Improve Mental Healthcare

Insufficient access to mental health services in Asian American communities is a national problem.* According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data that the Center for American Progress analyzed for this column, 37 percent of Asian American adults, or approximately 7.7 million people, report poor mental health status—defined by the Kaiser Family Foundation as “adults who reported that their mental health was ‘not good’ between one and 30 days in the past 30 days.” Poor mental health status can include depression, stress, and emotional problems. Yet, Asian Americans are three times less likely than their white counterparts to seek and utilize mental health services.