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Mental Health and Stress Among South Asians

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Abstract

Addressing mental illness requires a culturally sensitive approach. As detailed in this literature review, treating mental illness in the South Asian immigrant community necessitates a thorough understanding of the South Asian conceptualization of mental illness. Past research, though limited, has described the different reasons the South Asian community attributes to causing mental illness, as well as the stigma associated with acknowledging the disease. Acculturation of the community also plays a significant role in cultural acceptability and the receipt of quality care. Lessons from local organizations can be applied at the national level to promote cultural responsiveness in treating mental illness in the South Asian immigrant community.

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Acknowledgments

This publication was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R13 MD007147-01A1. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. SAHI staff would like to thank the Steering Committee members, all working group co-chairs, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Library, Rohini Rau-Murthy and the SAHI interns for their assistance in assembling this document.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Alison Karasz

  2. Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 485 Lexington Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10017, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer Leng

  3. Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer Leng

  4. Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer Leng

  5. Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany

  6. Department of Global Health and Department of Psychiatry and Family Medicine, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Javier Escobar

  7. The Warren Alpert Medical School, The Brown Human Rights Asylum Clinic (BHRAC), Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Cristina Flores

  8. Ohio Perinatal Quality Collaborative, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Lakshmi Prasad

  9. Department of Education and Human Services, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

    Arpana Inman

  10. India Home, New York, NY, USA

    Vasundhara Kalasapudi

  11. Maryland/DC Chapter of the IndoAmerican Psychiatric Association, Counselors Helping (South) Asian Indians, Inc. (CHAI), The Howard County Mental Health Authority, Columbia, MD, USA

    Razia Kosi

  12. Division of Endocrinology, Nutrition and Metabolism, Saint Peter’s Thyroid and Diabetes Center, Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Meena Murthy

  13. Center for Healthy Aging in Multicultural Populations, School of Social Work, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA

    Sadhna Diwan

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  1. Alison Karasz
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  2. Francesca Gany
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  3. Javier Escobar
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  11. Sadhna Diwan
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Correspondence to Francesca Gany.

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Karasz, A., Gany, F., Escobar, J. et al. Mental Health and Stress Among South Asians. J Immigrant Minority Health 21 (Suppl 1), 7–14 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0501-4

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