Alexus Venegas 3-13-18 Issue in the Latino/a Community Across the world’s population, mental health has recently become a problem in today’s society. This is especially the case in the Latino/a community. Some of the most commonly identified issues affecting the Latino community are, depression, chemical and substance use, domestic violence, and suicide. On the same note, teenaged Latina high school women have high rates of suicide attempts. This has become a quickly rising issue due to many Latino individuals not seeking help from programs or services that are available for many reasons. One of the main reasons that many individuals not getting assistance, is due to the lack of health insurance. …show more content…
Some of the other reasons include low acculturation and reliance on their family, religious/cultural values, lack of knowledge, language barriers, and use of indigenous resources. While Latino communities show similar case prevalence as the general population of all the other ethnic backgrounds, the amount and quality of access to treatment that is available, differs quite a lot. Due to this, there is a greater risk for more severe conditions. As a community, Overall, Latinos are more than 75% less likely to seek mental health treatment than others. First, in the Latino community, mental health issues are not commonly taught or talked about.
Many Latinos do not seek treatment because they don't recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions or know where to find help. This is an important aspect of this issue since it is impossible to know if there is a problem with ourselves if they’re not talked about to us. In turn, this increases the stigma associated with mental health issues and worry that they will be seen as weak, crazy or shameful. Even simply spreading the basic information about the common conditions, will help convince people that it is normal to be born with, or develop these …show more content…
issues. The Latino community tends to be very private and often do not want to talk in public about challenges at home. Don’t worry. Seeking mental health treatment doesn’t mean you will lose your privacy. Your diagnosis, treatment plan and discussions with your mental health providers are confidential. They cannot share this information with others without your permission. Furthermore, mental health providers are professionals that understand what you are going through. They will listen without judgment. Language barriers can make communicating with doctors difficult. Many medical professionals today do speak some medical Spanish, particularly in parts of the country with large Latino populations, but they may not necessarily understand cultural issues. If you or your loved one that needs help does not speak English, or does not speak it well, you have the right to receive language-access services at institutions that receive funding from the federal government. You have the right to request a trained interpreter and to receive forms and information in Spanish. Latinos account for one-third of the uninsured.
A significant percentage of the Latino population works low-wage jobs or is self-employed. Often these Latinos do not have health insurance. The Affordable Care Act is making it easier and more affordable to get insured. Cultural differences may lead doctors to misdiagnose Latinos. For instance, Latinos may describe the symptoms of depression as “nervios” (nervousness), tiredness or a physical ailment. These symptoms are consistent with depression, but doctors who are not aware of how culture influences mental health may not recognize that these could be signs of depression. For immigrants who arrive without documentation, the fear of deportation can prevent them from seeking help. For example, even though millions of children of undocumented immigrants are eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, most families are afraid to register. If you do not have papers, seek out clinics and resources that care for all persons. Latino-based organizations often provide services regardless of legal
status. Some Latinos heavily rely on traditional healers and home remedies to deal with health-related issues. Mental health may not be an exception. If these healing methods are important to you, do use them. However, we encourage you to seek a mental health professional or a primary care doctor. Ask your doctor to make these healing practices part of your treatment plan. Mental health professionals have experience and knowledge of effective types of treatments and what may work for you. You may use both approaches in your road to recovery. Faith and spirituality can provide support and help you deal with a mental health condition. If spirituality is important to you, talk to your doctors about how important faith is to you. Your spiritual practices can be a part of your treatment plan. Reach out to your spiritual leaders and faith community. They might be able to provide help and support during the difficult times caused by mental health conditions. At the same time, unfortunately, sometimes faith communities can be a source of additional distress if they are not well informed and do not know how to support families dealing with these conditions.
With the growing population of minorities in the United States, it is reasonable to believe that at some point in a counselor or therapist career, there will be a session with a Latino/Hispanic client. From a cultural competence perspective, it is imperative that a counselor understands the Latino/Hispanic culture and their worldviews. Counseling Latinos offer to be discussed in the paper is the case of an Alberto and Angela a Mexican American couple married for 27 years. Alberto has recently lost his job. (
All minority groups experience discrimination which leads to increased levels of stress in those individuals. As the level of stress goes up, so does the risk for several health complications including those related to mental health. Wells, Klap, Koike, and Sherbourne (2001) conducted a study examining the disparities in mental health care among black, Hispanic, and white Americans. Of those Hispanics in the study (n=617), 16.6% of them had a probable mental disorder compared to 13.4% of whites (n=7,299). Hispanics also had a higher incidence of substance abuse problems with 9% of those surveyed meeting criteria compared to 7.6% of whites. Hispanics also had the least reported perceived need for treatment with 10.4% for mental health and only 1.3% for substance abuse. A clinician treating Antonio should keep in mind that he has a higher likelihood of having a mental illness or substance use disorder than a white client as well as the fact that if he does meet the criteria for either, that he probably does not believe he needs
As the Latino population in the United States continues to grow, U.S. Census Bureau, 2001, increasing attention is being turned toward understanding the risk and protective factors of immigrant Latino and U.S.-born Latino children and families. The demographic data relating to Latinos in the United States estimate that one of every two people added to the U.S population was Latino, in July 2009 Latino population was the fastest growing minority group U.S Census Bureau, 2010. Despite the increased risk of growing the immigrant families are in lower risk of Social Economic Status, having parents with less education and limited with language and knowledge about education. Immigrating to one place to another is often the most stressful event
In comparison to other migrating groups, Latinos have had different experiences that have prevented them from completely assimilating into American society. Throughout our history and presently, Latinos continue to face acts of cruelty and...
