Depression is as unpredictable as it is indiscriminate, it attacks in an unprecedented fashion without gender-bias or racial discrimination. To its victims, clinical depression holds a pestilent quality that is hard to shake once conceived, and now, it has been revealed that while it doesn’t set limitations on race or gender, the disease is much more palpable within the Latina community.
According to Saludify.com, studies show that compared to Non-Hispanic white and African American women, Latinas are more likely to battle with the psychological disorder.
The National Institutes of Health defines the mood disorder, “True clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for weeks or longer.”
Saludify also revealed symptoms of clinical depression for Latinas who question their own mood stability:
- Sadness felt nearly every day
- Loss of interest in activities and relationships
- Weight and appetite changes
- Sleeping too much or insomnia
- Distraction and slowed thinking
- Notorious slower pace in everyday activities
- Extreme tiredness nearly every day
- Negative self-talk and emotions related to guilt and lack of worth
- Recurring thoughts or fantasies of death or suicide
The Latino belief of Marianismo, which Arizona State University explains as, “the ideal that woman puts duty and family above her own needs, [which] can often stop Latinas from asking for help from others and this can lead to feelings of inadequacy, isolation, and an even deeper type of depression called postpartum depression or PPD.”
For Latinas who feel they can’t actively seek mental help outside of the home, there are some resources which can be accessed in private.
