By David Marchese — 2022
The cognitive scientist Laurie Santos says “we’re fighting cultural forces that are telling us, ‘You’re not happy enough.’”
Read on www.nytimes.com
CLEAR ALL
Our culture has taught us that we do not have the privilege of being vulnerable like other communities.
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The Latinx community is just as vulnerable to mental illness as the general population, but faces disparities in treatment.
Eso es para locos. Esta generación... siempre inventando. These are the words I’d hear anytime I mentioned therapy or mental health growing up.
“When I started my undergraduate degree in psychology, my grandmother said she was afraid I would become pagal (“crazy”) because of it.
I’m learning that my challenge isn’t just to unlearn what my family has taught me, but to put myself in situations that would reaffirm the new lessons I was trying to replace the old ones with.
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So many of the little rituals I have each day—like my makeup or skincare routine—do help soothe and/or rejuvenate me. For me, any type of solo practiced routine is good. But I’ve learned that self-care does not, and cannot, sustain me. And I believe that this may be the case for many of you.
Demand from patients seeking help for their mental illnesses has led to underground use in a way that parallels black markets in the AIDS pandemic. This underground use has been most perilous for people of color, who face greater stigma and legal risks due to the War on Drugs.
“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.” ~ Bruce Lee The premise of his philosophy was efficiency—complete and utter efficiency of the soul.
While visiting historically Black campuses, I began to reimagine what my college experience could be.
“Students from low-income backgrounds receive daily reminders—interpersonal and institutional, symbolic and structural—that they are the ones who do not belong.”