Description

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Spirit, mind, and heart—in traditional Mexican health beliefs all three are inherent to maintaining psychological balance. For Mexican Americans, who are both the oldest Latina/o group in the United States as well as some of the most recent arrivals, perceptions of health and illness often reflect a dual belief system that has not always been incorporated in mental health treatments.

Chicana and Chicano Mental Health offers a model to understand and to address the mental health challenges and service disparities affecting Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans/Chicanos. Yvette G. Flores, who has more than thirty years of experience as a clinical psychologist, provides in-depth analysis of the major mental health challenges facing these groups: depression; anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder; substance abuse; and intimate partner violence. Using a life-cycle perspective that incorporates indigenous health beliefs, Flores examines the mental health issues affecting children and adolescents, adult men and women, and elderly Mexican Americans.

Through case studies, Flores examines the importance of understanding cultural values, class position, and the gender and sexual roles and expectations Chicanas/os negotiate, as well as the legacies of migration, transculturation, and multiculturality. Chicana and Chicano Mental Health is the first book of its kind to embrace both Western and Indigenous perspectives.

Ideally suited for students in psychology, social welfare, ethnic studies, and sociology, the book also provides valuable information for mental health professionals who desire a deeper understanding of the needs and strengths of the largest ethnic minority and Hispanic population group in the United States.

About the Author

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Yvette G. Flores is a professor of psychology in the department of Chicana/o studies at the University of California, Davis. Flores is the author of Theorizing Justice in Chicano Families, and her work has been published in several journals.

Praise For…

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“One of the first books on Chicana/o mental health that incorporates both Western and Indigenous perspectives on mental health.”—Juana Mora, author of The Treatment of Alcohol Dependency among Latinas: A Cultural, Feminist, and Community Perspective

“The combination of indigenous and Western influences on Chicanos is used to frame mental health problems, as well as their solutions, including the role of historical trauma.”—Kurt C. Organista, author of Solving Latino Psychological and Health Problems: Theory, Practice, and Populations