Patterns That Remain: A Guide to Healing for Asian Children of Immigrants

This empowering book blends history, storytelling, and culturally grounded techniques to equip readers with the tools needed to promote self-reflection, personal growth, and diasporic healing.

Asian Americans represent the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, yet few books capture how historical events, immigration experiences, cultural values, and unhelpful generational patterns contribute to this group’s thoughts, attitudes, and actions in ways that impact relationships, well-being, and psychological health.

In Patterns That Remain, Stacey Diane Arañez Litam empowers readers to heal from diasporic wounds and become people, partners, and parents who embody abundance mentalities grounded in joy, balance, and gratitude. This unique book combines complex and nuanced facets of Asian American history, research, and therapeutic modalities in ways that validate Asian American worldviews and promote a deep sense of universality and community. Each chapter addresses culturally relevant topics among Asian Americans and children of Asian immigrants and is informed by academic research in addition to author-conducted interviews with diverse Asian American community members and thought leaders. The book effortlessly blends history, storytelling, and culturally grounded perspectives to provide an inspirational, validating, and practical framework toward healing.

Informed by Litam’s lived experiences as a Filipina and Chinese immigrant as well as by her professional identities as a professor, researcher, and mental health clinician, Patterns That Remain provides the foundation for timely conversations and centers the importance of healing, personal growth, and unlocking the power behind our stories.

Stacey Diane Arañez Litam, PhD, is Associate Professor of Counselor Education at Cleveland State University, a licensed professional clinical counselor, and a clinical sexologist. As an immigrant and Filipinx American woman, Litam is passionate about the power of storytelling and promoting equity among marginalized communities. She is an award-winning speaker, researcher, consultant, and content expert on topics related to mental health, sexual well-being, multiculturalism, and Asian American concerns. She has contributed to more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and has written extensively on anti-Asian discrimination and human sexuality.