The Seven Beliefs
A Step-by-Step Guide to Help Latinas Recognize and Overcome Depression
by Jorge Petit and Belisa Lozano-Vranich

Believe In Yourself
I believe I have the power to educate myself and to change my situation. I believe that I can unify my spiritual, personal, and psychological needs, and integrate those needs while honoring my heritage and cultural traditions. I believe that I must take care of my body and my soul. I believe that I can take care of others without forfeiting my own future and physical and emotional well-being. I believe that, as an empowered Latina, I deserve emotional health and happiness.

Latinos: Who Are We?

Latin America, with over 500 million inhabitants, stretches from the Rio Grande in Texas all the way south to Patagonia, at the tip of South America. Past and current political factors have created a huge migration from these countries to the United States and other developed nations. As of this writing, over 35 million Hispanics live in the United States; by 2050, it is predicted that Latinos will account for 25 percent of the American population -- a full quarter of the American people.

We number in the millions; we come from diverse countries, with many different individual customs and traditions. Are you Puerto Rican or Mexican, Peruvian or Colombian? Does your family hail from Central America or South America? What does being a Latina mean to you? Just as there are so many different kinds of Latinas who possess different physical features and who speak different variations of the same language, so too the beliefs and experiences of these Latinas are enormously varied.

In the United States, however, we are lumped together into a single category: Latino. Despite our varied backgrounds, what does bring us together is language and familial experience. We all speak Spanish (laced with a variety of cultural nuances and accents), and for most of us our parents or grandparents were once immigrants. We're also largely a religious people, with impenetrable spiritual ties that bind us to our churches, to our God, and to our families. And being a Latina born to immigrant parents or grandparents, you'll find that at least one of the following points reflects your personal experience:
• Your parents or grandparents suffered political and civil unrest in their mother country. This, in turn, may have affected their dreams for you and the way they handle stress.
• They faced the struggles of immigration, acculturation to the United States, and years of sacrifice and even prejudice -- all factors that affected how they raised you and the baggage they passed along to you in terms of coping with stress.
• You will be taking care of a family member -- a grandparent, a cousin, an aunt, or uncle -- in your home at sometime. One of your parents will have at least one chronic health problem that requires assistance, patience, and monitoring.
• You or one of your close girlfriends may have been sexually abused. This might have been abuse as a child by a family member or an acquaintance, or abuse or rape outside the home.
• You can name a loved one or someone else you know well who has HIV or who has died of AIDS.
These experiences, while negative, are also unifying experiences.

You will also likely agree that Latinos tend to live the stereotype of being extremely passionate people who take things to heart. As an immigrant people our music sings of heartwrenching pain and suffering, but also of success, devotion, and love. Our classic poets and artists reflect both the joy and the sorrow that our people have felt over the years -- a joy in the connection to our traditions and to each other and a sorrow with its roots in feeling outside the mainstream community. Our ancestors left all that they knew in order to migrate to a new country that they thought would offer greater possibility and opportunity, as well as more safety, perhaps, from political oppression or poverty. The direct results of these generations-old migrations are intense social stressors that show up in myriad ways and forms; they are ingrained in us the way the color of our eyes has been handed down from parent to child.

In addition to these stressors, once in the United States, Latinos are more likely to experience:
• Higher rates of serious medical illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease
• Higher rates of trauma like incest and rape
• A greater number of work-related accidents