Mental Health Challenges for Older Vietnamese Refugees

The trauma suffered by refugees can continue to be manifested years after their arrival into the United States. My-Thuan Tran writes in the Los Angeles Times about Vietnamese refugees:
Vietnamese Americans who came to the United States as political refugees are suffering from higher rates of mental health problems than non-Latino whites, an indication that many Vietnamese Americans are experiencing lingering effects from the Vietnam War, according to a UC Irvine Center for Health Care Policy study.

In the first analysis of its kind for Vietnamese Americans in California, researchers found that Vietnamese Americans over 55 were twice as likely as whites to report needing mental health care, but were less likely to discuss such issues with their doctors.

“The message I want to bring across is that the medical community needs to realize that Vietnamese Americans are a high-risk group,” said Dr. Quyen Ngo-Metzger, who led the survey. “I hope people realize that mental health is still a problem and not to view all Vietnamese as doing really great.”

In general, Vietnamese Americans have assimilated quickly in the United States and have achieved success in business, education and politics. The study offers a contrasting view of the tough adjustments refugees have endured. Click here for the full story.

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