She stayed quiet for years, burying the pain she suffered while growing up in an emotionally abusive family in Shanghai, China.
"Lucy," who doesn't want her real name published, now lives in Canada, where she was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a mental illness that includes symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder.
Lucy says although she told her parents about her pain, she was forced to stay silent.
"I told my parents but my parents didn't understand what was going on and they just ignored me," she told CTV Toronto.
Lucy's story is not unique. While there has been a growing effort in Canada in recent years to reduce the stigma toward mental illness, experts say there continues to be fear and suspicion of mental health programs among immigrant families.
"They usually have a pretty narrow view of mental illness as something that's not talked about, something that's shameful to the family – maybe associated with violence or bad stories in the media," said Dr. Ken Fung, the clinical director of the Asian Initiative in Mental Health at Toronto's Western Hospital.
The mental health program, which is tailored to people of Chinese background, is one of the hospital's initiatives that takes into consideration a patient's native tongue and cultural background. Western Hospital also offers a special mental health clinic for the city's Portuguese community.
Fung says these types of programs are helping him develop a cross-cultural psychiatry model to successfully treat patients like Lucy. In recent years, he says the hospital has been able to help more patients who have been institutionalized for the past five to 10 years, allowing them to re-integrate with the community.
He says the hospital's success rate may also be linked to a growing openness among some new immigrants about mental illness and the need for treatment.
At a recent conference, Ming Kan Leung spoke about his struggle with depression and the pressures he faced as a student.
"I heard the voices and I could not finish the exam … I had to go hospital because I had suicidal symptoms," Leung said.
The York University student said it took years for his family to accept that he needed regular mental health treatment.
Leung continues to take medication to treat his depression and he's working with a student group to promote mental health awareness at York.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Pauline Chan
