African American Psychology Research Paper

Throughout this semester of Psychology 150 I have learned a great deal about several different concepts that I consciously, and sometimes unconsciously, find myself applying to my life. There are five different psychology topics I found that held the most relevance to my life. Some of these topics do not deal with myself exclusively, but they do affect the people I hold dear to me. The topics range from disorders to personality differences, and they all affect me in some way, both indirectly and directly.

John Howard Griffin, the author of Black Like Me, writes an autobiographical account what he passed through for a period of about 10 months. Howard has an idea that has been haunting him for a long duration of time; he wondered the various kinds of life changes that a white man would need to be labeled a Negro in the southern region of the United States. Howard wanted to acquire first hand information of the daily experiences of the African Americans in the Deep South. Black Like Me offers an account of the bad and good things that Howard went through because of the vivid makeover from being white to being black. This paper reviews John Howard Griffin’s Black like me, the paper provides a summary of the book,

Snowden, Lonnie R, Barriers to Effective Mental Health Services for African Americans, Vol. 3, Issue 4, 181-187 (Dec. 2001). Social Services and Welfare, Psychology

A survey was conducted by Sherrill L. Sellers (Miami University of Ohio), Harold W. Neighbors, (University of Michigan), and Vence L. Bonham (Michigan State University) in order to address the interaction between goal-oriented stress and overall well being in 399 college-educated African American associated with a historically black national fraternal organization all over the world. Mental health of African American male populations is poorly understood due to unique social, racial, and psychological variables. Although many black men deem success possible, a great number identify resistance to success in the form of prejudice, discrimination, and minimal opportunities in comparison with their white counterpart.

In Psychology 101, you learn about a personal fable; something that I have not lost. I have always wanted to change the world that I was destined for greatness and teaching elementary school students gives me that power. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The need to provide mental health services to culturally diverse clients has increased over the past couple of years due to the increase in racial and ethnic diversity in the United Sates. Consequently, there is a need for mental health professionals to offer effective interventions that address social issues that accompany racial and ethnic diversity (Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi, & Bryant, 2007). Research shows that efforts are being made to implement social justice advocacy strategies and interventions into counseling practices. This growing movement calls for counselors to be agents and advocates for social justice, oppression, and discrimination (Ratts & Hutchins, 2009). Social justice counseling approaches focus on empowering the individual by actively confronting injustices and inequalities that affects clients in their systemic frameworks (Pedersen, Lonner, Draguns, Trimble, & Rio, 2015).

Racism against African Americans and other ethnicities is still prevalent in our society. Salis (2015) mentions a recent poll of Caucasian and African Americans and found that sixty percent of those surveyed felt racial relationships ha vent improved and forty percent felt they were worse. In this paper, I will identify how a counselor can reduce the effects of racism and discrimination that has affected African Americans. Additionally, I will address what role a counselor plays in reducing the stigma of mental illness within the African American community. Furthermore, I will highlight the legal and ethical issues identified in the video

13.2% of the United States population identifies themselves as Black as African Americans, and of those over 16% had an mental illness that was diagnosable. The socio economic impact of a history of slavery, sharecropping and race-based exclusion from health, racism, spiritual beliefs, social and economic resources, education and other factors are key factors that contribute to African American disparities today. Many of these things are linked to mental health. According to the US department of health, African Americans are 20% more likely to report having serious psychological distress than in non-Hispanic whites (. Despite knowing this, African Americans are less likely to seek mental health services than white Americans.

I aim to analyze the disparity in African American’s access to counseling & psychological services. According to literature such as Andre Bean’s “An examination of factors that contribute to African Americans inability to seek professional psychological help”, Black people under use mental health services. This coupled with an ubiquitous stigma on psychological services impacts how Black people navigate the space of mental health. I am interested in exploring how social media represents the changing attitude of mental health. Furthermore, I am hoping to unpack how the shifting of public discourse influences and materializes policy in providing access to African Americans.

