What do Hispanics fear more than a friend arriving on time (or even worse, EARLY) to the party they are hosting? The answer: talking about mental illnesses! As much as Hispanics turn a blind eye to being “on time”, they close both eyes to any sort of conversation about mental illnesses or therapy. And trust me, it’s not because Hispanics are somehow immune to mental health illnesses. It’s largely due to the fact that, culturally, Hispanics tend to prioritize personal resilience over vulnerability; which puts them in a position where “asking for help” is the last option.
Growing up in a Mexican household, this was very much the case. Any time anyone wasn’t feeling mentally well, the answer was something like “eat some pozole, you’ll feel better”. For more extreme displays of mental issues, one was called ‘loco’ and silently dismissed. These examples are becoming more and more problematic as the rate of mental illnesses becomes pervasive across all ethnic groups.
In the United States alone, more than 16% of the Latinx community struggles with a mental health condition. This is nearly 10 million people. This is roughly the population of a country like Greece or Sweden. Imagine if everyone in Greece had a mental health illness and no one sought help or at the very least, therapy!? Those picturesque, well-visited islands, like Santorini, would cease to exist. And while mental health doesn’t discriminate against any one community, it does affect non-White populations at prolonged rates.
Stigma plays an antagonist role here and starts the domino effect: stigma can mean it’s taboo to talk about, read about, or even think about how you might be struggling with depression, anxiety, anger issues, or even an eating disorder. Then, this stigma can further lead to lack of information easily and readily available.
Read more at Forbes.com.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.