With over two decades of experience as a board-certified, licensed psychologist, Dr. Jenny Yip has become a nationally recognized expert in behavioral and cognitive psychology. Shaped by personal experience and professional expertise, Dr. Yip's approach makes her a trusted figure in the realms of OCD, anxiety, and parenting stress.

Her dedication extends beyond her office; Dr. Yip is a prolific author and engaging speaker, sharing her insights and advice through her books, including her latest, Hello Baby, Goodbye Intrusive Thoughts, as well as through her podcast, The Stress-Less Life.

We spoke with Dr. Yip about improving mental well-being, mindfulness and reducing anxiety.

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Are there particular mental health issues that seem to impact the AAPI community more than others?

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health conditions to affect all Americans, that doesn't exclude any race, ethnicity, or gender. Asians are included in that, but I would say that one of the big problems that we see is that in Asian culture, there's a lot of stigma around mental health, so it's not spoken about. Therefore, even though you might not recognize it and you might minimize a lot of the symptoms, it still affects Asians just the same.

In a lot of Asian cultures, it's not a big deal to be anxious. A lot of symptoms are minimized. But in Asian culture, I would say that a lot of the symptoms come out somatically. Within the Asian population, instead of saying that I'm sad and anxious, it comes out in physical symptoms. In the Asian population, somatoform disorders are actually more prevalent. It's more accepted to have a physical symptom than it is to have an emotional or mental health symptom. But nevertheless, that doesn't mean that anxiety or depression isn't underlying the physical symptoms. Our mind and body are connected, so your mental health symptoms are going to come out one way or another. For a lot of Asians, it comes out in physical form.

Anxiety seems to be at an all-time high for just about everyone, whether it’s school-, family- or work-related. At what point should someone seek professional help?

When it interferes with your functioning, family life, your ability to attend to work or school, or if you find that you're more isolated or socially withdrawn because of anxiety then it's time to seek professional help. If it's interrupting your sleep, eating habits, focus and attention, and your enjoyment of previously enjoyable activities, then it's time to seek help.

Raising children is rewarding, but also stressful. How can parents keep their own anxiety in check while parenting?

Your children are always watching you. As parents, we are role models to our children. We have to realize that our biggest job as parents is to prepare our children for real life.

Recognize that you have to determine what are your values, as a parent, to instill in your children. As a mother myself, I constantly have to check in with myself: Am I role-modeling those values to my own children? Whether it's kindness, compassion, or being resilient. I have to role model self-care to my children, too. I don't want my children to be workaholics or to have unhealthy behaviors. It's taking time to reflect on what your values are as a person, as a parent, as a family, and just recognizing and being aware that your children are always watching. Are you role modeling what you want to instill?

Anxiety can come out in all sorts of ways. If you tend to be intense about certain things, your children will know. Children are so perceptive; they'll notice everything.

On the other hand, you don't want your children to see you as a robot. You want your children to see you deal with life's challenges in a healthy way. When you're anxious, you can let your children know: "There's something that I'm just a little worried about, and I'm going to take care of it. I just need some time to figure it out. I need to use my tools and go and take a walk."

Whatever it is that you do to manage your anxiety, it's okay to share with your children, because then you're telling them, "I don't have to be stuck when I'm feeling a certain way. I can also develop tools to manage uncomfortable situations."

You have to learn how to have firm emotional boundaries. Your emotions are your emotions. You don't have to let that spill over to your children, but you also can show your children that you have ways to manage your uncomfortable emotions, because we will all experience uncomfortable emotions.

Is there a difference between emotional and mental health?

Mental health is going to translate into emotional health. They are very much aligned together. Your mental health will influence your emotional health, which will influence your physical health.

You have to have strong mental health, so that you can be emotionally healthy as well as physically healthy. If you don't have your mental wellness, you are not going to be well emotionally, and it's going to come out in physical ailments.

What are some things that we can do to improve our mental state?

1) Awareness: taking time to reflect on what's happening in our lives, and if there are some things that we are bothered by.

2) Recognizing what triggers our unwellness.

3) Problem solving for those triggers, which might include finding professional help when we're having trouble problem solving.

4) Avoid avoidance: If we're avoiding, three things are happening. First, the source of our avoidance becomes more powerful. Second, we never get the corrective feedback that we actually have what it takes to handle this problem. Third, avoidance doesn't solve any problem, and in fact, it will create a bigger problem.

Whatever the source of avoidance is, if we're avoiding it, it's just going to magnify and become more problematic. So, avoid avoidance for those three reasons.

How do you reset after a stressful day?

It depends on what my source of the stressor is. If it's my children, one of the ways that I reset is look at their baby videos. As a mother, I have to remember why I had children, remember my connection with them, and how I genuinely feel about my children. I go back to the times when they couldn't talk back to me, when they needed me, and they were my world. I go back to my baby videos and photos to remind myself of the bond that I had with them.

I have to remember to set healthy, emotional and mental boundaries with them and with myself as a mother, which you can find in my book.

If it's a work stressor, I still have to set healthy, emotional, and mental boundaries. When I go home, I have to shift my mindset away from work. It's a practice. You have to turn off that part of your brain. It's like practicing to shut your laptop down or turning off your phone when you're with your family. It's hard to do, but it takes practice and you have to work on that.

It's also mindfulness; being mindful about where you are, who you're with, what environment you're in. If I am completely present with my family, then I cannot also be present at work. It's a mental shift.

If I'm really worried about something at work, I do a worry time. Take 15 minutes and write your worry statements by hand -- not typing, writing. You're tiring your worried brain out, and you're putting your worries on paper so that you can reflect back on it. When you're ruminating, it's like a runaway train. There's no beginning or end. When you're doing worry statements, you're literally making stops along the way because you can only write so fast.

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Cover photo and photo by Justin Edwards