Paper short abstract:

Anthropologists and psychologists investigate stress and trauma in Mexico. Findings from a national epidemiological study are compared to the USA and Ecuador. We find differences in trauma, and the trajectory extreme event recovery. We discuss how anthropology interfaced with psychology to understand stress cross-culturally.

Paper long abstract:

In 1997, a team of social anthropologists began working with a team of community psychologists to investigate the nature and incidence of stress and trauma in Mexico and how stress and trauma compare to Mexican-American and other Latino populations in the United States of America. Between 1998 and 2000, the team carried out the first epidemiological study of stress in urban Mexico using four representative cities spread across the country (Oaxaca, Guadalajara, Merida and Hermosillo). Subsequently, we have carried out studies of post-disaster stress, trauma and recovery after Hurricane Paulina (Acapulco, Mexico), flooding and landslides (Teziutlan, Puebla and Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico), volcanic eruptions (Ecuador) and fire (Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico). The paper will explore the epidemiological findings from the national study, and compare those as well as recovery data to comparable data from the United States. The goal is to understand how stress and trauma manifest themselves in Latino, Latin American, and non-Hispanic populations. We have found differences in the levels of violence and trauma experienced by "normal" populations when compared to US populations as well as differences in the trajectory of recovery between the USA, Mexico and Ecuador as well as between subcultures in Mexico and Ecuador. Similarities include conceptualizations of post-traumatic stress, while differences include different expectations regarding expected support from informal networks. In the process the paper will explore how social anthropology has interfaced with community psychology in an effort to develop an understanding of the cross-cultural nature of stress and trauma.