Cultural Considerations In Latino American Mental Health

In America's increasingly diverse society, it is imperative that mental health providers prioritize the development of their cultural competence to assure that they are equipped to meet the needs of their clients. Cultural Considerations in Latino American Mental Health offers a broad array of perspectives from clinicians and researchers actively working with racially and ethnically diverse populations. This book addresses psychosocial cultural issues that impact the mental health of the growing Latino American population. Topics discussed include relevant socio-demographic variables for Latinos and the implications of the steadily increasing Latino population in the United States; cultural values, acculturation, and acculturative stress in the lives of Latino adolescents; culturally responsive intervention of depression in Latino adolescents; depression across the lifespan; and cultural factors in the development of substance abuse issues in the Latino adolescent population. This book is a must-read for mental health clinicians, students, community workers, school counselors, and nurses who work with diverse populations.

In America's increasingly diverse society, it is imperative that mental health providers prioritize the development of their cultural competence to assure that they are equipped to meet the needs of their clients. Cultural Considerations in Latino American Mental Health offers a broad array of perspectives from clinicians and researchers actively working with racially and ethnically diverse populations. This book addresses psychosocial cultural issues that impact the mental health of the growing Latino American population. Topics discussed include relevant socio-demographic variables for Latinos and the implications of the steadily increasing Latino population in the United States; cultural values, acculturation, and acculturative stress in the lives of Latino adolescents; culturally responsive intervention of depression in Latino adolescents; depression across the lifespan; and cultural factors in the development of substance abuse issues in the Latino adolescent population. This book is a must-read for mental health clinicians, students, community workers, school counselors, and nurses who work with diverse populations.

Advancing work to effectively study, understand, and serve the fastest growing U.S. ethnic minority population, this volume explicitly emphasizes the racial and ethnic diversity within this heterogeneous cultural group. The focus is on the complex historical roots of contemporary Latino/as, their diversity in skin-color and physiognomy, racial identity, ethnic identity, gender differences, immigration patterns, and acculturation. The work highlights how the complexities inherent in the diverse Latino/a experience, as specified throughout the topics covered in this volume, become critical elements of culturally responsive and racially conscious mental health treatment approaches. By addressing the complexities, within-group differences, and racially heterogeneity characteristic of U.S. Latino/as, this volume makes a significant contribution to the literature related to mental health treatments and interventions.

In America's increasingly diverse society, it is imperative that mental health providers prioritize the development of their cultural competence to assure that they are equipped to meet the needs of their clients. Cultural Considerations in Asian and Pacific Islander American Mental Health offers a broad array of perspectives from clinicians and researchers actively working with racially/ethnically diverse populations. This book addresses psychosocial cultural issues that impact the mental health of the growing Asian American population. The book opens with the concept of what and who is an Asian American, as well as the myriad distinctions and differences among various Asian groups. Covered chapter topics include a historical overview of the diverse populations among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans; a discussion of the tensions and similarities between empirically supported treatments and cultural competence; Asian and Pacific Islander American elders and depression; and a psychodynamic perspective regarding the treatment of dual diagnosis with an Asian American client. This book is a must-read for mental health clinicians, students, community workers, school counselors, and nurses who work with diverse populations.

The publication of the Cultural Formulation Outline in the DSM-IV represented a significant event in the history of standard diagnostic systems. It was the first systematic attempt at placing cultural and contextual factors as an integral component of the diagnostic process. The year was 1994 and its coming was ripe since the multicultural explosion due to migration, refugees, and globalization on the ethnic composition of the U.S. population made it compelling to strive for culturally attuned psychiatric care. Understanding the limitations of a dry symptomatological approach in helping clinicians grasp the intricacies of the experience, presentation, and course of mental illness, the NIMH Group on Culture and Diagnosis proposed to appraise, in close collaboration with the patient, the cultural framework of the patient's identity, illness experience, contextual factors, and clinician-patient relationship, and to narrate this along the lines of five major domains. By articulating the patient's experience and the standard symptomatological description of a case, the clinician may be better able to arrive at a more useful understanding of the case for clinical care purposes. Furthermore, attending to the context of the illness and the person of the patient may additionally enhance understanding of the case and enrich the database from which effective treatment can be planned. This reader is a rich collection of chapters relevant to the DSM-IV Cultural Formulation that covers the Cultural Formulation's historical and conceptual background, development, and characteristics. In addition, the reader discusses the prospects of the Cultural Formulation and provides clinical case illustrations of its utility in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Book jacket.

Essential reading for health and mental health administrators, community agencies, and policy makers as well as students and general interest readers, this book details the state of the physical and mental health of many Latina/o American groups. While Latina/o Americans originate from more than 25 countries, most health or mental health texts largely focus on Mexican Americans and often fail to address other Latina/o groups, such as South Americans, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, and others. Moreover, most works address either health or mental health, but not both together. In contrast, Latina/o American Health and Mental Health addresses both the health and mental health of diverse Latina/o heritage groups. An interdisciplinary approach enables readers to identify both similar and divergent areas that affect the health and mental health of Latina/o Americans. Strengths-based and social justice perspectives, rather than a deficit perspective, guide the work in its assessment of disparities among treatment for different groups. This text is ideal for graduate students, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in public health, community health, family studies, psychology, counseling, social work, and Latina/o studies who are interested in understanding Latina/o health and mental health in the United States and providing culturally responsive services.

This chapter provides an overview of research on the mental health of Latinos in the United States with emphasis on the cultural constructs and theories with relevance for assessment and intervention with this population. A distinction is made between factors that confer advantages and those that may increase vulnerability at both the individual and environmental levels. This chapter suggests that treatment considerations need to be tailored based on individual needs that incorporate complexities of culture and gender so that clients are not viewed in a stereotypical manner. This discussion is followed by a summary of contemporary research rooted in positive and resilience psychology in order to build on strengths within the culture, such as positive ethnic identity, civic engagement, family support, bicultural teaching in the home, spirituality, and storytelling.