African Americans With Psychotic Disorders

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.

In the United States, the Latino American population has risen by over 40% within the past decade and accounts for over 17.1% of the Nations society. In 2050, the Latino Community is expected to make up nearly one-fourth of the population and 2/3 of the U.S. Hispanics are from the Mexican-American Subgroup. In the United States, there has been extensive research examining the prevalence of varying psychiatric disorders among the Latino Hispanic Communities. There are many deeply rooted and socioeconomic factors that may contribute to the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of psychiatric disorders. Example factors, such as reception of immigrations, history of immigration, experiences involving discrimination, and strength of an ethnic community, are just to name a few. Due to the expansion of the Latino and Hispanic minorities in the United States, this has become a major challenge for today’s healthcare system.

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.

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.

And when the brain gets sick it is necessary to see a doctor that specializes in the health of the brain, usually a psychologist or psychiatrist. With that another issue arises, many medical and psychiatric professionals have issues diagnosing people of color and especially black people. There is a perception by the general public that black people don't get depressed or experience anxiety there is also a stigma amongst health care providers. They are unable to recognize the signs of mental illness in african americans because they have a tendency to normalize black strife and

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).

The major underrepresented minority in this instance is people of color, who were shown in much higher numbers in the documentary than white inmates. An organization called Mental Health America compiled a list of statistics on African Americans, in particular, in relation to mental diseases. Unfortunately, solid statistics were difficult to obtain from self-identified African Americans because too many of them were unreachable due to homelessness or incarceration, which is very telling. The organization believes that there is no biological correlation between being black and having a mental disorder, but that stereotypes in our society and racism increase the likelihood of a black person developing a disorder. Further, only 34% stated that they

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

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

In addition, cultural relativism must be accounted for in assessments, to ensure that the patient’s social and cultural norms are considered during diagnosis. Harrison et al., (1997) found a higher incidence rate for schizophrenia amongst African-Caribbean groups than for their white counterparts. Whilst various social aspects, could be possible factors, a lack of understanding cultural differences could explain misdiagnosis. Cooper et al., (1972) found that Americans were twice as likely to diagnose schizophrenia as the British and this suggested that Americans had broader concepts of what schizophrenia is. Furthermore, Holmes (1994) found that decision trees, ensuring standardised questioning, brought about a higher correlation of results.

(Szasz,1982, p.4, p.29) In 1900, the term schizophrenia, now used worldwide, was used to describe the condition that one out of every hundred people had. This statistic remains the same today. Through research and years of study, the world has a better understanding of schizophrenia, its forms, characteristics, symptoms, types, possible causes, and treatments, if any. ( Pierce, 1990. p.263 )

Approximately 1 percent of the world’s population is affected by schizophrenia. This illness does not discriminate. The symptoms usually start between ages 16 and 30. Once an individual reaches the age of 45, it is rare that schizophrenia manifests. Schizophrenia seldom occurs in children; however, awareness of childhood-onset schizophrenia is increasing (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). The symptoms tend to effect men more severely than women and those who suffer from schizophrenia are known to have a higher risk of substance abuse and suicide rates. Approximately 10 percent of the schizophrenia communities commit suicide. The most common addiction shared by these individual is (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2009).