Contextual influences on perceptions of mental illness: Vietnamese immigrants versus nationals

Objectives: This study assesses the potential influences on migration on mental illness related knowledge and perceptions among Vietnamese populations.

Methods: Eight focus group discussions, with a total of 81 participants, were conducted with Vietnamese Americans and Vietnamese nationals (4 in each population). Results: Mental illness was an abstract concept to participants in both locations; yet Vietnamese Americans had an easier time explaining the illness and its causes than did Vietnamese nationals. Vietnamese nationals were more likely than Vietnamese Americans to attach mental illness to specific physical health causes and symptoms, supporting a belief among many Asians that the body and the mind are parts of a unitary model. They were also more likely to attribute mental illness to karma. With regard to mental illness manifestation, Vietnamese Americans were much less likely than Vietnamese nationals to attach the illness to a specific person in the community, therefore, had a much harder time describing it. It is likely that this difference is due in part to the persistent stigma related to mental illness among Vietnamese Americans and in part to the heightened sense of privacy with mental illness as a personal matter; the latter perhaps a result of the adaptation to the modern American norms among Vietnamese Americans.

Conclusions: Significant divergences between these two Vietnamese populations with regard to mental illness knowledge and perceptions seem due to the interplay between traditional beliefs and acculturation influences among the immigrants.