LOS ANGELES — The feelings of loneliness and isolation began for Glor Parong at 15 years old. She was dealing with the pressures of being the first-born child in a Filipino household, where she was expected to be a role model and caretaker for her younger siblings. Then there were her parents, who she said were going through financial difficulties and frequently arguing.
But Parong was taught not to disclose any of her problems to anyone outside of her family, she said. As a result, she carried the weight of those emotions alone.
“I didn’t say anything verbally, but deep down I wanted my mom’s and my dad’s attention. I wanted them to love me and to say it’s OK,” she said.
After three suicide attempts, Parong, now 46, said she eventually sought help to come to terms with a fact that hadn’t been easy for her to accept: She was depressed. Seeing a psychiatrist was key to understanding depression, she added, which she continues to live with today.
Parong copes, among other things, by incorporating creative activities like dance into her life. She currently works at the Asian Pacific Counseling & Treatment Centers (APCTC), a mental health center in Los Angeles that was developed to meet the needs of the Asian Pacific population.
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DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE IN THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY
The suicide rate among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2016 was approximately half of the general population, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. Suicide ranks as the ninth leading cause of death among Asian Americans and Pacific Islander and the 10th leading cause of all deaths in the U.S.
But for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders between the ages of 15 and 19, suicide was the leading cause of death in 2016, according to CDC data, accounting for 31.8 percent of all deaths.
The pressure to succeed academically, financially, and career-wise is considered a common cause for depression among Asian Americans, Silvia Yan, program director of adult services and training director at APCTC, said.
But that pressure isn’t the culprit for depression across all subgroups in the population.
In the Korean-American community, for instance, depression due to isolation is pervasive among seniors, according to Connie Chung Joe, executive director of Korean American Family Services (KFAM) in Los Angeles.
“We know that the more isolated you get increases your risk factors for suicide,” Joe said. “To reduce those factors, you need … people you can talk to and go to for help; Having places to go to whether it’s to go exercise or do hobbies. For Korean seniors, that gets very, very limited because there’s not very many that are specific for the Korean community, and they also don’t know how to access them.”