The Importance Of Mental Health Among Immigrants

Generally speaking individuals view the symptoms of mental illness as being experienced and expressed in the same fashion across all cultures. They believe that a set channel of symptom expression is the same for every individual regardless of culture or ethnicity. Recent research into cultural expression of symptomatology has revealed that not every culture experiences mental illness in much the same way. In fact research has revealed that culture plays a large role in how mental illness is viewed and experienced (Wong, 2010).

Locura is a culture bound syndrome that affects Latin Americans and Hispanics, regardless of where they are born, in the United States or South America (Jilek 2001:5,9). Locura has also been documented in immigrants from the Caribbean Islands (Razzouk 2011:517). In Columbia, Locura is also known as “ataques de locura” madness attacks, it is attributed to a spell known as “maleficio”. Locura is commonly associated with other culture bound syndromes thru out Central and South America, such as ataques de nervious (nervios) and possession syndromes (Piñeros 1998:1425).

This comprehensive annotated bibliography discusses about the poor mental health of the refugees and asylum seekers under detention in developed countries. This sits within the “Social Work Practice in Mental Health” and “Social Work with Refugee Survivors of Torture and Trauma” categories of Social Work fields of practice (Alston and McKinnon, 2005) and uses sources from Australian publications on these issues.

Mental health is a state of psychological well-being. According to World Health Organization (WHO) mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others." (Organization, WHO 2001) However, cultural differences, race, ethnicity, personal background, subjective assessment, and socioeconomic status all affect how mental health is defined. This variation in definitions of mental health between different sects of our society further causes drift in methods of treatment, and may cause the burden of mental health to be greater on some cultures.

Depression among cultures and ethnicities can differ not only on its triggers but also on its treatment preferences; several factors are being analyzed to compare how this mental disorder is affecting Hispanic communities, particularly those of Mexican origin, in the US.

Hispanic and Latino populations are not being provided with adequate mental health care and are an underserved population (Peters, Sawyer, & Guzman, 2014). There are several barriers, cultural and other, that prevent and dissuade Hispanic and Latino individuals from seeking mental health care (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2015). Lack of bi-lingual providers is one of the many obstacles this population is faced with.

Often times today, people of other racial classes and ethnic groups are experiencing oppression as a marginalized group in society today. Racial biases and culture have become an important issue in mental health due to social constructs, racial stereotypes and racial ideology. As a result, they tend to have an impact human development, racial and cultural identity. Therefore, it has become necessary for counselors to indentify and become fully aware and competent in this area due to the changes our society has undergone in multiculturalism and globalization. Due to cultural diversity, identification of minority groups has led to major breakthrough in the field of multicultural counseling/ therapy (Sue &Sue,2014).

Thesis Statement: My three arguments on why mental health should be talked about more often are how mental illnesses affect Canada, how the government can solve this issue, and how you can help.

Mental illness is an important topic that is rarely spoken or taught in today’s society. About half of people in the world have a mental health disorder, yet most people don’t know what it really means to have a serious health problem. There are numerous theories on why these disorders happen; additionally, some disorders in the world are still a mystery to the science community and also millions of people share these personal experiences through writing.

Over the course of a 40-year period in the 20th century, over 1 million immigrants came into Canada through Pier 21 in Halifax. In 2011, immigrants accounted for more than 20% of British Columbia’s population. The first Indian immigrants came to Canada in 1903; the majority of them were brought over as agricultural workers. 100 years later, Indo- Canadians represent 4% of the current population in Canada and Indian immigration to Canada is growing at an unprecedented rate. The changing political and social landscape of Canada, which helped to shape the immigration system, is responsible for the unequaled growth in Immigration to Canada. Indo- Canadian immigration changed dramatically over the course of the 20th century as a result of changing

Canada is the dream destination for many immigrants. Federal government reported, the number of immigrants entering Canada in 2012 were over 250,000 being one of the highest proportion of foreign-born population in any country. Immigrants who enter Canada generally have no understanding or knowledge of the family justice system and face some serious hindrances in gaining access and learning the system, and arguably, the single group of immigrants that face the greatest barriers are immigrant women who are victims of domestic violence.

Being culturally self-aware is important in everyday life and in work. Cultural self-awareness refers to having the ability to step back and reflect the values that are specific to our own culture but also the culture of those we work with and with those who help as mental health professionals. For example, my belief system might be different from my co-worker or from a client. A second thing that we as professionals need to remember is that cultural diversity has it place in our line of work. Cultural diversity deals with nationality, race, color, gender, creed, religion and age (Merchant, n.d.). Because we have defined cultural diversity we have acknowledged that diversity has an influence on our behavior with enhances individual performance and company performance with the community at large. For example, would a client go to a clinic where there are no people who are like them or would they travel a longer distance to see a counselor who is like them because they have similar backgrounds.

The number of immigrants coming to Canada is an average of close to 250,000 per year since 1991. This number is massive and should be decreased because the more immigrants come into the country, the more there will be limited resources for people who are already in the country. Canadian citizens are unable to get a job at even the lowest levels because these spots have been filled by the extreme number of immigrants who will and do actually work for even less income than the minimum wage requirements. Also, increase in immigration will not only increase the chance of separation because of different culture, religions and beliefs, it will also bring about discrimination. Separation is formed when immigrants refuse to speak in the commonly accepted language and resist becoming part of Canadian culture by rejecting to recognize the same holidays and demanding recognition of their own culture. In 2006, Statistics Canada, the official Canadian agency that records population data recorded that 6,186,950 foreign-born people now live in Canada. If this keeps up, Canada will become an over populated country with little or no resource available for its citizens.

The rise of multiculturalism in nearly all societies across the globe has brought with it countless questions that are still unanswered. The problem of whether people from different cultures should have the right to express their cultural identity in a mixed society has been highly discussed for the last 10 years. There are two main trains of thought. On the one hand, those who believe that expressing cultural identity is a part of freedom of speech, and hence should never be taken away. On the other hand, there are those who argue that people must comply with the cultural norm of the country they are living in. In this essay, the positive and negative aspects of both points of view will be explored in detail.

Contrary to popular belief, migrants are not diseased people; however, the actual process of migrating, depending on the conditions encountered, makes migrants particularly susceptible to physical, environmental, social and psychological problems.5 In short, the migration process makes migrants and refugees vulnerable. Infectious and communicable diseases may spread in conditions where health hygiene and sanitation are poor. Likewise, the incidence of non-communicable diseases may be distributed inequitably due to the stresses of migration and the lack of access to the necessary medical services both in the countries of origin and the receiving states. Psychosocial illnesses like anxiety and depression from traumatic experiences, for example war, may lead to migrants having problems with substance abuse. To further compound their quandaries, migrants and refugees face stark differences in cultures, racism and language barriers, which are all barricades to their integration into the receiving societies.6