Talking about mental health can be hard within Latino families. Here's how to start
LOS ANGELES -- Norma Fabian Newton had heard of other new mothers experiencing the "baby blues," short-term sadness and anxiety. But when she had her first child in her early 30s, she described her experience as a "constant barrage of thoughts."
"I was constantly thinking, 'I'm not equipped to be a parent, I hate myself, or I hate this decision,'" she said.
"In so many ways I had everything, and yet I felt so empty and so low."
Several months after giving birth, Newton reached out to her gynecologist in Los Angeles for help. The doctor explained that the feelings Newton was experiencing were common. She was showing signs of postpartum depression, a term she had never heard.
Through therapy sessions, she would later realize part of the reason she didn't know how to deal with her postpartum depression was because the people in her life didn't openly talk about their mental health struggles.
That made Newton feel invisible — especially when she was struggling.
More than a decade helped Newton — founder of , a Latinx-focused bookseller and publisher — understand that others weren't intentionally dismissing her feelings. Her parents, in particular, were "doing the best they could for their family and were also dealing with their own trauma."
