Within the mental health treatment field there is an underutilization of services by Asian Americans. Researchers have questioned how to lessen the gap between the number of Asian Americans who need mental health services and the significantly lower number who successfully use these services. A review of current research points out that matching Asian Americans with their therapists by ethnicity, gender, and language increases the measures of therapy effectiveness. It also points out that Asian Americans expect and favor more directive, paternalistic, pragmatic therapies. Asian Americans are also more willing to participate in the mental health treatment of their schizophrenic family members. Studies have discovered that specialized mental health programs that attempt to provide culturally appropriate services increase treatment effectiveness with Asian American clients without compromising the treatment of Caucasian clients. (Contains 55 references.) (JDM)