two objectives: to show that the research does not support the belief that Asians in the United States are well adjusted, and therefore, do not need mental health services; and, to show the effects of cultural differences between Americans and Asians in the recognition and treatment of mental health problems. The book has eight chapters which discuss the following subjects: why Asian Americans should be studied; patterns of disturbance and use of mental health services; cultural issues in recognizing symptoms and identifying disturbed persons; the Asian American family; personality, sex-role conflicts and ethnic identity; improving intervention and treatment; and future directions for Asian American mental health. In each chapter the author reviews and criticizes the research to date these subjects. The author's conclusions include: 1) the rate of mental disorders among Asian Americans has been underestimated; 2) the expression of symptoms is influenced by culture; and 3) the Asian American family has both positive and negative effects on mental health. While the author only briefly mentions the special problems of Asian American refugees, the mental health issues discussed in the book are applicable to all Asian American immigrants, including refugees.

Asian American Mental Health is a state-of-the-art compendium of the conceptual issues, empirical literature, methodological approaches, and practice guidelines for conducting culturally informed assessments of Asian Americans, and for assessing provider cultural competency within individuals and systems. It is the first of its kind on Asian Americans. This volume draws upon the expertise of many of the leading experts in Asian American and multicultural mental health to provide a much needed resource for students and professionals in a wide range of disciplines including clinical psychology, medical anthropology, psychiatry, cross-cultural psychology, multicultural counseling, ethnic minority psychology, sociology, social work, counselor education, counseling psychology, and more.

There have been significant advances in research on Asian American mental health within the past decade. This chapter discusses resources and strategies for conducting culturally responsive assessment and treatment with Asian Americans that highlight the theories and knowledge gained since the publication of the previous edition of this Handbook in 2000. The first section on assessment discusses race, immigration, and culture-related factors that affect the phenomenology of distress among Asian Americans. The second section on treatment discusses theories and evidence regarding factors that increase therapeutic credibility as well as the recent advances in applying evidence-based treatment with Asian Americans.

Excerpt from Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: February 2002 The Cultural Diversity Series attempts to provide basic information and guidelines regarding the needs of a variety of ethnic and nonethnic minorities. Each of these technical assistance reports provides a synopsis of the particular population's mental health needs, relevant cultural characteristics and traditions, perceptions about mental illness, and preferences for services and supports. Each report also describes several mental health programs that have successfully tailored their services to meet the needs of diverse consumers and contains a comprehensive resource section with recommended readings and organizational resources. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.