Testimony at Public Hearings on Suicide Attempts among Latina Adolescents

In a recent article published by The New York Times focusing on the upsurge of suicide attempts among Hispanic and Asian women, our President and CEO Dr. Rosa M. Gil was quoted from her testimonies given at two NYS Public Hearings addressing Depression and Suicide in the Hispanic Community. The following is her testimony on the December 7, 2006 and January 31, 2007 hearings before the NYS Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disabilities, the Puerto Rican/ Hispanic Task Force, the Task Force on Women’s Issues,  The Council of the City of New York, Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services and Committee on Women Issues.

In a June 2006 report published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) an estimated one out of six girls in the Hispanic community attempts suicide. This is an alarming statistic duly worth noting. Hispanic female suicide rates account for 14.9%, whereas 9.8% African American adolescents and 9.3% white females account for attempted suicide.

Over the course of the past two decades, the U.S. has seen an upsurge in depression in Hispanic women, a sharp contrast to Latin American statistics in which psychiatric literature from Caribbean, Central and South American countries show a low incidence of suicide and depression rates. Studies suggest depressive systems are associated with social stressors as opposed to mental disorders, and also indicate a growing phenomenon created by acculturation stress as a result of immigration to the U.S.

The lives of suicidal Hispanic adolescent girls are marked by a deep sense of despair and hopelessness given the socio-economic and physical world that the live in. They have limited access to opportunities that would otherwise set them on the track to a better life. Most troubling of all is the imaginary life of affluence portrayed in television which creates a rift between reality and fiction. The walls of poverty and discrimination separate these girls from the imaginary, so that they live in two worlds with limited options and which undermine their self-esteem and sense of competence. This results in a path of futility, disparage, depression and marginal existence at best or of self-destruction at worst.

Comunilife outpatient mental health clinics, which are fully staffed with bilingual and bicultural individuals across the spectrum, provide innovative services to Hispanic children, adolescents, families and adults to address the psychological stresses and socio-economic conditions impacting their lives as immigrants in New York City. It is one of the few mental health agencies in the Bronx with unique programs catering to Hispanic females in danger of suicide.