Abstract
Mental health does not discriminate against race, color, gender, or religion. Unfortunately, anyone can experience symptoms of mental distress or illness at some point of their lives. The National Alliance of Mental Illness acknowledged that there exists a stigma among Latinos associated with mental health issues. They are ashamed to be seen as loco/crazy or débil/weak. Through the process of collecting data for my study, several participants shared that they have suffered from severe stress in the process of achieving tenure or securing a full-time position in their journey in academe. The symptoms of stress (emotional tension), depression (despondency and dejection), and ultimately, burnout (emotional, physical, and mental fatigue from prolonged stress) have, in many cases, caused setbacks in careers or health issues. This chapter will present the characteristics of stress, depression, and burnout, which are some of the socio-emotional symptoms of mental health problems. The purpose will be to create awareness about them and to point out the importance of seeking help if a person experiences any of these symptoms, especially Latinas in higher education institutions.
TopCurrent Situation
Friedrich’s quote: That which does not kill us, makes us stronger. –– …Really?
According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (2020), only 33% of Latino adults who suffer mental illness each year receive any treatment. Unfortunately, patients without treatment for their mental health conditions can worsen and become disabled. The lack of bilingual professionals, cultural incompetence in service delivery, inadequate health literacy in preferred the language or dialect, a lack of health insurance, misdiagnosis of conditions, and not having legal status — all of these are obstacles that prevent adequate diagnosis and treatment for patients.
The need to prepare an adequate number of bilingual and culturally competent professionals, agencies, and/or students mirrors the existence of a continually growing community of Spanish-speaking communities, especially in the Midwest of the United States. There are several factors affecting the well-being of the Spanish-speaking population in this country. Those factors are socio-economic, oral health, behavioral, maternal & child health, hospital treatment, emergency-room visits. The also relate to Latino/a deaths that were not reported because of the lack of health literacy among patients. When new patients request a service, often the one preferred –Limited English Proficiency (LEP) – is not included in the offered options, although it is a right, The lack of that option indicates a lack of cultural competency within organizations. A lack of appropriate health literacy contributes to miscommunication and causes a lack of trust within those who need medical health services (CDC, 2019; Government Certification Programs, 2005; UCSF, 2019). A great need for Spanish interpreters is apparent in the areas of foster care, immigration, and law enforcement. (Government Certification Programs, 2005).
Ethical issues as well have arisen when providing services to a Spanish-speaking community because adequate compensation is not given to the interpreter (NCIHC, 2004). Unfortunately, in many cases, the patients are not receiving bilingual services due to financial, linguistic, cultural barriers that restrict access to care. Bilingual education, medical interpreter training, and cultural competency training are essential parts of the education for health professionals, students, volunteers, and client advocates. This would improve health communication and result in dramatically improved health care outcomes (Pearson, 2009).
TopStress
The etimology of the word stress comes from Latin — strictus (drawn, tight) and English (distress) —meaning of a state of mental or emotional strain causing tension from an adverse demanding circumstance (Oxford, 2020). However, in the mid-nineteenth century, the French physiologist Claude Bernard made a study of the extent to which external changes in the environment can disturb an organism and he concluded that it was essential for an organism to be able to maintain its ability to adjust to such changes. In this way, organisms were able to achieve stability within their internal environments. The original researchers of stress were physicians who focused their attention on physical stimuli and their physiological consequences. This became known as homeostasis, a process by which the organism maintains stable equilibrium among physiological processes. Currently, the experience of stress is being studied less from a physiological point of view and more from a behavioral science point of view. (Goldstein & Kopin, 2007; Rodríguez Rodríguez, Aguilera Velasco, & Pando Moreno, 2010).
According to the 2020 Medical Dictionary
stress in humans results from interactions of persons with their environments that are perceived to strain or exceed persons’ adaptive capacities and threaten their well-being… People who are dependent on others (e.g., children or the elderly) or who are socially disadvantaged (because of race, gender, educational level, or similar factors) are at greater risk of developing stress-related illnesses. Other risk factors include feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, extreme fear or anger, and cynicism or distrust of others.
