Asian-Americans Shun Mental Health Care

When the planes hit the World Trade Center on 9-11, clients rushed to a Hartford clinic in a panic. They were, for the most part, Southeast Asians who’d immigrated to this country after the Vietnam War. The clients, not fluent in English and still suffering from PTSD, came in hysterics crying, “Is it happening again? Is it happening again?”

Connecticut has just one clinic funded by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services that treats primarily Asian-Americans. The clinic, in Hartford, serves Connecticut’s Asian-Pacific community, which includes people from 21 countries who speak 35 different languages.