"My sisters are my shelter": A systematic review of mental health help seeking among LGBTQIA Asians living in Asia.

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual Asians living in Asia face unique challenges within and outside their communities that impact their mental health and limit access to care. To address this access gap, we used reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021, 2024) grounded in a critical paradigm to explore the sources of support and factors influencing help seeking across various lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual Asian communities. As the first systematic review on mental health help seeking among this population, this article reveals how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual Asians navigate systems of support-such as personal networks, online communities, and health care services-within contexts marked by stigma and structural oppression. Rather than framing help seeking as an individual choice, we used the ecological model (McLeroy et al., 1988) to illustrate how systemic factors interact with individual and interpersonal factors to influence access, trust, and attitudes toward help seeking. While much of this influence flowed downward from societal systems to the individual, interpersonal processes also shaped how participants engaged with institutional systems of care, highlighting how support at one level can alleviate the discrimination experienced at another level. We draw from our findings and the broader literature to emphasize the importance of culturally sensitive interventions that honor multiple identities and community-based practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).