You're listening to Latinx Therapy.

The information shared in this podcast is not a substitute for seeking help from a licensed mental health professional and is not a substitute for psychological diagnosis or treatment.

I'm your host, Adriana Alejandra Alejandra, licensed marriage and family therapist.

Hey everyone.

Welcome to Session with Elena Pasa.

On this episode, we explore what bipolar disorder is and everything that comes with it,

including diagnoses that it gets confused with, common symptoms, problems with diagnosing

bipolar disorder, how bipolar disorder is seen in children or not, how bipolar is seen in our

Latinx culture, what people in our community do when they do not get treatment, and resources.

Let me tell you about Elena. Elena Abaza graduated from

Regis College and has been trained in mental health care throughout the lifespan. She is a board

certified advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and is a certified

nurse practitioner in Massachusetts.

Nurse practitioners work with people of all ages and their families and may conduct physical

exams, diagnose, prescribe medications, and order lab test or x-rays if needed.

Elena specifically works in an outpatient mental health community center and a crisis

stabilization unit. She specializes in bipolar disorders but treats many different conditions too.

For fun, she likes to enjoy time outdoors. She enjoys the nature and spending time with her family. Elena actually has a

Peruvian background, and her favorite culture memory is getting together with her whole family

for the holidays. In regards to mental health, her family stigmatized it. Her family was not open

to mental health problems. They were very religious, and you'll understand this in the interview because she talks about this very openly.

Her family believed that it was simply a good versus evil battle.

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