¿Eres Loco?: Mental Health in the Latino Community

image courtesy of nami.org

As one of the few bilingual staff in my department, I handle most of the Spanish speaking callers, which are few in number, and handle SPARC's Spanish sister Facebook page, PSyC, which receives much less attention than its English counterpart. This revelations is concerning, considering that the area that we serve has a heavy Latino population, but Latinos are under-represented in our system of care. Today, I hope to shed some light as to why this may be.

Education and Stigma
In the U.S., Latinos are the least likely racial group to graduate high school or attend college. This means that Latinos are least exposed to information about mental disorders. Depression may only be seen as simple sadness, anxiety as stress, and mood disorders as a lack of self-control and so on. All of these are perceived as something that could, and should, be taken care of by the individual experiencing them.

This lack of understanding only serves to feed the popular stigma held by many Latinos, which is that any mental illness falls under the generalized umbrella of being loco. Anyone undergoing some kind of mental health service would be perceived as crazy, which is enough to keep someone from seeking much needed help.

Tradition and Religion
Another set-back to seeking help is that superstition is alive and well in Latin America. Mental disorders maybe mistaken for curses or demonic possessions. Because of this and for other reasons, many Latinos turn to their church for help. While religion can be extremely helpful in finding life meaning and spiritual peace, it should not be used in favor of medicine or science. For anyone reading this who believes that they can pray their sickness away through some miracle, I say to you, do not undermine the miracles that God has already bestowed upon the world through modern medicine and the knowledge of trained professionals.

Culture and Family
One good thing about growing up Latino are the family values. Latino America tends to be more of a collectivist culture, as opposed to the U.S.'s individualistic culture. In collectivist cultures, emphasis is put on familial perseverance rather than individual gain. As a result, Latino families tend to be more supportive and more strongly bonded. The fact that foreign-born Latinos are less likely to experience suicidal ideations¹ is consistent with the interpersonal theory of suicide, which states that a perceived lack of social support is necessary for one to desire death².

The best way to combat these barriers is through knowledge and understanding. Visit our Facebook SPARC page for posts relating to mental health and suicide. For information in Spanish, visit our Spanish page, PSyC-Prevención Suicidal y Conocimiento.

If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts and would like to receive help, call our suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-991-5272 or 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish.

References
1. Swanson JW, Linskey AO, Quintero-Salinas R, Pumariega AJ, Holzer CE. A Bi-National School Survey of Depressive Symptom, Drug Use and Suicidal Ideation. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 1992; 31: 669-678.

2. Van Orden, K. A., Witte, T. K., Cukrowicz, K. C., Braithwaite, S., Selby, E. A., & Joiner, T. E. (2010). The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. Psychological Review, 117(2), 575–600. doi:10.1037/a0018697