Though it has been apparent that people of color have been treated as a subclass within the medical field for centuries; as was brought to light in The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the recognition of forced hysterectomies and sterilizations of African American women in the 20th century and, to “The Negro Project” which worked to reduce the African American population through eugenics (Feagin & Bennefield, 2014). With even these three examples it is clear that the medical field has played a large role in creating both psychological and physical disadvantages and trauma for minority groups in America. Yet, it seems to be a subject that many professionals refuse to address. A meta-analysis conducted by Mayberry, Mili and Ofili found that,

As Metzl highlights, the misdiagnosing of schizophrenia was used as a tool of social control in the 1960s and 1970s. Racist bias structured in social and political institutions pathologized the unrest and anger felt by African American communities and thus incarcerated disproportionally high numbers of Black men under the guise of mental illness. Ultimately, this pathologizing of emotions felt by African American communities persists today. The manner in which Black men and women express anger is pathologized by society and it warps how the public perceives unrest in the Black community, especially in interactions between protestors and

Cross’ book Shades of black: diversity in African-American identity (1991) depicts a perceived metamorphous of black identity through five stages of development—his ideologies are now termed as the Nigrescence theory. In simple terms, this philosophy refers to the process of becoming Black. It also demonstrates daily struggles that the black community may have in developing a healthy personal identity. Over the years, many authors attempt to define what the word black means. Eventually, many came to begin using the politically acceptable term widely applied today to regard black people; that word is known as Negroes. As different historical events occurred, one being the black power revolution on the 1970’s the experience called for a fresh definition of the term negro. Blacks or Africans in America began to be more conscious of their identity and more aware of the differences separating them. This is the experience that Cross (1971) illustrates and is primarily referenced in his five-stage progress including: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. This book highlights some very vital topics relating to mental health, which has been carefully disregarded by other researchers. Nonetheless, it has strong affiliations to the black experience and can positively explain a more normal psychological behavior through logical and very thought provoking

African Americans have been making history for years knowing people will think they are not capable of exceeding anything, that african Americans are incapable to change the world but it was possible and the proof is right in front of you with the products they have created that benefit everyone today. Math is one of the reason that help us understand why the world is like this today and how everything function, also it brought us mathematician which is an expert in math, so anyone can be a mathematician and it doesn’t matter what gender, race, ethnicity, and etc. An african-american mathematician known as Dr. J. Ernest Wilkins Jr. is known for america’s most important contemporary mathematician which is a big title for this individual was

The Civil Rights era (1954 – 1968) shaped and changed the institutions that structure our lives. However, these changes were not automatic outcomes made by gains in legislation during the Civil Rights Movement. Black workers were on the front lines of these struggles, which were about demanding respect, enforcing new racial language, and changing perceptions as well as increasing access and representation and services to the broader community. This was a testament to the fact that the battles to change institutions from within were, “empowered by the Civil Rights Movement, but were inspired and emboldened by the Black Power Movement,” (Bell, 2014). This history is important to social work because, “the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty,” (Workers, 2008). Yet the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) was formed at the height of the black power movement to address the gaps in social work that were failing the Black community. The NABSW was created as part of a broader social response to the fact that Black people have been excluded from social and civil life for the history of the United States. While the social work profession has attempted to redress social inequalities for all, it has failed to appropriately address the needs of the black

I have always been awed by behavioral analysts' seemingly clairvoyant ability to profile a suspect without knowing them; this sparked my interest in psychology and behavioral neuroscience. After attending a neuroscience program called Camp Neuro at the New York Medical College, I knew this is what I wanted to study. At my camp, two presenters in particular, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tobias, captivated me with their presentations on adolescent mental health and psychology as well as neuroimaging. This experience prompted me to take AP psychology, and I have been able to apply my knowledge in a myriad of my classes. My understanding of the biopsychosocial approach to psychology helps me analyze and understand enslaved characters in Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, and I can understand how classical and operant conditioning are used to perpetuate stereotypes in my ethics class. While this course satisfied my questions in the classroom, I became thwarted once more once I noticed my grandmother’s degenerating mental state. I continue to struggle to find ways to help and communicate with her while her fading memory induces depressive states and a helpless demeanor. Through attending the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, I was exposed to various issues concerning racial and gender bias and discrimination. As a black woman, I am the victim of many discriminatory and prejudice practices, but I sometimes, unconsciously, subscribe to these tendencies. Within my AP psychology and advanced molecular biology courses, I am examining internalized bias in the