Mexican Immigrant Culture

There are many negative stigmas in regards to seeking treatment for mental illness. Is it possible that people around the world choose to not seek treatment due to these stigmas? Or does one’s cultural beliefs keep them from seeking treatment as well? Negative attitudes and beliefs toward people who have a mental health condition is common in America and countries around the globe. The stigma does not only pertain to the people who suffer from the mental illness but those who provide the treatment as well. Psychiatry is criticized for it’s a medicalization of normal behavior. As well as its lack of cultural competency ultimately leading to misdiagnosis of minority patients. With the recent change in global demographics,

The last difference in this paper is the difference in greeting of other people in the two cultures. In Mexican culture, you greet people by shaking their hands or giving a slight bow when introduced. Mexicans greet women differently than they greet men: when greeting a woman, Mexicans generally bow and only shake hands if the lady extends hers first. American greeting style is informal with just a saying of “Hi” or a brief 3-5 second hand shake. Americans don’t have a separate greeting style for women because they believe in gender equality. When conversing Mexicans generally stand closer to the other person than most Americans do. Therefore, when conducting business with Mexican businesspeople, greet the person with a firm handshake, and

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).

In the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman explores the cultural collision between the Hmong Lee family and their American doctors. Along with the culture clash, the social stigma against the Hmong family brings to light a lot of the systematic, moral, and ethical issues that can arise in our healthcare. Ultimately, the combination of the cultural clash in medical perspectives, the underlying social stigma, the inadequate treatment, and the miscommunication hindered the proper diagnosis and recovery of led to the demise of the Hmong child. However, many of the problems could have been easily avoided or resolved with more patience, objectivity, and most importantly, cultural competence. Cross-cultural methods and approaches should be taken to accommodate for the diverse patient population in our communities.

The Elizabethan time period was from 1558 through 1603 known as the Renaissance. During the Renaissance there was not any running water, so people would have to throw their waste in the streets. With people’s waste in the street came many illnesses including The Plague. Even a minor scrap could kill you in the next minute. When people got sick they needed medicine, physicians, and health care. In the late 1500 there was not a great deal medican, there was mostly just spiritual analysis.

I’m the first generation of my family to be Mexican -American, but I have been introduced to the Mexican culture since I was born. I appreciate the difficulties my parents have faced to make me the person that I am today even though I wasn’t born in Mexico my parents have taught me the language and the culture which I’m so proud of being part of. For others being Hispanic is actually being born in any Latin American countries which is not true at all. Being Hispanic is much more than my cultural background it actually describes how much I appreciate my culture and how I get to experience things other people don’t. I fit into the Hispanic community through the experiencing the culture first hand ,participating in traditions and planning to include my culture in my future.

Culture diversity Sensitivity is important when dealing with Mexican patients for they tend to be very private and always need to feel respected. It is important to explain what must be done to them first and why it must be done. Mexicans already have the upmost respect for health care providers so by doing this will only help build their trust. Language is another thing to look out for not just for competence, bot also the cultural meaning people attach to it. Culturally congruent care is meaningful, supportive, and facilitative because it fits valued life patterns of patients (Potter

I remember sitting in the car when I asked my mom to change the “estación de radio” from 96.1 to Kiss FM and in that moment she snapped. She frustratingly asked in Spanish, “¿por qué no te gusta oír música en español? ¿Por qué no eres como tus hermanas?” That’s when it finally stood out to me that I am not like the rest of my family. I don’t enjoy listening to music in Spanish nor do I enjoy some traditions my family has. I’m white washed they say and perhaps I am, but my parents don’t recognize that I grew up in a completely different environment than they did. For that reason, I feel a sense of loneliness and alienation for not matching the cultural identity of my parents.

