Sandra Murphy

Dr. White

LIT 5731

July 9, 2008

Depression in immigrants: Character Development or Sad Reality?

Depression is a recurrent theme in Immigrant Literature. Why?  Is the use of depression as a theme simply a literary device designed to develop multi-faceted characters, or is it based on a sad reality? Unfortunately, research seems to indicate that depression is a very real part of the immigrant experience and, as such, is clearly reflected in the immigrant narrative.

A recent report from the United States Surgeon General declares that “mental health is the wellspring of thinking and communication skills, learning, resilience, and self-esteem.” Currently one in five individuals battles a mental health condition. The Surgeon General says, “Left untreated, mental illnesses can result in disability and despair for families, schools, communities, and the workplace. This toll is more than any society can afford” (united States. 1). Unfortunately, the majority of individuals suffering from mental health disorders never seek help. This disturbing phenomenon cuts across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. (United States 2).

Immigrants appear to be at particular risk for certain types of mental health disorders. Children, women, immigrants with disabilities, and the immigrant poor are considered especially vulnerable. According to the American Psychological Association Public Policy Office, a variety of factors place immigrants at a high risk for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide. These factors include:

·         Prior traumatic experience in their native country

·         Difficulty in adapting to the US culture

·         Prejudice and discrimination

·         Loss of prestige or income

·         Loss of identity or culture

Each of these factors has the potential to create problems individually. Combined, they can construct a dynamic in which mental health problems are inevitable (American Psychological Association 1).

 Indeed, these factors are often linked to the expression of depression and anxiety apparent in many immigrant narratives. Even a cursory reading of the material covered in this course yields a plethora of examples. In Bernard Malamud’s The German Refugee, Oskar Gassner’s post traumatic stress caused by the events that forced him to leave his native Germany, coupled with his difficulty in adapting to American life, render him hopeless and suicidal. His young, English tutor watches in horror as Herr Gassner disintegrates,  and he finally comes to the realization that there must “be something more than a refugee’s displacement, alienation, “ or “being in a strange land without friends or a speakable tongue” to blame. The tutor is worried enough to suggest that a visit to a psychiatrist might be in order (Brown 41-42).

In Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs by Chitra Divakaruni, the reader is an eyewitness to the despair of Bikram-uncle and Aunt Pratima as they battle the prejudice and discrimination borne of the color code and struggle to adjust to their loss of social prestige and income. The reader aches with empathy as Bikram-uncle cries, “I tried so hard, Pratima. I wanted to give you so many things—but even your jewelry is gone. This damn country, like a dain, a witch—it pretends to give and then snatches everything back” (Brown 82).

These words ring true because they are real. Mental health problems are not merely the product of a writer’s overactive imagination. They do not disappear with the turn of the page. Without help, the symptoms will not improve. Longitudinal studies show clearly that treatment is vitally important to the immigrant’s recovery and eventual successful assimilation to American life (Aroian 246). Only then, can these stories have a happy ending.

Work Cited

American Psychological Association. Public Policy Office. The Mental Health Needs of Immigrants. 2008. 6 July 2008 http://www.apa.org/ppo/ethnic/immigranthealth.html.

Aroian, K.J., and A. Norris. “Assessing Risk for Depression Among Immigrants at Two-Year Follow-up.” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing Dec. 2002. 7 July 2008 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12567372.

Brown, Wesley and Amy Ling, eds. Imagining America. New York:Persea Books, 2002.

United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Mental health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity. 2006. 5 July 2008 http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/cre/execsummary-1.html.