Hi, wooner-ga!
After more searching today, I still must say that if there are any
statistics for depression within Vietnam, other that the little I have
uncovered, they are hidden far away in a deep, dark, unreachable
chasm! Since you have said to go ahead and post what I have found, I
assume you agree that something is better than nothing. Let me stress,
again, that the absence of information was not for lack of trying!
VIETNAM
=======
These statistics are going to be rare. The lack of mental health
education and treatment facilities within Vietnam is definitely not
conducive to gathering statistics.
There is a multitude of statistics concerning depression among
Vietnam refugees. However, there is virtually nothing written about
depression "within" Vietnam among the populace within Vietnam.
If you are aware of the magnitude of mental illness among Vietnamese
refugees and Vietnam veterans who witnessed the horrific torture and
death within that country, you can only imagine the prevalence of
illness among those living in Vietnam today....people who get
virtually no care at all. Their anguished cries are rarely heard.
==
From "Change brings suicide, mental illness," by Huw Watkin. South
China Morning Post (January 2, 2001)
http://www.undp.org.vn/mlist/develvn/012001/post2.htm
Ho Chi Minh City Psychiatric Health Centre deputy director Nguyen Van
Chanh "told the Vietnam News Agency his hospital was struggling to
cope with a 10 per cent increase in the number of in-patients and a 30
per cent increase in the number of out-patients in the past year."
"Schizophrenia is on the increase but
*depression is the condition suffered by most," Dr Chanh said.*
"Up to 75 per cent of patients are males between 30 and 50 years old,
of which 70 to 80 per cent are unemployed or without stable
employment. We forecast that the number will continue to increase due
to the pressures of industrialization and economic development."
===
From "Uncovering PTSD In The Republic Of Vietnam," by David Read
Johnson, Ph.D., and Hadar Lubin, M.D. NCP Clinical Quarterly 5(4):
Fall 1995
http://www.ncptsd.org/publications/cq/v5/n4/johnson.html
Women:
"Many women served in combat-related roles during the war, however,
the culture gives preference to the "war mother" as the container of
the grief and loss associated with war. These mothers are highly
honored and acknowledged. Each "war mother" who lost a child was given
the equivalent of $4 as a pension from the government. In contrast,
the young women who participated in the war were often unable to
marry, and in their thirties found themselves unwanted due to the
strongly held beliefs that they were too old to bear children."
* "Many of these women subsequently suffer from depression and
loneliness and are common among hospital patients." *
===
One method to finding some meager statistics may be in a roundabout
way.....by looking at statistics from Vietnamese immigrants. I have
included a few articles below.
One bit of information I have been able to glean from several articles
is that depression tends to increase when a Vietnamese refugee is
brought to foreign soil.
From "DEPRESSION: the Silent Epidemic Among Asian American Women, " by
Jean Ho.
http://www.hardboiled.org/4.5/45-07-depression.html
"In reality, depression hits hardest among Asian American females in
comparison to any other ethnic or gender groups....There are many
theories that attempt to provide reasons for depression in Asian
American women. Besides some of the more general causes for depression
in all women (such as the stress of new motherhood or specific
personality and lifestyle choices), there are issues related
specifically to the Asian American female community. For ethnic groups
such as Hmong, Vietnamese, and Cambodian, post-Vietnam War trauma can
be a source of great stress."
" When the US government pulled Asian refugees out of their native
war-torn countries, its intentions was to "save" these refugees from
the throes of Communist regimes. The process was difficult and
traumatic; not only did refugees have to leave behind familiar
surroundings, they often never saw family and friends again. Once in
the US, however, the real problems began for the war refugees. The
refugees spoke no English and had no skills pertinent to jobs in the
US, since most of the Hmong community were subsistence farmers in the
Laotian highlands before the war. Also, these new immigrants were seen
as unwelcome guests by the American public - reminders of a war in
which they wanted no part. Because of these conditions, these post-war
refugees were often thrown into poverty.
