Hispanic Mental Health, Eating Disorders, and Dismantling the Stigma
The burden of shame, silence, and stigma around mental health and eating disorders can be particularly fraught in Hispanic communities. According to a recent survey, 29 percent of young women who identify as Hispanic exhibit eating disorder behaviors, compared to 21 percent of their white peers.
This is also true for young Hispanic men, 12 percent of whom exhibit eating disorder behaviors, compared to 8 percent of their white peers. Plus, Hispanic adults are often less likely than white adults to access treatment.
The misconception that eating disorders only affect white, affluent communities could not be further from reality. Worse, it means people who need support are not able to receive or feel safe enough to ask for affordable, equitable, and culturally sensitive care.
One way to break down these systemic barriers is to talk about this issue and spread this knowledge. Additionally, for those who identify as Hispanic, there are also steps you can take to decolonize body image, practice culturally rooted self-care, and reclaim the healing you deserve.
The Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Hispanic Communities
Eating disorders are not only present but rampant within Hispanic communities. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 623,122 Hispanic or Latinx adults meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.
However, because many Hispanic folks have strong ties to their families and cultures, their mental health outcomes are often perceived as more stable than those who aren’t part of a collectivist societal background, according to the Journal of Latinx Psychology.
Due to the vibrancy of the culture’s food heritage, there’s also an assumption that Hispanic folks have a healthier relationship with eating and are less influenced by mainstream Western diet culture than other ethnicities.
Food is a vehicle for connection, affection, and celebration in many Hispanic families, which can cause those with eating disorder symptoms to feel ashamed of their behaviors, suffering in isolation and silence.
Acculturation in Hispanic Communities
Acculturation is one of the most prevalent risk factors, according to the American Journal of Health Behaviors. Acculturation refers to an internalized preference for Western beauty ideals (e.g., thin and white), which can pressure folks outside of this narrow binary to change or control their bodies to assimilate.
Exposure to acculturation from an early age can increase body dissatisfaction rates among Latina women in adulthood, the journal continues. Combine this internalized pressure with more contributing factors such as racism and colorism, weight discrimination, socioeconomic insecurity, or intergenerational trauma, and it’s not hard to see why Hispanic folks are vulnerable to eating disorders and other serious mental health concerns.
Barriers to Eating Disorder Treatment for Hispanic Folks
Despite the significant need for mental health resources and interventions, many Hispanic folks face numerous treatment obstacles, including:
Linguistic barriers
Lack of financial stability and insurance coverage
Complexities around immigration status
Even those with the means to access mental health care might encounter clinicians who aren’t culturally sensitive. This can lead to implicit bias, or worse, outright discrimination. This frequently results in misdiagnosis and poor treatment outcomes.
The oppressive, traumatic effects of colonialism within Hispanic communities have also caused persistent cultural stigmas, such as the belief that mental illness is a sign of weakness.
In some religious Hispanic families, mental illness is often seen as punishment for so-called character flaws, further exacerbating silence and shame, the research also points out. Cultural stigmas can be particularly rife in immigrant households that value resilience and self-sufficiency.
This can make it difficult to process emotions, resolve traumas, and confront unhealthy coping mechanisms or harmful behaviors to pursue healing.
Strategies to Dismantle the Stigma
It takes both personal and collective action to dismantle the stigmas that erase or overlook the experiences of Hispanic folks in eating disorder recovery. If you’re struggling right now, here are a few ways to support your own healing journey.
Honor your emotions without judgment. Hispanic communities often emphasize traits like strength, resilience, and self-sacrifice. While these values are inherently admirable, some families might adhere to the cultural norm of “simpatía”, which reinforces positive emotions and inhibits negative emotions. If this is your reference point, it can be hard to express how you feel. Simple daily rituals, such as journaling or recording voice notes on your phone can teach you how to communicate your emotions without the fear of shame and criticism (from yourself or others around you).
Build a supportive community network. Whether you feel safest with trusted relatives, friends, faith groups, or online networks, find a space to connect with others who will validate and relate to your experience. Virtual communities, such as Nalgona Positivity Pride, offer free support groups that center the unique needs of Hispanic and BIPOC folks in eating disorder recovery or other facets of mental health. If you’re not sure how to nurture safe connections, this is an excellent place to start.
Seek out identity-affirming therapists. It’s so beneficial to work with a mental health professional who shares your ethnic or racial background. This person will be able to speak your language (in a literal or cultural sense) and help you cultivate a framework for healing that honors your specific traditions, customs, values, and heritage. Therapy is an intimate relationship, and you deserve to feel secure with the clinician you choose. So, don’t hesitate to ask the following questions upfront:
What experience do you have working with Hispanic clients?
How do you integrate a culturally responsive lens into your practice?
Are you familiar with the impacts of generational trauma or immigration stress?
Do you prioritize weight-neutral, size-inclusive eating disorder treatment?
Practice culturally rooted self-care. Healing should never mean abandoning your ancestral roots. Lean into self-care practices that reflect where you come from, like dancing, cooking, storytelling, creating music, or exploring herbal remedies and spiritual traditions. These practices teach you how to reconnect with the core identities of yourself, which makes it easier to challenge internalized colonial narratives about your worth, culture, body size, or gender norms that don’t serve your most authentic self. Returning to your own roots is a powerful act of liberation and resistance.
How to be an Ally for Hispanic Folks
Personal healing is crucial, but all of us (especially folks who aren’t Hispanic or BIPOC) must also take an active role in pushing for broader systemic reforms within eating disorder treatment. You don’t need an enormous social media platform to raise your voice for more equitable, affordable, and inclusive mental health care models.
Reach out to your lawmakers, partner with organizations, and enter into conversations to help dismantle stigma and combat the disparities in treatment access. Here are some particular issues to advocate for:
Funding for culturally sensitive and responsive mental health resources
Mandatory anti-bias training for all mental health care providers
Diverse representation of mental health experiences in media and academia
Wider access to bilingual mental health resources and clinical practices
Mental health services at an affordable cost (or even pro bono) for those dealing with financial or insurance barriers
Tackling the structural causes of poor mental health outcomes in marginalized communities such as poverty, trauma, or discrimination
Step into Your Healing Journey, Leave the Stigma Behind
Eating disorders are not isolated afflictions that occur in a vacuum. They are community issues shaped by culture, environment, and access. As such, treatment for everyone must be a right, not a privilege, and it must serve the unique needs of each person who seeks it out.
At Project HEAL, we remove the financial and cultural barriers to eating disorder care. Learn more about our treatment access programs now.
