By Gabrielle Chiodo

This piece aims to uplift the perspectives and experiences of immigrants, especially as July is BIPOC mental health awareness month.

The United States’s mental health crisis has worsened in recent years, with more than 1 in 5 adults experiencing mental illness. As the government and mental health organizations seek to assist those experiencing emotional turbulence, immigrants, who make up nearly 14 percent of the population, have been left out of crucial conversations. Experiencing a mental health crisis can be even more challenging when basic needs are not being met, which is the case for many immigrants, 18 percent of whom live below the poverty line. A lack of resources makes accessing adequate mental health care particularly difficult. 

While the stigma around discussion of and treatment for mental illness has decreased for a majority of Americans, immigrants face intersectional obstacles that exclude them from aid, including health care, and conversations concerning emotional well-being. To learn more about immigrant perspectives on mental health, CLASP’s mental health and immigration and immigrant families teams conducted four focus groups with Bangladeshi immigrants and children of Bangladeshi immigrants in Austin, Texas and Warren, Michigan. CLASP recognizes that focus group participants do not represent either their entire community or all immigrants, and hopes to learn more from other immigrant populations in the future. 

We are aiming to release a brief in the fall of 2024 with an in-depth analysis of these focus groups, but even the preliminary analyses of the transcripts have been revealing. Participants discussed intricate family dynamics and how they can support or hinder a person’s mental health. One participant shared how having his wife and children with him during the immigration process was the biggest factor in maintaining his mental well-being. His family spent time discussing the various struggles they were facing together as immigrants and trying to find solutions to overcome obstacles. 

Another participant described how her spouse encourages her to take care of herself when she is feeling the mental toll of being in the U.S. Her family dynamic and support system allowed her to spend time with friends and family without the additional pressure of always needing to be home and in a caregiver role. Other participants shared how their families supported them in pursuing professional help. One participant, a student, noted, “I get support from my own therapist. Every week, I can talk about family pressure and assignment stress. My parents are very supportive as well, especially being a Bengali girl.” 

However, not all of the Bangladeshi immigrants had these positive experiences. Some disclosed how existing within a family unit brought stress and stigmas upon them during emotional tribulations. Expectations were often heightened, especially for young adult children of first-generation immigrants, as they feel pressure to honor the opportunity given to them by their parents.

One participant shared the impact of these pressures: “There are lots of expectations especially if, you know, you’re coming from a brown family. There are lots of comparisons out there, you know. So I feel like that kind of influenced my mental health, you know, overthinking a lot of my past decisions, you know, just saying, ‘Oh you know what could have been better for them [referring to his parents]?’”  Other participants echoed this statement and shared how they felt pressure to achieve academically, financially, and emotionally to satisfy parents and other family members. 

While feeling societal and familial pressure may be inherently human, these participants offered a glimpse of the pressures that some within Bangladeshi immigrant communities face to succeed. Adult children of immigrants especially expressed struggling with the impact of expectations throughout their lives.

With increased pressure and challenges to mental health, government-funded movements aimed at treating America’s mental health crisis need to understand the ways immigrant families operate and create room for complexities. Many participants discussed ways Western therapy methods failed to account for immigrant family and community dynamics. 

“Let’s say even if you’re working with a white therapist, they won’t understand. So the advice they’ll give you is very different, than, um, you know. They’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, this person’s so toxic, but it’s, like, very normal,’” one participant from Texas shared. 

The participant elaborated on this experience, saying, “When I first started therapy, it was, like, a white therapist and it didn’t work for me at all. Like, they were really not helpful.”

Conventional Western therapy often does not take the variability of immigrants and immigrant families and their cultures into consideration. Consequently, those within immigrant communities seem to feel misunderstood when discussing their struggles with white therapists. With nearly 81 percent of therapists identifying as white, an immediate need exists for therapists to diversify and decolonize language and practices used in counseling. Further, government programs aimed at helping those struggling with mental health concerns should give specialized consideration to immigrant spheres. 

Participants in focus groups echoed this need and offered creative ways the government can support immigrants’ mental health. “I can speak for my community,” said one participant from Michigan. “We have a lot of mosques, right? We have, like, you know, religious leaders. Sometimes people confide in them, to, like, seek advice, because they can trust them, because, you know, they’re [a] community leader and so on, right? But I feel like we should train them or have some sort of, provide some resources to them when it comes to, like, navigating mental health.”

Government officials and mental health professionals cannot overlook immigrants who have been left out of mental health conversations. By acknowledging the complexities of their experiences and families, more Americans can begin to discuss the hardships they are facing with an expectation of acceptance rather than judgment. Assisting immigrants during America’s time of heightened anxiety and depression is a way to reach those who may be persevering in silence.