One study examined the attitudes of Chinese Americans
toward seeking help for a physical condition compared with
seeking help for a psychiatric condition. Participants were
asked to indicate how likely they were to seek care from a
health care provider using Western medicine or to seek traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM). For physical conditions, very
little difference was observed in willingness to see a physician
using Western medicine versus TCM (~10% and ~20%, respectively).
For psychiatric conditions, however, nearly 60% of patients
reported that it would be shameful to seek help from
a Western-trained physician and 30% would be ashamed to
seek help from TCM. Even though 90% of patients believed
that seeking help from a mental health professional would be
helpful, they still were not going to seek one out because their
shame superseded their perceptions of the benefits