75: Dr. Elizabeth Nguyen - Author of Aloha Vietnam, Multidimensional Psychiatrist, and Water Keeper

Mental Health is a mixed bag in 2024. I'm thrilled about the community that has blossomed since I launched this podcast two years ago - especially within the Asian diaspora. However, I'm disheartened by the assembly line approach that has evolved as a by-product of the skyrocketing demand for psychiatrists, therapists, and other providers.

In this environment, Dr. Elizabeth Nguyen - a highly credentialed California-based psychiatrist - is a breath of fresh air.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dr. Nguyen had parents who were refugees from Vietnam who arrived in Honolulu in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. She received her BA from Stanford University in Human Biology, her MD from Northwestern University, and her Psychiatry Residency and Child Psychiatry Fellowship training at University of California, Davis.

She started her career in community mental health, with specific interests in cross-cultural psychiatry, the intersection of spirituality and mental health, and the healing power of water and the natural world.

Dr. Nguyen lives in Davis, California, where she is in private psychiatry practice. She is also the author of the book Aloha Vietnam, "a rich journey across the Pacific Ocean to find one’s true home and identity amidst loss, grief, and mental illness."

In this episode, we touch on numerous topics, including:

• The role of our relationship with water - both externally and within our body in optimizing mental wellness
• How resources such as Dr. Nguyen's Water Keepers community and books such as Wallace Nichols Blue Mind can help nurture our appreciation for this dynamic
• An overview of multidimensional psychiatry, as conceptualized by Dr. Nguyen: how looking at a patient's cultural background, their spiritual leanings, and other elements of their journey can provide a more effective alternative to the limited, check-the-box approach seen in the mental health field today
• Dr. Nguyen's book Aloha Vietnam, which interweaves her own lived experience with fictional narrative of a Vietnamese American refugee family that finds their way to Honolulu to provide rich insight into the Asian immigrant experience with bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.
• The importance of language in conceptualizing mental illness in other cultures - i.e., the lack of the word "bipolar" in the Vietnamese language
• Personal inclinations (i.e., a love of storytelling) that led to Dr. Nguyen choosing psychiatry as a specialty
• How the Western model of psychiatry falls short of serving its patients by only looking at the individual, as opposed to within the context of the patient's relationship with the culture and family.
• The importance of collaboration that involves investment of time from the patient as well as the provider in ensuring favorable mental health treatment outcomes

To learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Nguyen, water healing, multidimensional psychiatry, and her book, please visit multidimensionalpsychiatry.com, or connect with her on Instagram at multidimensionalpsychiatry or waterkeeperscommunity.

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