Asian American Mental Health Panel

The Asian American population is growing at a faster pace than other large racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Its growth is expected to triple between now and 2050 when Asian Americans will constitute 8% of the U.S. population. The community also has unique healthcare needs.

Asian Americans experience an equally high, if not higher rate of mental illness than the general population, but are one-fourth as likely to seek help. Mental health brings with it stigmas and hidden communities within communities.

This panel will discuss the work of some of the research essays included in the groundbreaking new book released by NYU’s Center for the Study of Asian American Health, Asian American Communities and Health, which includes research on mental health in the Asian American population with the elderly and LGBT Asian American communities. The panel will open with a preview clip from the documentary film, “CAN,” a work-in-progress by Pearl Park, which follows Can Truong, a war refugee who was among the millions of boat people who fled Vietnam in the 1970’s, was a model student, and aspiring to become a doctor when he was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder.

Panelists: 

Irene Chung, Associate Professor and Chair, Casework Curriculum, Hunter College School of Social Work

Sel J. Hwahng, Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, Columbia University

Duy Nguyen, Assistant Professor, Silver School of Social Work, NYU

Pearl Park, Producer/Director of documentary film-in-progress, “Can” (amongourkin.org)

Tazuko Shibuzawa, Associate Professor of Social Work, NYU

Moderated by Nadia Islam, Deputy Director, Center for the Study of Asian American Health, NYU