PMDD and Acculturation

I was looking through academic journals for articles about PMDD and I ran across one out of the Journal of Affective Disorders out of SciVerse on Science Direct.  The article spoke to me specifically because it was about PMDD and acculturation.  Now, the article was specific to ethnic women of minority status being acculturated in American culture.  While I am not of a minority ethnic background, being a TCK makes me feel like a minority or like an immigrant in my passport culture.  The summary of the abstract explained that “the stressors that are associated with the ethnic minority life in America – discrimination, poverty, pressures to assimilate, etc. – may contribute to ethnic minority women’s vulnerability to PMDD” (Corey et al., 2011).

I have not dealt with poverty, except the lifestyle that a poor college student deals with, but discrimination and pressure to assimilate are issues that I’ve been dealing with since I moved back to the U.S.  I’m discriminated and pressured against to assimilate because I’m an American and I should know current pop culture and should dress appropriately for whatever subsection of the U.S. I’m in.  American culture, specifically for women, is latent with sexual images.  Women are taught from a young age, usually subconsciously, that we are sex idols.  We are to dress sexy, act sexy, be sexy.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a partial feminist deep down inside, but I believe there is more to a woman than her body.  Women have been suppressed for decades upon decades.  We’ve made great strides, but take a look in a magazine sometime.  How are women in the ads depicted?  Sexy?  Being chased by something mysterious?  A young/younger girl-type picture?  This is another issue for another time.  My point is, I did not fit into the American culture in many ways when I moved back.

I grew up in Bahrain and the Azores.  Bahrain is a country that is very different from the United States and women do not have the same rights or freedoms they do here.  Many of my friends wore abayahs and when I turned 12, I could no longer where short-sleeve shirts.  That was the culture I was surrounded by.  I was convinced that wearing spaghetti strapped shirts was wrong because it showed off my bra straps.  So, ultimately, I was showing off my underwear!  This may sound absolutely ludicrous to some, but this was my reality.

When we moved to the Azores, I was not permitted to go and socialize in the clubs or discos.  If I had, maybe I would have been introduced to a more liberal way of life.  I understand why my parents wanted to keep me from that lifestyle.  A lot of it had to do with their Christian values.

So, I thought it appropriate to go to a Christian school when I graduated high school.  The problem is, just because we had faith in common….it wasn’t enough.  I still did not fit in with my peers.  For all intense purposes, I was a nerd and I didn’t think I would have to conform.  I was accepted in the other places that I lived even though I was different in many aspects from my friends.   

I’ve heard so often that your true friends will appreciate you and accept for who you are and if they don’t, then they’re not your friends.  That’s great when you’ve had several years to acclimate to a location or the time to develop relationships over an extended period of time.  However, moving away to college is a time in your life that you make new friends.  I made friends, but then I lost them because of PMDD.  So, in many ways I am like the ethnic minorities. 

The article also discussed that "foreign-born ethnic minorities have a mental health advantage over  US-born ethnic minorities that is attributable to certain protective factors engendered by immigrants' attachment to their country and culture of origin.  Research links these culturally-specific protective factors, namely strong social support networks, family cohesion, and religiosity, to positive mental health outcomes among minority populations".

So, I did fine when I was an "immigrant" or "expat" living overseas because I did have what the researchers were discussing.  I had a close support network with my parents, as well as other school teachers and their kids, and I had a strong religious background.  The article does not discuss anything related to immigrants moving back to their homelands but discusses that the US born minorities have a more difficult time because they are expected to assimilate.  I relate to this because I'm expected to be an all-American girl and in a lot of ways I've lost touch with my upbringing due to wanting to fit in.  It's not even remotely fair to say be yourself....there is a need for all people to fit into the bigger picture, to feel a sense of cultural or societal acceptance.  My lifestyle and the aspect of acculturation probably have played a big role in my PMDD. Stress plays a HUGE role in PMDD and can you image the stress that I've dealt with not being able to relate and integrate into the society that is supposed to be my own? 

So, where to go from here?  I’m still figuring that out, but a good start is to find others with whom I have things in common.  It was just an interesting observation.  It makes me feel better to discover these sorts of things.

References

Corey E. Pilver, Stanislav Kasl, Rani Desai, Becca R. Levy, Exposure to American culture is associated with premenstrual dysphoric disorder among ethnic minority women. Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 130, Issues 1–2, April 2011, Pages 334-341,