Mental Illness: Recognizing Culture Analysis

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 treatment. But why is it that Latinos are so reluctant to receiving help? Sheila Dichoso states that, “there are only 29 Latino mental-health professionals for every 100,000 Latinos in the United States, compared to 173 non-Hispanic white providers

Many cultural beliefs and values are held about mental illness and health in Americans of

Across the country, a steady increase has been noted in the number of patients presenting to emergency departments for psychiatric complaints (Zun, 2014). Patients also attempt to use their primary care doctors to treat their mental illnesses. The mental health care options for these patients are extremely limited, especially for minority populations such as African Americans and Hispanics. One out of four adults in America suffers from some form of mental illness, yet only one out of three of those affected receives treatment (Safran, 2009). Furthermore, patients are routinely misdiagnosed, receive poor quality of care, receive care from providers who have no understanding of their cultures and values, or are not even able to receive care in the first place (Sanchez, 2012).

Underutilization and early termination of mental health services for Latinos in the U.S continues to be a concern for current research and practice in social work. A synthesis of current research demonstrates that there are several factors impacting access and utilization of mental health services for Latinos. According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services (2001), although Latinos are at increased vulnerability for developing mental illness, they continue to be half as likely in comparison to whites to access mental health services. Low rates of utilization of mental health services among the Latino community can be associated to a variety of factors including socioeconomic factors, cultural variables, stigma, psychotherapeutic challenges, client-therapist interaction (Kouyoumdjian, Zamboanga, & Hansen, 2003). Mental health conditions can significantly impact and individual’s ability to function and achieve their highest potential, consideration of these factors is essential in order to address the needs of a vulnerable population, and support Latinos in accessing mental health services when needed. This learning brief will focus on exploring how client system factors specific to Latinos’ resources, culture and worldview are associated with the underutilization of services for Latinos and important implications for practitioners when providing treatment.

3. Differences in values and beliefs define a person's choice for mental and physical health care. “Because health care is a cultural construct, arising from beliefs about the nature of disease and the human body, cultural issues are actually central in the delivery of health services treatment and preventive interventions” (Office of Minority Health, 2005, p. 6). It is important to acknowledge that Esmeralda fits into two categories of minority because Esmeralda is a Latina. It is important to know that Hispanic women are less likely to make full use of many social services even when they are provided to them. Hispanics normally are family oriented and that means Esmeralda will probably want to involve her family in any treatment program she

Instead of seeking mental health services for emotional or psychological concern, Latinos tend to seek medical care services from a physician. Both (Gelman, 2005; Bedoya, 2014; Organista, 1995) portray Latinos favoring mental health services through primary care than a mental health care setting. Many Latinos misinterpret physical symptoms as a medical illness when, in fact, it may be due to psychological condition. It is not uncommon for Latinos to mainly present mental issues as physical complaints (González-Prendes, Hindo, & Pardo, 2011, p. 380). Similarly Kanter et al. (2008) states, “Depression in Latino immigrants with low acculturation often is characterized somatic complaints with less awareness and identification of psychological symptoms”

Mental health illnesses affect everyone. It is highly prevalent affecting people of all ages, gender, cultures, and social groups. Attitudes towards mental health illnesses vary among individuals and often are highly influenced by the various cultures that the individuals identify with. Culture as a social concept can be defined as a set of norms, values, behaviours, and beliefs that are common and shared amongst a group of individuals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). Culture can be applicable to groups like Asians and Americans but also to groups of shared norms, beliefs, and values established within professions such as the culture of patients and practitioners. Culture provides these groups with structure and context to understanding their society and the world as a whole. Culture influence a wide range of aspects of mental health, including how mental health is perceived by the patient, how the patient will experience mental health stigma, and how they cope with symptoms of mental health illness. Additionally, these cultural influences impact the relationship between the patient and the practitioner in a number of ways.

Some social factors that contribute to the failure to provide culturally competent mental health care comes from: changing

The Latino culture takes a more monistic approach to the mind-body problem. This may affect the ways in which depression is experienced and expressed. For example, studies have found that Latinos are more likely to express psychological distress in somatic terms such as lack of energy, sleep disturbances, and body aches (Martinez Tyson, Castaneda, Porter, Quiroz, & Carrion, 2011). Additionally, studies find that Latinos are more likely to take a holistic approach to healing as evidenced by the principle of “mente sana en cuerpo sano y alma sana’ (healthy mind in healthy body and healthy soul) which communicates the strong connection between mind, body, and soul (Comas-Diaz, 2006). This suggests that a purely physical approach to therapy may not be well-received by the Latino client, and is supported by studies showing Latino patients feel apprehensive towards being treated with anti-depressants even when they have positive attitudes towards receiving treatment for depression (Cabassa, Lester, & Zayas, 2007). Understanding the client’s perception of the self is important in diagnosing and treating depression. Therefore, an effective therapist must be able to understand and incorporate the client’s worldview throughout the therapeutic process.

Patients and their Families that in all aspects of health and mental health care workers interact with patients from many different cultures. This paper introduced an assessment tool for health care professionals to advance understanding of culturally diverse patients and their families. This article applies the culturagram to work with patients and their families in health and mental health settings. The culturagram is a family assessment instrument. It was discussed in this journal article and was originally developed to help social workers understand culturally diverse clients and their families. During the last seven years the culturagram has been applied to work with people of color, battered women, children, and older people.

Studies have shown that the population with Mexican origins presents lower rates of admission in hospitals specializing in mental health. These results have raised discussions on whether the lower number of Mexican-Americans admitted to these hospitals is due to a lower occurrence of mental disorders or to a lower number of individuals making use of this type of services. Others find that one of the factors that stop Hispanic immigrants from reporting mental health problems and seeking professional help to solve them is the difficulty to communicate in the English language. Generally, For Mexican immigrants, there are indications that individuals’ risk of mental health could be different than

In addition to these systemic barriers, there are also cultural barriers. A cultural barrier Vermette, Shetgiri, Al Zuheiri, & Flores (2015) cited was the concept of preventative care. Often parents would delay taking a child to the doctor just because the child was healthy, and they had trouble understanding why they would take their child to the doctor if the child was not sick. Related to mental health care, cultural barriers may make it difficult for one to visit a psychologist. For instance, one interviewee stated that culturally, it is unacceptable for a person to seek mental health services because of a ‘pride issue.’ They say that people are ‘too proud’ to admit that they are in need of mental health services (Vermette, Shetgiri, Al

Transcultural psychiatry studies how culture influences presentations of mental disorders and response to treatment. The understanding of concepts in transcultural psychiatry is crucial for psychiatrists in training in the UK, given the multicultural and multi-ethnic nature of UK society.

cultural conflict with high degree of mental illness, anomie and delinquency. Robbins builds his case on the idea that adolescents’ good English learning can lead to good performance at school through learning from other peer formal language, adjust to social norms such as dress and behavior (Lum, 1993 cited in Henkin, Santiago, Sonkowsky, and Tunick 2000). Robbins’s findings show extra attention demand from the boys through misbehaving and requiring extra discipline in his own EAL class. Robbins (2004) also finds a great deal of classroom competition despite the collectiveness of the Vietnamese culture and the unit concept among families (Freeman, 1975-1995). Boys also argued more than girls with physical fighting. On the other hand, girls had more ability to learn through collaborative and cooperative assignment actions, whereas boys established and maintained relations through showing and demanding their own identity (Ellis 2004). Boys were also more assertive, while girls kept calm and spoke softly.

How Pacific Families influence the recovery process of those who seek services provided by Mental Health.