Mental Health Disparities

Canada prides itself on being a multicultural country due to its large population of immigrants. Immigrants contribute greatly to Canada’s economy, culture and general society. Immigrants often come to Canada in search of a better life but they can encounter stressors that can have a large impact on their mental health. In this essay I will explore some factors that lead to mental health issues among the immigrant population, what prevents immigrants from accessing help and measures that could and should be taken to address this issue.

When Stephanie reflected on what she learned about the culture from the event she realized that she got a true understanding as to how important family is. It was apparent that family in Mexican culture was more than job immediate family, it was extended family and friends that have become family. Stephanie also realized that not all Mexican’s are fearful of White people. Stephanie was worried that people at the party would avoid her or wouldn’t want to talk to her because she was White and that stereotype couldn’t have been farther from the truth. There is also a stereotype that some believe that Mexicans are lazy and don’t want to work (Lopez,2013). This stereotype couldn't be further from the truth as well. In fact Stephanie was impressed when she heard that most of the family members including women work in the fields from 6am-8pm at night on a daily basis during the harvest periods.

Despite the progress in understanding the causes of mental illness and the tremendous advances in finding effective mental health treatments, far less is known about the mental health of minorities. Race, ethnicity, culture, language, geographic region, and other social factors affect the perception, availability, utilization, and, potentially, the outcomes of mental health services. Across racial and ethnic groups, a significant financial barrier also greatly affects mental health and the path to getting needed mental health care. Every society influences mental health treatment by how it organizes, delivers, and pays for mental health services. Therefore the provision of high quality, culturally and language appropriate mental health services, in locations accessible to racial and ethnic minorities, is essential to creating a more equitable

Diller, J.V. (2015). Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services (5th ed.). Stamford, CT:

It has been reported that in African American culture “toughing it out” is encouraged during difficult situations. This can be seen in cultural attitudes about mental illness. Although African American women are more likely to be encumbered by mental illness, however their use of mental health services is low (Matthews & Hughes, 2001; Neal-Barnett & Crowther, 2000). Mental illness in African American women can be associated with shame or embarrassment as it demonstrates a sign of “weakness” or lack of control over one’s life. Because of the collectivist orientation in the African American community, individuals rely heavily on community opinion as a determinant of appropriate and inappropriate courses of action (Sellers et al., 1998). In general negative descriptions are credited to those who suffer mental illness. Cultural identity (Tata & Leong, 1994), cultural mistrust (Nickerson,Helms,&Terrell,1994),and cultural commitment (Price & McNeill, 1992) have been linked with factors such as attitudes toward seeking help, tolerance for the stigma associated with seeking help, and being open to talking about problems with a

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).

1. The Air Force should do more to eradicate the stigma associated with airmen who seek help and receive mental health care. Mental health treatment has carried a significant stigma in the general public and among military members. The Department of Defense and the Air Force have taken significant steps to improve access to mental healthcare and remove the stigma associated with mental health treatment. Current Air Force mental health screening options are ineffective and inefficient. The Air Force has attempted to reduce mental health stigmas through the implementation of evidence-based mental health treatment approaches. However, sequestration and budget constraints have limited the resources

Simone Sneed grew up an African American child with mental illness. Simone claims that the doctors or psychologist were insensitive to her culture and traditions. “…The clinicians I worked with were also white - and as such - in all of their goodness and skill - were unable to take into account the emotional tension that I had developed from growing up as an outsider,” said Sneed. As a African American in America I naturally feel like an outsider unless I am amongst the people I grew up around or the members of my community. I am more comfortable expressing my problem to them because they watched me grow up and many other African Americans share the same stories. Unlike Sneed, I was not diagnosed with any disease or disorder. I personally do not remember being tested for mental health issues; it simply was not a concern in my household. Some adult African American do not get tested for mental health because they do not want other members of their community knowing their business and have too much pride to ask for help they believe the can do it all by themselves. Simone took the initiative of getting help for her disorders and she also made a health choice to adopt a holistic lifestyle. Her holistic lifestyle reinforces healthy eating, working out, making time for friends and a healthy level of conceit and self-encouragement. Ms. Sneed developed the tools to live independently and suppressed her mental and emotional

Stigma surrounding the patients using mental health servicesurrounding the patients using ===mental services Panova G, Zisovska E, Joveva E, Serafimov A, Karakolevska Ilova M FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF GOCE DELCHEV, SHTIP, MACEDONIA Stigma is used as a synonym for designation of individuals or group with some characteristic differ from other population. This means that any disease by itself can carry stigma. But the greatest stigmatization is still associated with mental illness. Stigmatization means rewriting the negative characteristics of individual or group and creation of social distance and neglect. These can include multiple groups of people: - people with mental retardation and mental illness - people with deformities

With the ongoing changes on policies in healthcare, it is imperative to consider the legal and ethical issues in health disparities and access to care based on the socioeconomic status. Research have shown over the past 25 years that disparities in the quality of care are highly influenced by individual characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity, education, income, and age. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) recognized that providing care is not simply a “one size fits all” approach especially with the diverse population in today’s society. As healthcare professionals, we need to be alert and know how to properly intervene with such disparities so that the care provided is tailored to the individual.

Health care disparities are unfortunate and being culturally competent is an essential step toward eliminating these inequalities. In this discussion, I will review what disparities are associated with the Appalachian culture and how they affect health status, employment, and education. I will also identify two nursing interventions that could be taken to help decrease the affect that health disparities have on the Appalachians and review what the biggest challenge would be when implementing the interventions.

1. According to the article, minority clients can often be misdiagnosed because the clinician lacks an understanding of the client 's culture.  The article points out that many of our counseling practices are "Eurocentric" and therefore problematic for minority clients. What does this mean and how might it effect Neesha during her own counseling experience?

It was difficult to make the decision to be public about having a severe psychiatric illness, but privacy and reticence can kill. The problem with mental illness is that so many who have it especially those in a position to change public attitudes, such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, and military officers are reluctant to risk talking about mental illness, or seeking help for it. They are understandably frightened about professional and personal reprisals.

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.