* "All of these factors created the circumstances in which many Asian
American women of these communities fell into depression." *
==
From Hmong Cultural Center. Abstract.
http://site.yahoo.com/hmongcultural/abstract20.html
"The purposes of this study were to determine if posttraumatic stress
(PTS), depression, and anxiety occurred in a community sample of
Vietnamese and Hmong mothers and to describe relationships between
PTS, depression, anxiety, acculturation and maternal sensitivity.
Transition theory (Bridges, 1980), and a conceptual model of parenting
in immigrant populations building on Belsky’s (1984) work, provided
the theoretical framework (Foss, 1996).
The sample was divided evenly between Vietnamese and Hmong
participants. Ages ranged from 17-43 years, time lived in the United
States ranged from 3-21 years, and education ranged from no formal
education to completion of college. Maternal sensitivity was measured
with Ainsworth’s Sensitivity vs. Insensitivity to the Communication of
the Baby Scale; PTS, depression, and anxiety with the Vietnamese and
Hmong versions of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), and
Acculturation with the Suinn-Lew Self-identity Acculturation Scale
(SL-ASIA). The SL-ASIA was translated into Vietnamese and Hmong prior
to data collection. All data were collected by the investigator in the
home. Interpreters were used for half of the sample.
The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 6.1 (SPSS) was used to
analyze the data, explore relationships, and perform regression
analyses. Results were (a) Vietnamese mothers experience PTS, anxiety,
and depression to the same degree as the general Vietnamese and Hmong
population, (b) Hmong mothers experience PTS, depression and anxiety
to a much greater degree than Vietnamese mothers, (c) maternal
sensitivity remained very high, even when clinical levels of PTS,
anxiety, or depression were present, (d) there was a trend for more
depressed Vietnamese mothers, (c) maternal sensitivity remained very
high, even when clinical levels of PTS, anxiety, or depression were
present, (d) there was a trend for more depressed Vietnamese mothers
to be less sensitive to their infants, but for more depressed Hmong
mothers to be more sensitive to their infants, and (e) more
acculturated mothers tended to be less sensitive mothers. Further
analyses revealed that the number of years spent in transit from the
homeland to the United States was associated with greater maternal
sensitivity, especially in the Hmong group; lower maternal sensitivity
was associated with a greater number of the husband’s family living in
the United States, and having more pregnancies was strongly associated
with greater depression. Recommendations for research and practice
were offered.
===
"The mental health of Chinese and Vietnamese people in Britain." Mind.
http://www.mind.org.uk/NR/exeres/C6A2044B-9D5D-45C7-BF5C-2BB583BC4F79.htm?NRMODE=Published&wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished
This article contains some good statistics on depression for
Vietnamese refugees in Britain.
==
"The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Vietnamese children and
adolescents." Robert S McKelvey, David L Sang, Loretta Baldassar, Lisa
Davies, Lynne Roberts and Neil Cutler. MJA 2002 177 (8): 413-417
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/177_08_211002/mck10856_fm.html
Objective: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among
Vietnamese children and adolescents living in Perth, Western
Australia.
Design, participants and setting: A list of Vietnamese households was
drawn from Perth telephone directories. A computer program generated a
systematic probability sample of households. All children and
adolescents aged 9-17 in these households were invited to participate
in the study. Children and their parents were interviewed in their
home using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, version 2.3
(DISC-2.3). The child version (DISC-C) was used for children and the
parent version (DISC-P) for adults. The study was conducted between
July and December 1997.
Main outcome measures: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in
children and adolescents, based on DISC-C and DISC-P data.
Results: Results were based on the 519 children (89.2%) for whom
complete data were available. Twenty-three parents (4.4%) reported
that their child had one or more disorders on the DISC-P, 82 children
(15.8%) reported one or more disorders on the DISC-C, and 18.3% of
children were reported to have a disorder on either the DISC-C or the
DISC-P. Parent-child concordance on specific diagnoses was very low
(0.6%). The great majority of disorders reported were anxiety
disorders, especially simple and social phobias.
Conclusions: The combined prevalence of psychiatric disorders among
Vietnamese children aged 9-17 was similar to that found among children
in Western Australia's general population. Vietnamese children in our
study were much more likely to report symptoms of a psychiatric
disorder than were their parents.
