The Center for Effective Living offers a variety of mental healths services for immigrants. We do evaluations for immigrants on emotional or learning disabilities that may affect their ability to pass the citizenship test or learn English; we conduct evaluations for people facing deportation to determine whether they have reason to seek asylum— like PTSD from native lands; and we offer treatment for immigrants transitioning to a new country/culture. Because of this, we appreciate seeing media acknowledgment of the unique mental health issues faced by different immigrant groups.
Following is an excerpt from an article by Dr. Robert Lusson for The Huffington Post which looks at the issues many Mexican immigrants face through the lens of one man’s experience. We hope you’ll take a moment to read it, and click through to the full article via the link below. And if you’re in the greater Cleveland area and you, or someone you love, need help with issues related to immigration and mental health, we are here.
According to Dr. Lawrence Kirmayer’s study on immigrant mental/emotional health, resettlement can initially bring elevated feelings of hope and optimism. However, these feelings may soon be replaced by “disillusionment, demoralization, and depression” as initial hopes and expectations are not met and compounded as immigrants “face enduring obstacles….and inequalities aggravated by exclusionary policies, racism and discrimination.”
That study and others describe pre and post migration conditions affecting mental health and how they may play out differently according to factors such as gender, age, or 1st, 2nd or 3rd generational family positions.
It is easy enough to point out research correlating far off and away terms like racism, cultural bias, or white privilege, and grouping peoples (Mexicans become Latin, Japanese become Asian) for convenience. It puts it all out there…. somewhere else…. away from us. It becomes numbers, statistics and coffee shop banter, well meaning but rarely actionable.