Covid 19 and Asian/Asian American's Mental Health

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Asian and people of Asian descent have faced racial attacks and scapegoating around the world. In the U.S., multiple government leaders used derogatory language toward the Asian population, calling COVID-19 the “China Virus” or “Wuhan Virus.” This behavior deliberately created stigmatization and fueled xenophobia against Asian/Asian Americans. Since January 2020, a significant number of reports of discrimination against Asian/Asian Americans have been documented. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 9,081 incident reports were filed between March 19, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Discrimination includes verbal harassment, physical assault, civil right violations, and online harassment. Most attacks happen in public places such as sidewalks, public transit, or businesses; with youths reporting 9.9% of the total incidents (Stop AAPI Hate, National report, 2021). Many incidents include children of Asian/Asian Americans who are being discriminated and bullied at school and in life. 
Anti-Asian discrimination has been found to be associated with increases in anxiety, depression symptoms, and sleep problems (Abrams, 2021). Cheah et al. (2020) found that racial discrimination was associated with higher levels of reported generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms in Chinese American families. Even prior to the pandemic, Asian American youth were at the highest risk for suicide compared to other ethnic groups (CDC, 2008). However, Asian Americans as an ethnic group sought out the least mental health services and resources.  According to the National Latino and Asian American Study, while 18% of the general U.S. population sought mental health services, only l6% of Asian Americans did so (APA, 2012).  Professional help such as counseling or psychotherapy are limited due to stigma and a lack of culturally appropriate interventions (Abrams, 2021).
Further Reading: 
# https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/10/southeast-asian-mental-health/
# Misra, S., Le, P. D., Goldmann, E., & Yang, L. H. (2020). Psychological impact of anti-Asian stigma due to the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for research, practice, and policy responses. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(5), 461–464. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000821
# https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/29/1001373994/amid-growing-anti-asian-racism-a-call-for-more-research-into-its-health-effects
Category:COVID
Category:Asian American Psychology