Lifestyle Opinions

By: Alyssa Velasquez

First and foremost, Happy Hispanic Heritage Month to ALL of the Hispanic and Latino cultures! I believe it is essential to acknowledge the lifestyle and community this month, in honor of our celebration.

In this weeks post, I am going to be elaborating on Hispanic/Latino culture and its terms with mental health.

As an admonition, I may not touch upon certian topics, or not go so much into depth because the point that I want to get across is how the Hispanic/Latino cultrue views mental health.

A Quick Definition

What is Hispanic Heritage Month?

According to the National Museum of the American Latino, it is “a month-long celebration of Hispanic and Latino history and culture.” This includes recognition with work/labor appreciation, art, traditional food, and much more.

What is the (broad definition) of Mental Health?

Mental Health branches out to multiple sub-definitions that are more complex and require further explanation, but typically, mental health is ” a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO). We all share traits of good and bad mental health habits that affect our everyday lives, but some cultrues recognize it more than others.

The Hispanic/Latino outlook on Mental Health

Typically, it is known within the Hispanic and Latino communities that Mental Health is often looked down upon when it is brought up in conversation. There are multiple reasons why this occurs.

It is a generational trauma. Most Hispanics/Latinos here in America have the same story, either they themselves or their ancestors, crossed or sailed to the borders to achieve one thing, the American Dream. They have had to work in a country that was (and still is) continuously racist towards them and saw them as inferior. Doing double the work to make a living but getting little pay. At some point there was no time to worry about mental health, it was a matter or sink or swim. This process still happens today.

Personally, I prefer to use the past tense because I am a third-generation Mexican-American. My great-grandfather was the one in my family to build a life here in America, and I am the byproduct of the American Dream. And I am mature and grateful enough to understand and appreciate this.

That doesn’t mean everyone is like me, because that’s not the reality of it. I have friends who are also first-generation here, and it is difficult for them to establish themselves here on their own. This is why I use my privilege and platform to support others who struggle to have a voice.

Even though all this is happening, I still think the generational culture is that Mental Health is a sign of weakness. The toxicity that comes from Hispanic/Latino cultures plays a part in this as well.

While with men, it is shown that they are the “stronger” gender, they need to be emotionally strong as well. Society has dictated this and instilled into people that men can’t express their feelings at all. This is why a lot of men, especially in the Hispanic/Latino communities are not comfortable or don’t know how to express their feelings because they were taught that feelings are on the low scale of where their priorities lay.

Within the Hispanic/Latino culture, women have always picked on other women about beauty standards. Too short, too dark, too hairy, too heavy, it has become a standard to care about your self-image to the extent of surgically adding or removing parts of your body to feel “perfect”.

From even my own experience to a lot of other Hispanic cultures, we all can relate on some level to an older Hispanic female mentor (mostly it’s mom that fits this role) commenting on the way we look, and is obsessed with themselves looking perfect by their beauty standard.

These toxic traits can take a toll on our mental health in the long run, because to them, it’s normal when in reality it isn’t. The exhausting part is when you bring it up to their attention; most of the time, it is dismissed or misinterpreted as being ungrateful.

I can say now, my generation and maybe even the millennials are starting to change this behavior. They are seeking to break patterns and show that mental health is super important to living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

Things are going on in the world today that affect the Hispanic/Latino cultures’ mental health, such as the ICE Raids. I’m not going to get super into detail with this topic because then this blog will be almost 5 pages long, but in my opinion, ICE Raids are wrong. Being inhumane, is wrong and taking people against their will and treating them like they are animals instead of people, is wrong.

These families that are directly affected are scared to leave their homes in fear that they may never come back, all because they are being racially profiled. Some people came into this country as children and have lived here their whole life, and live in fear that they will get sent back to a place they don’t even know.

Families that have already been affected, that did have a family member taken away, or have chosen to self-deport to avoid ICE, are mentally affected. It’s a trauma, a grief, an emotional situation that one choice can change their life in an instant.

It’s very unfortunate because these same people who are affected are the same people who work so hard to provide for their families and do the jobs most people have the privilege of choosing not to do.

This all goes to say mental health is super important. There is a huge community out there who are posting and providing resources via social media to help the Hispanic/Latino culture that is in need during these unfortunate times. If you or someone you know is dealing with something along these lines, be resourceful, don’t be ignorant, educate yourself, know your rights, and take care of yourself, there are people around fighting for justice, but good things take time.