African American Communities Have Proven To Be A Powerful

Mental illness is and has always been a serious topic. But it has not always been taken as serious in the black community. From my research, scholars and medical professionals in the field of mental health spoke on the fact that mental illness is a stigma in the black community and the conversation of this is not happening. There are many factors that contributed to this. Factors such as the distrust of medical professionals, mis-diagnosis, socio-economical factors and so much more contribute to the reason the black community is missed when it comes to mental health. I also discovered the inside factors that were culture, religion, mis-education, and family reliance. This also becomes why it is a stigma or why it’s not talked about amongst everyone in the community.

This article is a great article that relates to African Americans seeking mental health treatment at lower rates than whites. The article states that this disparity can be attributed to attitudes toward services, alternate coping, and differences in care. This article also illuminates biases in counseling.

A mental illness is one one of many different disorders or conditions that affect one's mood thinking and behavior. Approximately 1 in 5 U.S. adults reports suffering from some form of mental illness. ANd about 20% of us youth are affected by some type of mental illness in their life. African Americans are 20% more likely to report significant mental distress but less likely than white counterparts to seek mental health care. For black people mental illness is surrounded by a stigma of weakness and religious disconnect.

The Diagnostic Statistical Manual is used to diagnosis persons that are getting assessed with mental health disorders. The manual contains criteria the clinician can use to diagnosis a client. If the client meets a certain number of markers then they are given a diagnosis of a particular disorder. But, what if it’s not that easy? For African Americans, there has been a history of getting misdiagnosis by clinicians which has led to some mistrust. The cultural differences between African Americans and their white clinicians can possibly lead to the misdiagnosis of the clients. An article on clinician race states, “African Americans are less likely to be diagnosed with mood disorders and more likely to be be diagnosed with schizophrenia” (Adebimpe, 1981; Neighbors, 1997). Within this review, we will explore research conducted by scholars that examine the relationships between the diagnoses of African Americans by White Clinicians.

Forget all the stereotypes of mental illness. It has no face. It has no particular victim. Mental illness can affect an individual from any background and the black community is no exception. African Americans sometimes experience even more severe forms of mental health conditions because of unmet needs and barriers to treatment. According to the Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. That’s why UGA third year Majenneh Sengbe is taking action as the co-founder of her upcoming organization Black Minds Daily.

African-American women have a triple jeopardy status, which places them at risk for developing depression (Boykin, 1985; Carrington, 1980; Taylor, 1992). One whom live in a majority-dominated society that frequently devalues our ethnicity, culture, and gender. In addition, one may find themselves at the lower spectrum of the American political and economic continuum. Often one is involved in multiple roles as one attempt to survive economically and advance ourselves, and our families through mainstream society. All these factors

Health care for mental illness is an issue in the African American community for Men, Women and Adolescents due to the underserving and lack of mental healthcare providers, the cultural stigma of having mental illness and

Per Vaterlaus, Skogrand, & Chaney (2015) studies have shown that African Americans reaching out for mental health services are perceived to be powerless or weak, and are often humiliated and feel embarrassed. In a study performed by (Ward, Wiltshire, Detry & Brown (2013) African Americans were found to be hesitant to confess any mental health problems and were more likely to cope using religious practices. In my opinion, African Americans are connected to

Across the country, a steady increase has been noted in the number of patients presenting to emergency departments for psychiatric complaints (Zun, 2014). Patients also attempt to use their primary care doctors to treat their mental illnesses. The mental health care options for these patients are extremely limited, especially for minority populations such as African Americans and Hispanics. One out of four adults in America suffers from some form of mental illness, yet only one out of three of those affected receives treatment (Safran, 2009). Furthermore, patients are routinely misdiagnosed, receive poor quality of care, receive care from providers who have no understanding of their cultures and values, or are not even able to receive care in the first place (Sanchez, 2012).