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, most Americans are concerned with their private insurance or the benefits with Medicaid or CHIP. However, there is another population that was left out of the new bill almost entirely: undocumented immigrants. There is an ongoing debate as to whether illegal immigrants should be eligible for public health care benefits presented in ACA. The two viewpoints are obvious: to give illegal immigrants health insurance and allow them to reap the benefits of a public healthcare system or to not. However, the issue is not so simple. There is a large group of people whose lives will forever be affected by the decision made on the issue.
Social problems include difficulties with family relationships, isolation, interpersonal conflicts, and pressures of social roles. The Latino culture tends to place a higher premium on the well-being of the family unit over that of any one family member, a concept termed familialism (Smith & Montilla, 2006). In general, familialism emphasizes interdependence and connectedness in the family, and often extends familial ties beyond the nuclear family (Falicov, 1998). Given these values, Latinos often describe depression in terms of social withdrawal and isolation (Letamendi, et al., 2013). Social roles also play an important role in mental health, traditional gender roles in particular are strongly enforced and can be a source of distress. In Latino culture, men and women are expected to fulfill the roles outlined in the traditions of Machismo and Marianismo respectively. Machismo indicates that the man is supposed to be strong and authoritative, while Marianismo designates the woman as the heart of the family both morally and emotionally (Dreby, 2006). Although there is little research on causal factors, adherence to these traditional gender roles can pose a psychological burden and has been found to be strong predictor of depression (Nuñez, et al., 2015). The centrality of social problems in the conceptualization of depression for Latinos may be reflective of the collectivistic values that are characteristic of the group. Although these values have the potential to contribute to depression, they also have the potential to serve as protective factors and promote mental health (Holleran & Waller, 2003). Therefore, it is imperative that the counselor carefully consider cultural values, both in terms of potential benefits and drawbacks, to provide appropriate counseling to the Latino
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
Part I: What I Know and What I Want to Know The Latino community, from immigrating to United States born Latinos, are often known to be depressed. Depression is a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of sadness and lack of interest, it affects how the person feels, behaves and thinks. Many Latinos rely on their extended family, community, traditional healers, or churches for help during a health crisis. As a result, many Latinos with mental illnesses often go without professional mental health treatment. But why is it that Latinos are so reluctant to receive help?
The culture I was born and raised on was that of Mexican-American culture. My parents were born and raised in Mexico, and when they came to America and had kids, they instilled a hybrid of their culture, and American culture, in us. They were each raised in the Mexican culture, but wanted us to be raised as Americans also, and added this to our upbringing.
Piedra, L.M., Andrade, C.D., & Larrison, C.R. (2011). Building response capacity: The need for universally available language services. In L.P. Buki, & L.M. Piedra (Eds.), Creating Infrastructures for Latino Mental Health, Part 1 (pp. 55-75). New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media, LLC. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419- 9452-3_3
Rogler, L. H., D. E. Cortes, et al. (1991). "Acculturation and mental health status among Hispanics. Convergence and new directions for research." Am Psychol 46(6): 585-597.
Mental health care disparities can be rooted in inequalities in access to good providers, differences in insurance coverage, or discrimination by health professionals in the clinical encounter (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Surely, those who are affected by these disparities are minorities Blacks and Latinos compare to Whites. Due to higher rates of poverty and poor health among United States minorities compared with whites. Moreover, the fact that poverty and poor health are
From the beginning of the United States, immigrants have always played an integral role. The nation itself was built on immigration, whether to escape persecution or war; however, the United States, as it progressed has had instances where immigrant groups have had issues assimilating into society whether due to the political wave running through the nation or from an economic depression. One group, that has been experiencing this difficulty assimilating into society has been Mexicans who have, since the beginning of the 1960’s, have been coming over in droves to escape the poverty, corruption, and drugs that run rampant in Mexico. So, although the United States was established on immigration, the United States has had an issue with the incoming
Latinos face a lot of discrimination when they come to the united stated or they try to assimilate to the American culture. Most immigrants have to deal with the police investigating them because they think they are all drug dealers or are in some type of illegal organization. They also have to deal with people calling them names because of their skin color. Americans also accuse Hispanics of stealing their jobs (Ramos, 53). They also face seeing racist graffiti on homes or wall of a building and they have to face hate crimes (Plunkett, 15). They sometimes get excluded from white communities (Plunkett, 39). Latinos are also blamed for serious problems the country faces (Ramos, 195). There are reasons for Americans to discriminate Latinos and reasons why they shouldn’t discriminate them.
Today, the numbers of people with mental health issues are considerably high. The problem increases the national and global social and economic burdens as governments try to find means of empowering the people with the issue and solve the problem. Today, one in five adults in the United States has a mental health problem (“Mental Health Facts,” 2016). “Mental Health Facts” (2016) also states that the adults that received mental health services are about 60%. Only 50% of the youth with mental health issues received mental health services in the previous year. Further, mental health issues are also related to drug use and addiction. Of all the mental illnesses and disorders, depression affects the most people and has the biggest burden globally. Due to the increasing burden and the gap in service utilization, the mental health policy seeks to address several factors. Some of the key issues to address include early diagnosis of mental disorders, provision of appropriate and adequate intervention a particular problem, education and counseling for the family members, and research to help reduce the numbers and reverse the trend. Another key area of focus is the use of mass media to create awareness about mental health issues and help clear the