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This paper examines the cultural perspective often advocated by Latino mental health workers and identifies some of its limiting aspects. Particular attention is given to folk healing practices as reflecting the current culturalist perspective in order to put in focus its limitations and strengths, and to offer an alternative conceptualization. This analysis is informed by a critical perspective which pursues an examination of a given reality in order to demystify its structure and identify its underlying and interconnected elements.

Latinos are the second largest minority group in the United States.' As a group, they are young, with a median age of 24 (compared with 32 for the majority population), and their numbers are rapidly growing. It is projected that by the turn of the century, they will surpass African Americans and become the largest minority group in the country. According to 1985 statistics (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1988) there are approximately 1 7 million Latinos in the United States excluding Puerto Rico, which means that Latinos make up over 7% of the population of the continental United States. In 30 years, this will double from 17 million to 34 million.Of the Latino groups, Mexican Americans number over 10 million, and most live in the southwestern part of the country. Next come Puerto Ricans, who in the northeast section of the country number about 2.5 million, and in Puerto Rico have a population of 3.5 million. Cubans are the third 'As de la Vega (1990, has indicated,Latino is currently viewed as the "politically appropriate" term to refer to people of Central and South America a s well as to those from the Caribbean regions or to their descendents in the United States. It is used in preference to the term Hispanic, meaning Spanish-speaking, which does not connote the ethniciracial origin of these populations L.4TINO MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS 59

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