The most home health remedies or healing beliefs are the medicinal plants utilized by herbolarios, heriberos, yerberos, or yerbateros. And the species often used are the arnica, cuahalalate, tila, gordolobo (Mullein), salvia, cola de caballo (horsetail), and boldo. All these medications have different purpose, for instance the arnica is commonly used for injuries such as sprains and bruises and is for skin only, gordolobo (Mullein) is used for cough, whooping cough, bronchitis and for many more purpose, the cola de caballo (horsetail) is used to treat many health conditions such as, gingivitis, tonsillitis, inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth, rheumatic disorders, edema, osteoarthritis, diabetes, acne, wounds, itchiness, rashes, burns and many more. Even do all this remedies are remedies of Zacatecas, now we even have them here in United States. Are remedies that the time has shown that they work and are

Medicine during the Elizabethan Era was extremely basic. The knowledge most people had about medicine came from their ancestors through many generations. The Elizabethan Era was a time when terrible illnesses such as the Black Plague were killing nearly one-third of the population. The cause of many illnesses during this time was lack of sanitation. Back then, women played a major role in medicine. They often nursed the sick using home remedies that were passed down from generation to generation.

Up until the 1960s Anglo social scientists wrote most of the literature about the people of Mexican- descent in the United States. Their analysis of Mexican American culture and history reflected the hegemonic beliefs, values, and perceptions of their society. As outsiders, Anglo scholars were led by their own biases and viewed Mexicans as inferior, savage, unworthy and different. Because Mexican scholars had not yet begun to write about their own experiences, these stereotypes were legitimized and reproduced in the literature. However, during the mid- 1960s scholars such as Octavio Ignacio Romano, Nick Vaca, Francisco Armando Rios, and Ralph Ricatelli began to reevaluate the literature written by their predecessors. In their work they analyze

Today’s society consist of a variety of different cultures. Each cultures has their own identity, customs, and beliefs. In my community we have several strong, family oriented cultures. The two that were chosen was the Hispanics community and the Haliwa-Saponi Native American community. It was very interesting to see that while this communities are different they share some strong similarities, such as family ties.

I became very sure of my quest to become a public health professional during my National youth service Corps (NYSC) year in my home country Nigeria. I had the opportunity of working as a medical officer in the very remote village healthcare setting. During my service year with the NYSC, I discovered that minor ailments, usually from infections, and some with fatal consequences, could have been prevented and many lives saved if it were not for the fact that those effected believed that the illnesses were evil spiritual afflictions or resulted from a curse by God. I was especially struck by the sight of a young child at the Children's emmergency ward with severe heel burns resulting from the superstitious belief that febrile convulsion was caused

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define the term, “Latino” or, “Hispanic” as “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin” (Arias, 2010). In the United States, Latinos have comprised 16 percent of the population, making them the largest minority. Some sources project that this proportion will increase to 30 percent by 2050 (Juckett, 2013). With such a presence of Hispanic people, it is very likely that nurses will have the opportunity to provide culturally competent care to these individuals. As such, it is important to know how the Latino culture generally regards health, illness, disease, and death.

Hispanic families are big, and it is very important to visit and maintain communication with each family member no matter what where you are or where you live. most of the Hispanic population practices the catholic religion. the catholic church demands of all practitioners must comply with the seven catholic sacraments; Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Oil of the sick, Priestly Order and Marriage. Catholics are baptized and confirmed as babies, communion is around seven years old when they are consciousness of the good and the bad decision in their lives, the penance is imposed by the priest of the church once you have confessed your sins to him, he will tell you how much you have to pray to God to forgive your sin, oil of the sick is the action that meant that the sick person or the elder is granted a special and effective grace to strengthen him and comfort, and prepare him for the encounter with God. The last two sacrament you must choose between be a nun, father or get married. Religious and spiritual beliefs play a very important role in the medical care of Hispanic groups, they believe that their medical problems are a result of God 's verdict. The medical care is very expensive and because lack of money, they choice to traditional healers. Healers use herbs, aromas, and rituals to treat the ills of the body, mind, and spirit. Its ceremonial practice for healing has existed for centuries. However, for