Dear Editor, Individuals diagnosed with a severe mental illness (SMI) hold a significantly increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (Teasdale et al., 2017; Gurusamy et al., 2018). Elevated cardiovascular risk for individuals diagnosed with SMI may be attributable to numerous factors, prominently including a cluster of clinical features that define the metabolic syndrome (MetS): abdominal adiposity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, hypertension, and impaired fasting glucose/ diabetes (Kucerova et al., 2015). The incidence rate of MetS and obesity among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia has been estimated to be as high as 54% and 40–50% respectively, twice that observed in the general population (Gurusamy et al., 2018;Fan et al., 2010).

PURPOSE: The present study sought to examine the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders comparing Asian American (AA) and non-Hispanic Whites (WNH) drawn from a population accessing a large general hospital for any reason. Socio-demographic predictors of diagnosis and treatment were also explored. METHODS: Data were obtained from de-identified medical records in the Partner Health Care System's Research Patient Data Registry. RESULTS: The final sample included 345,070 self-identified WNH and 16,418 self-identified AA's between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. WNH patients were more likely than AA patients to carry a diagnosis of a mental disorder (18.1% vs. 8.6%, p < 0.0001) and were more likely to receive psychotropic medication treatment (15.0% vs 8.5%, p < 0.0001). Logistic regression analyses of the AA cohort identified several risk factors (i.e. language, religion, gender, age) predicting the diagnosis of a mental disorder or use of psychotropic medication. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings on the racial disparity in mental disorder diagnosis and treatment between AA and WNH patients suggest that mental disorders are under-recognized and mental health services are under-utilized in the AA community. There remains a need for health care providers to improve screening services and to gain a better understanding of the cultural barriers that hinder mental health care among AA patients.

Mindfulness intervention is a psychotherapy based on the Buddhist practice of meditation, combining the theories and methodology of contemporary psychology. The empirical research in recent years has indicated that mindfulness intervention yields favorable results including reduction of depression relapse, alleviation of the symptoms of depression and anxiety, reduction of substance abuse, relief of pain, blood pressure management, enhancement of immunity, and improvement of sleep. Currently, mindfulness therapy has become the mainstream of psychotherapy in the realm of European and American psychotherapy. The fields of psychology and psychotherapy in China have also begun to introduce mindfulness intervention in recent years. However, there is a lack of relevant practice and research in the field of clinical mental health. This article will briefly introduce the concept of mindfulness, the basic mechanism of the intervention, and the basic skills and guidelines in clinical practice.