Chapter 5. Serious Mental Illness Among Mexican Immigrant Families

Abstract The importance of family involvement in psychosocial interventions for persons with serious mental illnesses continues to gain empirical support. However, even as ethnic minority cultures are known to be more family-centered in comparison to Euro-American cultures, only a few studies focus on family context or on family treatment approaches for Mexicans. The focus of this paper is on mental health practice with Mexican immigrant families dealing with serious mental illness. We review available research on treatment issues and the sociocultural context that has relevance to serious mental illness within the family. Practice implications for increasing the cultural relevance of community based mental health services for this population are addressed. Several treatment strategies are delineated for practitioners confronted with clinical, social, and ethnocultural complexities when serving Mexican immigrant families dealing with serious mental illnesses.