===
From "Vietnamese Health Problems: A Review of the Literature from
1982- 2000." Patrick Joseph Mc Colloster M.D. Assistant Professor in
Family Medicine. Baylor College of Medicine.
http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/familymed/immigrantmed/immviet.htm
Psychiatric Illness
Although posttraumatic stress disorder is present in 10% of Vietnamese
immigrants, the disease is commonly under diagnosed.24,25 Individuals
having traumatic war experiences, separation from family, low
education and poor English skills are at high risk of developing
symptoms.3,26,27 Sleep is often disturbed by distressing dreams.
Frequent recollections and flashbacks of the precipitating event can
occur. 25,28 The condition tends to be chronic with exacerbations
related to accidents, crime, anniversary effects and the stresses of
normal life change.25 Co-existent major depression may be noted.
** While only 5.5% of new immigrant patients have major depression, 2
months after arriving in the U.S. the rate increases to 20%.."
Recommendations:
"Vietnamese patients with depression will usually not volunteer
symptoms. Attempt to screen patients for the vegetative signs of major
depression."
Some references to research (all these pertain to refugees, however)
References
1. Kim LS, Chun CA. Ethnic differences in psychiatric diagnosis among
Asian American adolescents. J Nerv Ment Dis 1993; 181(10): 612-617.
2. D'Avanzo CE. Barriers to Health care for Vietnamese refugees. J
Prof Nurs 1992; 8(4): 245-253.
3. Hinton WL, Chen YJ, Du N, Tran CG, Lu FG, Miranda J, Faust S.
DSM-III-R disorders in Vietnamese refugees. J Nerv Ment Dis 1993;
181(2): 113-122.
4. Gold SJ. Mental health and illness in Vietnamese refugees. West J
Med 1992; 157(3): 290-294.
===
From "Community Health Profiles - Vietnam." A guide for Health
Professionals.
"A starting point to an understanding of cultural and health issues
for ethnic communities in a multicultural Queensland."
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/hssb/cultdiv/cultdiv/viet.htm
MENTAL HEALTH
Vietnamese clients may be reluctant to seek psychological help. Mental
illness is considered shameful, perhaps associated with wrong-doing in
a previous life. It is not discussed in the family or the community
due to a desire to keep the matter private. A Vietnamese male is most
likely to manifest psychological difficulties as physical symptoms
such as abdominal pains or headaches.
Those at greatest risk of developing and presenting with the most
severe mental disorder are survivors of torture. The elderly,
adolescents and women may also be at risk.
Children in families of torture and trauma victims display social
withdrawal, chronic fears, depression and dependence
===
If Asians do no seek treatment in the United States, you can imagine
why statistics would be hard to find within the Asian countries
themselves.
From "A Chance for Lan and her Family. Health Education for Asians."
Asian Pacific Fund.
http://www.asianpacificfund.org/resources/docs/HealthReportExecSummary.pdf
Asian Cultural Barriers:
"Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder among the elderly.
For Asian seniors, the problems are compounded by three factors:
cultural stigmas attached to mental illness; added isolation of not
speaking English well; and the high percentage of immigrants from war
torn countries."
"Some people say there is no exact translation in Chinese for the word
"depression." Many Indians do not differentiate between common,
treatable depression and "craziness." Filipinos often consider
depression, "a test of their faith," rather than an illness to be
treated. Within the traditional Asian family where elders must be
respected and their dignity protected, it is considered inappropriate
for an adult child to question the mental health of an elderly parent.
Adult children might also deny that there is a problem, thinking that
it might bring shame on the family or on themselves for not taking
proper care of their parents. Asians are more likely to care for
parents and older adults. This often includes translating for their
elderly parents during doctor's visits. An elder parent might be
embarrassed to discuss depression while using her child as the
translator for her doctor."
===
I think I have searched as thoroughly as possible on this topic. I'm
sorry to have uncovered so little. Hopefully, you can use some of the
above references to your advantage!
umiat-ga
Google Search Strategy
Vietnam AND +depression among population
+vietnamese and +depression
Mental health organizations in Vietnam
mental illness +Vietnam |
