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Hispanics' mental healthcare plight: a look at the numbers illustrates Hispanics' poor access to mental healthcare in the United States.

Article Excerpt
Since World War II, the United States has witnessed significant migration from all regions of the world, especially from Latin America. (1) This situation has not been unique to the United States; other industrialized or developed nations also have faced similar migratory patterns. What has been unique to the United States is the population explosion that also has occurred in the past several decades, particularly on the part of the ethnic minority groups who reside in this country. The result is that the United States has become a pluralistic society (2): Ethnic and racial groups maintain autonomous participation in and development of their traditional cultures within our common society.

This significant migratory pattern and population growth have had an impact on all aspects of U.S. society; including the healthcare and mental healthcare systems. In this article, I address the challenges facing the United States in attempting to provide culturally competent and high-quality mental health services to the United States' largest ethnic minority group--the Hispanic population.

The Hispanic Population by the Numbers

During the past decade, as expected, the Hispanic population has grown significantly. According to the 2000 census, the Hispanic population is now the largest ethnic minority group, with approximately 35.3 million people or 12.5% of the total U.S. population. In this number, Hispanics living in Puerto Rico, approximately 3.4 million, were not included, nor were Hispanic illegal aliens, estimated to be 5 million. (3) This Hispanic population growth was quite significant in comparison with the 1990 census, which found 22.4 million Hispanics representing 9.0% of the U.S. population. (4) In this respect, the current growth rate of the Hispanic population is 58%, in comparison with 50% for the Asian population, 17% for the Native-American population, 16% for the African-American population, and only 3% for the Caucasian (white) population. (3)

It is also important to recognize that the Hispanic population is not a homogeneous one. While the majority is Mexican-American (58.5%), Puerto Ricans represent 9.6%, Central Americans...

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