ABSTRACT
Hispanics, that is to say, those persons who live in the United States but were born in Central or South America, along with their descendants who live with them, can suffer from the same neurological disorders as non-Hispanics living in the United States. The variation is found in the severity of incidence and especially how they cope with their illness in an environment that-in regards to language, social organization, cultural memory, interests, and motivations-is different from their own. Therefore the clinical manifestations of the neurological disorders are metasymptoms that the professionals should not misinterpret. The symptoms and complaints shown by these patients should be understood in their context; more importantly, some of the behavioral gestures, or the way they express their feelings, are not symptoms, but references to their cultural origin. When Hispanic patients with brain damage say, “May God and the Virgin help me,” or they say that they speak with God to solve their problems, for example, they are not referring to delusions, but to how they live their religion. Table 12.1 shows the values to be considered when carrying out any type of neuropsychological intervention with ethnic minorities in a multicultural society.
