A Review of Depression in the Latino Community

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Although the rates of mental illness among Latinos and whites in the U.S. are roughly equivalent, whites are far more likely to receive mental health treatment (about 60 percent more likely, a 2008 study found). According to a 2001 Surgeon General's report, only about 20 percent of Latinos with a psychological disorder consult a general health care provider about their symptoms, and just 10 percent contact a mental health specialist. 

Stigma in the Latino community about depression and mental illness along with the barriers they often encounter in seeking treatment represent a serious public health concern, considering that the 49 million Latinos in the U.S. constitute the country's largest and fastest-growing minority group. The Latino population has risen by nearly 40 percent in the last decade and is expected to make up close to one-third of the nation's inhabitants by the year 2050. And, thanks to recent health insurance reforms, more Latinos than ever before may be seeking treatment for the first time in the coming years.

Delivering appropriate mental health care to the tens of thousands of Latinos who need it but are hesitant to accept it may not be easy. "The stigma is a phenomenon that's fairly complicated," says William Vega, Ph.D., a provost professor at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and a leading expert on mental health among Latinos. "It's a major question in the field as to how to manage it, because there are so many cultural nuances."

During this session we will discuss how culture and language impact a person's ability to receive effective treatment, how diagnosis and treatment may be similar or different for this community, how issues of generation and acculturation impact depression in youth and families, and strategies for how clinicians can improve outcomes for their Latino consumers.