The COVID-19 pandemic has surfaced societal issues and how they affect the Hispanic community
The mental health of young Hispanics in the US, which is already at risk due to religious and cultural stigma and inequalities in health care, now faces new challenges as they are further marginalized during the pandemic.
Making up 23% of the initial job loss during the pandemic, around 150,600 Hispanics faced unemployment in January 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Director of Family Life Ministry at the Houston/Galveston Archdioceses, Ricardo Medina, notes that the pandemic highlighted some pre-existing negative aspects of society and pushed marginalized groups to be at higher risk.
“Lower-class citizens are particularly impacted in situations that affect the whole population, and some Hispanics unfortunately are among those affected,” said Medina. “The answer to all of this is a community response; you cannot allow that the people affected become adrift.”
Along with emphasizing the pre-existing faults in American society, the COVID-19 pandemic has also brought communities together, according to Medina.
“There have been wonderful examples where people from the community brought food to people who were quarantining in their homes every day, so they wouldn’t have to worry about that,” said Medina.”
Another impact of the pandemic fell heavily on the shoulders of incoming immigrants.
“There’s mass stereotyping of Hispanics that they are a threat, which is racial profiling. They stop being human beings, and they become illegals or aliens. Being illegal is an adjective, not a noun, but we have turned it into a noun, and with that we are able to distance ourselves and see them as less than human,” said Medina. “The treatment that immigrants received was already bad, and during COVID, it became horrifying.”
Young Hispanic immigrants are not excluded from experiencing this treatment. Daniela González Zorrilla, a 20-year-old Mexican immigrant who moved at 19 years old, who like many immigrants in the U.S. has felt estranged from her community at times.
“There’s so much racism in this country, said González Zorrilla. “Texas is also a very republican state and I feel like a fish out of the water in some situations. However, I’m lucky to go to a very liberal and politically open-minded university, so I’m surrounded by educated and tolerant people that respect me and my culture.”
Although many Hispanics face this treatment and endure the psychological toll it may have, cultural stigmas in the Hispanic community can often prevent people from seeking counseling or therapy.
According to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the young adult Latinx/Hispanic community is experiencing an increase in serious mental illness (SMI) from 4%, 231,000 people, in 2008 to 6.4%, 486,000 people, in 2018. In 2013, Hispanics were the second-lowest race group to seek mental health treatment, with only 27.3% compared to 46.3% of the white population.
Between a 2.4% increase in SMI and a low percentage of the age group seeking treatment, Hispanic young adults are in particular danger.
Carmen Patino Urdaneta, a 22-year-old Venezuelan immigrant who moved to the U.S. at the age of 12, has experienced this first hand.
“I don’t know if this is a Hispanic culture thing or if it’s just my family, but I know that in my family there’s a costumbre (custom) to keep the bad things to yourself and not share that with people,” said Patino Urdaneta.
González Zorrilla notes that the different approaches to treating mental illness in Mexico and in the U.S. could be a factor into building the stigma.
“There’s a stronger stigma surrounding mental health in Hispanic cultures, or at least in Mexican culture. Mental health is very medicalized in the U.S.- people often take antipsychotics as the first form of treatment, whereas in Mexico we opt for behavioral therapy as the main treatment, and we use medication as the last resort,” González Zorrilla said. “That medicalization of mental health is what also reduced the stigma here in the U.S.”
Along with different forms of treatments, religion could have an influence on how Hispanics see mental illness.
“ It’s still common for Hispanic communities to mention sin or other forms of breaking rules when someone feels depressed or isn’t feeling themselves, said González Zorrilla. “This judgement is what leads to the stigma.”
However, Medina calls this a massive misunderstanding of Catholicism.
“Through a theological perspective, emotions are neither good nor bad; they are what they are. The good or bad of what we do lies in our freedom, not in the aspect of our emotions,” said Medina. “They are a natural response from the individual to their environment.”
Comparing it to something as natural as a seed sprouting, Medina finds similarity in mental health and growing plants.
“If you give a plant the right resources and conditions, it will sprout and grow, but if it is missing something ill will wilt and be down because it doesn’t have what it needs. This is exactly what happens to our minds,” said Medina.
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected our daily lives, and Medina believes that at least two factors have affected the mental health of many people, in particular younger generations.
“During COVID, I can clearly identify two factors that could affect the mental health: social media discourse and social isolation. Those two things affect the mental health of anybody, and they can affect in particular younger people and also particularly young Hispanics,” said Medina.
Social media has a permanent beauty filter where people only show the best of their lives, unless it is to complain or mock themselves people seldom show the less desirable aspects of life, according to Medina. This is dangerous because during the lockdowns, social media was the only social interaction many people were having, and when everyone is seemingly living their best life it is hard not to judge oneself and feel down.
Self-regulation can be an excellent way to combat and prevent social media fatigue, according to Forbes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has alerted society about the underlying mental illness that is affecting nearly one in five adults in the U.S., according to The National Institute of Mental Health, and has shown the Hispanic community it might be time to rid itself of cultural and religious stigma.
Alfredo Enrique Bastart, a 22-year-old Cuban immigrant who moved to the U.S. at 9 years old, believes that embracing the new environment and culture is the best way to purge the stigma around mental illness in the Hispanic community.
“I believe the Hispanic community can get rid of the stigma around seeking help for mental health issues by just trying to adapt more,” said Bastart. “You left your birth country for a reason, and hopefully it was to better your life, so if they tried to adapt to the culture in the U.S. then, I think, mental health would improve in the Hispanic community.”
Advances in the study of mental illness in Hispanic countries could also help reduce the stigma and better allow Spanish speakers to voice their emotions.
“I think something important to consider is how language plays a role in mental health. Maybe it can be easier for people who speak English to express themselves with regards to mental health because so much research has been conducted in English-speaking countries that there are more terms to describe feelings and disorders.
“If more resources were invested in conducting research in psychology and showing how mental health is just a normal part of everyday life, then we could slowly start to break down the stigma and prejudice,” said González Zorrilla.
Although Hispanic cultures are usually traditional and set in their ways, Patino Urdaneta believes that there is hope for younger generations to purge this stigma and allow for mental health practices to enter the conversation in Hispanic households.
“Members of the Hispanic community are really stubborn, more for the older generation, when it comes to new trends, said Patino Urdaneta. “I honestly believe that all hope lies with the newer generation that they will be able to pass on this acceptance of mental health and new practices onto their children and be able to improve it for the years and generations to come.”