Asian Mental Health

Asian Americans are experiencing a racial reckoning regarding their identity, inspiring them to radically reconsider the cultural frameworks that enabled their assimilation into American culture. As Asian Americans investigate the personal and societal effects of longstanding cultural narratives suggesting they take up as little space as possible, their mental health becomes critically important. Yet despite the fact that over 18 million people of Asian descent live in the United States today—they are the racial group least likely to seek out mental health services.

In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea - and to freedom.

Before being struck down by the US Supreme Court in June 2023, affirmative action remained one of the few remaining policy tools to address racial inequalities, revealing peculiar contours of racism and anti-racist strategies in America. Through personal reflective essays for and about her daughter, OiYan Poon looks at how the debate over affirmative action reveals the divergent ways Asian Americans conceive of their identity.

In Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation critic David L. Eng and psychotherapist Shinhee Han draw on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with several strands of psychoanalytic thought, they develop the concepts of racial melancholia and racial dissociation to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation.

On a clear spring day in 1995, five members of a religious cult unleashed poison gas on the Tokyo subway system. In attempt to discover why, Haruki Murakmi talks to the people who lived through the catastrophe, and in so doing lays bare the Japanese psyche. As he discerns the fundamental issues that led to the attack, Murakami paints a clear vision of an event that could occur anytime, anywhere.

Coauthors Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon are professional therapists who witnessed firsthand how mental health issues often went unaddressed not only in their own immigrant families, but in Asian and Asian American communities. Where I Belong shows us how the cycle of trauma can play out in our relationships, placing Asian American experiences front and center to help us process and heal from racial and intergenerational trauma.

In the wake of World War II, the Allied forces charged 28 Japanese men with crimes against humanity. Correspondents at the Tokyo trial thought the evidence fell most heavily on 10 of the accused. In December 1948, five of these defendants were hanged, while four received sentences of life in prison. The tenth was a brilliant philosopher-patriot named Okawa Shumei. His story proved strangest of all. Among all the political and military leaders on trial, Okawa was the lone civilian.

If you are an Asian American who has experienced racial violence, verbal harassment, stereotyping, or microaggressions, you might feel like the world is unsafe. You may suffer from anxiety, depression, or painful memories as a result of this trauma. And if you seek help, you may find that Western-trained mental health professionals simply can't understand your pain and life experiences. This book provides culturally informed treatment methods to help you heal from and fortify yourself against race-based trauma-including intergenerational and historical trauma-and stress.

The intention for Be Your Own Cheerleader is to help professional Asian and South Asian women—who have toggled between the two very different cultures of East and West—thrive in the workplace. When you are raised in the collective we, it is very difficult to make a name and place for yourself in the individual I. Not only are you unskilled in advocating for yourself, but you are also unsure of how to be proud of your work or accomplishments. Neelu Kaur's analysis of various research is at the intersection of leadership and wellness.

Lauren steps into the warmly lit bistro. For the first time since they began to actively text, she meets Daniel, a spontaneous young man on a mission. Their date night seems to be going well—except for Daniel’s one unconventional ask, which Lauren chooses to overlook. While this seems to be a promising, budding romance, a crack appears the following day. Soon, Lauren finds herself in a dangerous situation, on a rushed drive across the country. Who is Daniel? What does he want? And why? Another page-turning thriller by C.Y. Stewart, a stirring narrative told in an emotionally rich way. ...

When Sabine Zhang is picked for Hotel California, a teen reality show with an all-Asian cast, she jumps at the opportunity. As one of few Asians at her high school in the Midwest, she’s always felt as if she was playing a side character in someone else’s story. But on this show, she’ll finally have a chance to step into the spotlight.

This all-time classic is still perhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy in the world, as eagerly studied in Asia by modern politicians and executives as it has been by military leaders since ancient times. As a study of the anatomy of organizations in conflict, The Art of War applies to competition and conflict in general, on every level from the interpersonal to the international. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through understanding the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict.

“I’ve got my entire life planned out for the next 10 years - including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize,” claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, the daughter of overachiever parents, who named her after an elite women’s college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include both AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar’s parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.

"If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would." - Goodreads reviewer "Chroma Hearts by Mayumi Cruz is a gripping and thought-provoking story about fighting for love against mental illness, with a side of crime solving. Strongly recommended for those who enjoy mind-stirring and heart-squeezing." - KB Meniado, bookbed.org Can love triumph over all—even catatonic depression? Can love defeat everything—even a diabolical evil? A new bride suffering from catatonia. A determined husband trying to break through the black pit in which her brain escaped to. And a ruthless abomination who ...

Ashok Rajamani, award-winning author of the hit memoir The Day My Brain Exploded, returns with Imagine Carnivalesque, his explosive first book of bold and insightful literary criticism. Uncover the unconscious in South Asian literature through two psychoanalytical essays that deconstruct gender codes and sexuality within Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy, and the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata.