Depression in the Latino Community

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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 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 per 100,000 non-Hispanic whites.” Coming along this information completely amazed me, knowing that there is a vast difference between Latino and non-Hispanic white mental health providers is shocking. I am writing this research paper because I want to learn more of why the Latino community is vulnerable of being diagnosed with severe major depression. Why is it more likely for a Latino immigrants to be depressed? Does acculturation have to do anything with Latinos being diagnosed with depression? The main question I want to focus on is what are the many reasons Latinos who have immigrated to the United States fall into depression? In order to answer my major question I want to discover information I don’t know about yet, find statistics, and possibly resolutions to better improve Latinos mental health. I became interested in the topic of depression among the Latino community because I know and have met many other Latinos suffering from major depression. From the people I have met throughout m... ... middle of paper ... ... Women." Journal Of The American Academy Of Nurse Practitioners 24.12 (2012): 726-734. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. Linderman, Robert, Charles Mouton, and Melissa Talamantes. "Health and Health Care of Hispanic/Latino American." Stanford University. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. . Saulsberry, Alexandria, et al. "Chicago Urban Resiliency Building (CURB): An Internet-Based Depression-Prevention Intervention For Urban African-American And Latino Adolescents." Journal Of Child & Family Studies 22.1 (2013): 150-160. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. Stacciarini, Jeanne-Marie R. "A Review Of Community-Based Participatory Research: A Promising Approach To Address Depression Among Latinos?." Issues In Mental Health Nursing 30.12 (2009): 751-757. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

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