Severity of disturbance among Asian American outpatients.
Although Asian Americans are low utilizers of mental health services, they may suffer from a greater degree of disturbance by the time they are accepted for services. In this study, thousands of Asian and White clients who utilized a large mental health system over a 5-year period were compared on three measures of severity of disturbance: severity of diagnosis, ratings of functioning, and presence of psychotic features. Results for all three indicators supported the hypothesis that Asian Americans show greater disturbance than do Whites. The findings provide convincing evidence of greater disturbance among Asian American clients. It is suggested that for cultural reasons, only the most severely disturbed Asian clients use mental health services.
Durvasula
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Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1563, USA.
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001213:Asian; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000208:ethnology*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D044465:White People