Historically, Black Americans have been reluctant to pursue mental health treatment. Bean (2007) details how cultural tensions, Black religiosity, gender role dynamics, and African American history with mental health has lead to current negative perceptions of counseling and psychological services in African American communities. Bean (2007) conducted this study by sampling 194 African American students of Tennessee State University and an additional 94 Black residents of a neighboring community of Nashville, TN. The author’s participants completed tests measuring Cultural Mistrust Inventory (CMI), Religious Orientation Scale (ROS), Gender Role Conflict Scale (GCRS) and Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH). Ultimately, gender roles did significantly correlate to informing

When experiencing a mental illness, African Americans face obstacles “related to understanding the problem or situation and limitation in awareness of possible solutions, strategies remedies and resources” (Hines-Martin, Malone, Kim, & Brown-Piper, 2003). In a study by Hines-Martin (2003), participants verbalized that they did not think they were “crazy” and therefore did not need mental health services. In this instance participants showed a lack of knowledge about what mental health illness looks like. They identified mental illness as dichotomous states (Hines-Martin et al., 2003). A study by Mental Health America found similar results. In this study, a majority of African Americans surveyed believed that depression was a “health problem” and in some cases “normal” (MHA, 2012). Talking about mental illness is taboo for African Americans, and as a result they possess little knowledge about specific mental health problems or available treatments (Alvidrez et al., 2008). For African Americans, stigma serves as an impediment to problem recognition. Because they have a misconstrued idea of what mental illness is, they are less likely to contemplate that they have such problems. Alvidrez (2008) found that stigma prevented 65% of their survey respondents from contemplating that they had such problems. Because many African Americans are uninformed about what mental illness is and how it

Conversations regarding mental health can often be a difficult topic to discuss openly. The Huffington Post provided readers with the opportunity to understand mental illness and intersectionality in the article, 4 Black Women Writers Get Honest About Mental Illness and Race. This article provides a different perspective on mental health as it looks at mental illness through the intersectionality of race and gender. In the article, four black women participate in an interview to discuss their experience with depression, bi-polar disorder, and ADHD and how it affects their lives as both black and woman identified beings. Discussions of mental health in the black community are rare as there is a negative view of mental illness. Hearing

One of the main issues that America has continued to ignore is the problems within the African -American community. Many children within the African- American community fail to get the necessary leadership from their respective parents. That lack of leadership generally occurs from the absence pf a father figure in the household. Reason may be because of a father being imprisoned for whatever reason, or the father being killed by law enforcement illegally. Thus, the more impressionable minds within the community commit illegal activities to get recognition from their peers. Indeed, these people should be punished for their acts by law enforcement. What the African- American community needs are not police enforcement in the citizens’’ daily

Individuals in the culture were not open to the actual psychological problems but were compliant to seeking mental health services (American Journal of Psychotherapy, n.d.). The African American culture prides on its strength that comes from a long line of the previous history. One reason that some African Americans do not come forward is the stereotypical belief that practitioners will not adhere or cannot be as culturally competent enough to treat their specific issues. This is also compounded by the fact that African American patients do not report the experiences of racism, child abuse, sexual abuse or any other abuse when it comes to the culture and the community ("Black & African American Communities and Mental Health," 2013). Often, individuals are told that they should not speak upon the abuse. Leaving children to grow up and have an underlining issue of mental and physical abuse not treated. Over 60% of the prison populations accounts for African Americans. African American can also account for at least 40% of the drug and alcohol abuse reported in the country (American Journal of Psychotherapy, n.d.).

In a study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health (2003), researchers addressed mental health disparities between communities of color and the White community in several areas of health and well-being. Results indicated that although the amount of Asian Americans and African Americans students living in Greater Minnesota is relatively small, they reported much higher levels of several key risk behaviors than do their counterpart. More specifically, African Americans tend to score twice as worse as their White counterparts in most areas (sexual activity, fighting, emotional distress, smoking, drinking, family ties, activities, and etc.).