Has anyone ever got their mental illness blamed on their race or class?

Question

like only "white people have these problems"

do you find it interesting how ethnic groups look at depression and mental illness differently

does the hispanic generally look down on people with depression and dismiss it as a character flaw

I've been to the hospital twice and never saw any hispanics there,,and I was in a Hispanic city

Answer 1

I have been in the (mental) hospital several times and there weren't any Latino patients on any of my visits.

I am married to a Latina woman. I have some insight from her about this thing. My opinion is that some cultures aren't accepting of mind illnesses and see them as weaknesses or character flaws. My wife is trained as a medical doctor, and she still has difficulty accepting mind illnesses as what they are - illnesses.

We have talked about this a lot. My conclusion is that the roots are from 1) the Catholic church and 2) the cultural acceptance of the machismo concept.

By the way, we live in a community that is approximately 25% Latino.

Answer 2

Okay, my answer is long because your question is a bit complicated. It should be longer but then people would get bored with it. :)

I do know some people who have blamed an illness on race or class. It's mostly done by ignorant people who don't think before they speak.

You're right that different groups look at mental illness differently. Each group has their own cultural norms. But everyone has both cultural norms and individual experiences that make up their opinions, so culture can be a possible guideline but you can't depend on it to give you the answers because people are individuals, not a poster child for their culture,. :)

Two ideas about your experience at the hospital... Sometimes it's not what you offer, but how you offer it. If people are offering all this wonderful help but it's not culturally sensiitive then people won't use it.

The other thing that is possible is hospital placement affected the patient population. A hospital put up in a Russian neighborhood is going to have more Russian patients, even if the rest of the city is English.

And, there is still rascism and classism in this country. It is entirely possible that one population was being sent to one hospital, and the other population sent to a different hospital.

Good question.

Answer 3

well... only green people get space related motion sickness