MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES STALK LATINOS

        Some people never realize when someone is going through mental issues like depression.  You never know who has depression. Some people don’t show any symptoms because some tend to hide it and not tell anybody.

        And sometimes, parents refuse to recognize the problem, even when their children come to them for help. Is it simply because of how our cultures view mental illness? We interviewed a student at Richmond high school.

        “I did talk to my parents about my mental health. First time I told my mom she told me that it’s probably just me being sad and that I’d get over it,” said Danae Escalante, a student at Richmond High.

        “This was in 7th grade so I discarded it and tried to get over it, but I never really did. She was raised in Mexico where they don’t really believe in mental illnesses so that’s probably why.”

        “But over the years it only got worse and about a year ago I was diagnosed with depression by a doctor. I tried to get over it as my mom had said before, but there was a point in which my grades were horrible because of it and my personality completely changed. That’s when I told my dad about it and he was much more understanding and actually wanted me to get help. That's when I was diagnosed with severe depression and I began to get help and it’s been working slowly but surely.”

        According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness on Latino mental health, in general, the Latino community does not talk about mental illness. Often the Latino community lacks the proper information about mental illness. It may be because their own parents haven’t ever had a conversation based on the subject. It makes it just as challenging to do so with their children since its been this way for a long time they started viewing it as being “crazy” or started not to believe that mental illness was a thing.

        Jose Buenrostro, a student at Richmond High said,  “When I talked to my parents about mental health they tried to tell me how to think and how to feel about certain things. They did that so I wouldn’t hurt or be in pain but they didn’t understand that my mind was already damaged.

        "I felt almost hopeless they didn’t listen to a word I said and it wasn’t even worth telling them about my issues or problem in my life.

        "Personally, the way that my parents think is completely different from how I think. They are still in the rancho way of thinking and they haven’t adapted to today’s thinking so I disregard it at this point.

        "Mental health is a real issue, they think that it can be solved with one conversation. It’s not that simple. The pain goes a lot deeper than that, but they don’t see that so to them it’s not real. I wish parents could understand that mental health is a real problem. They have their issues, they just don’t see mine. Hopefully, eventually, they will understand that.”

        An estimated 3.1 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the United States had at least one major depressive episode. This number represented 12.8 percent of the U.S. population aged 12 to 17.

        The prevalence of major depressive episode was higher among adolescent females (19.4 percent) compared to males (6.4 percent). Its most likely that if people don’t talk about it, it tends to get worse or the problems never go away. It can be hard for people to do day to day activities while they are trying to deal with their own battles.

       “I’ve never talked to my parents about my mental health,” said Angel Bejines, a senior at Richmond High. "Their way of thinking is ‘old school’ and they would never understand. To me, depression stops you from doing anything.”

        "You start losing motivation to do anything. You stop eating. What used to make you happy doesn’t make you happy anymore. You shut yourself in from everyone else.”

        "You start doing drugs to cope and hide the fact you’re sad and to make everyone think you’re okay because deep down inside you’re just feeling really bad about yourself and don’t know what to do,” said Bejines.

        It’s understandable how some can feel helpless when it comes to trying to help.

        “I don’t have depression myself but I know people who do," said Dianna Millan, a senior at Richmond High. "I know it affects them no matter the situation and sometimes they try to hide it but when I ask them ‘Are you okay?’ they’ll just respond ‘I’m fine’ knowing in my mind they’re not fine." 

        "They’ll tell me that they don’t feel supported from their parents because they think it’s a sickness and they’ll get over it sooner or later,” said Millan.

        It's better to start talking about it than to not talk about it at all. Some parents often think their child can get over depression or any other mental health issues.