For Cox and McKay (1978) the consequences or symptoms of stress can be categorized as physiological, subjective, behavioral, cognitive, organizational effects. The following points out the variety of ways each symptom can present itself.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Mental Health: A state that includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood (Mental Health, 2020).
White Privilege: White privilege is thus an attempt to name a social system that works to the benefit of whites. White privilege, together with overt and institutionalized racism, reveals how racism shapes places (Pulido, 1999).
Belonging: the feeling of being accepted and approved by a group or by society as a whole. Also called belongingness (APA, 2020).
Stress: The physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors. Stress involves changes affecting nearly every system of the body, influencing how people feel and behave. For example, it may be manifested by palpitations, sweating, dry mouth, shortness of breath, fidgeting, accelerated speech, augmentation of negative emotions (if already being experienced), and longer duration of stress fatigue (APA, 2020).
Fatigue: A state of tiredness and diminished functioning. Fatigue is typically a normal, transient response to exertion, stress, boredom, or inadequate sleep but also may be unusually prolonged and indicative of disorder (e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome, anemia, hypothyroidism) (APA, 2020).
Depression: A negative affective state, ranging from unhappiness and discontent to an extreme feeling of sadness, pessimism, and despondency, that interferes with daily life. Various physical, cognitive, and social changes also tend to co-occur, including altered eating or sleeping habits, lack of energy or motivation, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, and withdrawal from social activities.
White Racism: Practices and ideologies, carried out by structures, institutions, and individuals, that reproduce racial inequality and systematically undermine the well-being of racially subordinated populations (Pulido, 1999).
Psychosomatic: A state that describes by an approach to life that is based on the belief that a psychological component operates in the cause of somatic disturbances or relating to the role of the mind (psyche) in diseases or disorders affecting the body (soma); specifically, the role of psychological factors (e.g., anxiety, depression) in the etiology and course of pathology in bodily systems (APA, 2020).
Emptiness: A state with both negative and positive meanings. The negative meaning roughly relates emptiness to something that is missing or lacking. The positive meaning, to be further developed in this paper, presents emptiness not as something that is missing, but rather as something to be brought into reality, a potentiality (Bendassolli, 2017).
Depersonalization: A state of mind in which the self appears unreal. Individuals feel estranged from themselves and usually from the external world, and thoughts and experiences have a distant, dreamlike character. In its persistent form, depersonalization is observed in such disorders as depression, hypochondriasis, dissociative states, temporal lobe epilepsy, and early schizophrenia. It also often occurs as a result of a traumatic experience (APA, 2020).
Syndrome: A set of symptoms and signs that are usually due to a single cause (or set of related causes) and together indicate a particular physical or mental disease or disorder (APA, 2020). The ability to apply these skills either to make sense of health information and services or provide health information and services to others (CDC, 2020).
Health Literacy: A degree where individuals have the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions.
Trauma: Any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning. Traumatic events include those caused by human behavior (e.g., rape, war, industrial accidents) as well as by nature (e.g., earthquakes) and often challenge an individual’s view of the world as a just, safe, and predictable place (APA, 2020).
Burnout: Physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes toward oneself and others. It results from performing at a high level until stress and tension, especially from extreme and prolonged physical or mental exertion or an overburdening workload, take their toll (APA, 2020).
Cultural Competence: Cultural competence is generally defined as a combination of knowledge about certain cultural groups as well as attitudes towards and skills for dealing with cultural diversity (Seeleman, Suurmond & Stronks, 2009).
Illness: The experience of sickness or lack of well-being of body or mind (APA, 2020).
Racial Fatigue: Is a form of burnout from repeated racial living in the United States. Burnout can be caused by other issues but includes racial fatigue if one is of color.
Emotional Exhaustion: A state of feeling emotionally worn-out and drained as a result of accumulated stress from personal or work life, or a combination of both. Emotional exhaustion is one of the signs of burnout.