Psychiatric education and training of Asian and Asian-American psychiatrists

Abstract

The Asian and Asian-American physician in a standard psychiatric residency is faced with discrimination at several levels, as well as special problems of professional role confusion and personal identity, all of which can create barriers to professional development and productivity. Further, most standard psychiatric residencies do not include teaching or supervision specific to treating Asian patients. The author proposes the establishment of a specialized program, focusing on ethnic minority groups, within a general psychiatric residency; he discusses specific features of such a program. This approach may help to alleviate the problem of inadequate resources for handling the mental health problems of Asian-Americans and underutilization of mental health resources by this group.