Poverty, language, immigration status, acculturation, and a lack of cultural competency among some mental health providers are just some of the reasons the nonprofit NAMI said Hispanic and Latin Americans aren’t able to get the care they need. Then, there’s stigma and shame surrounding mental illness.
“We don’t want to be labeled as the weak, as the locos or whatnot, and we don’t really reach out, and we don’t really talk about it,” Ivan Sanchez, founder of the Houston Millennials networking group, said.
According to NAMI, 35.1% of Hispanic and Latin American adults with mental illness receive treatment annually, compared to the U.S. average of 46.2%.
“In the Latino community, some of that could be related to the macho culture, that, for example, men don’t look for help for mental illness,” Dr. Cristian Zeni, with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, said.
Read more at ABC13.com.
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