Anxiety Disorders In African-American Adults

It is through the field of psychology that I have become concerned about the societal issues that surround the African American community. Psychology has intrigued me extraordinarily that it has become one of my many objectives to dismiss the stigmatization of mental health within the African American community. It Is my objective to develop approaches for those who are affected by mental health to find it easier to stand up and speak out about their mental health concerns. With this, it will be less of a struggle for them to receive the psychological assistance they may need. Furthermore, it is my objective to advance social change within the communities of ethnic

The Strong Black Woman schema is linked to an increased risk of psychological distress among African-American women and effects emotional regulation which could result in greater susceptibility for depression (Watson & Hunter, 2015). Consistent with findings on the Strong Black Woman schema, African American women are less likely to seek psychological services to manage to distress. The Strong Black Woman scheme incorporates a belief that African American women should be strong and not portray weakness particularly when it concerns emotional difficulties; emotional difficulties such as neutral illness would indicate weakness and furthermore, sharing such personal and vulnerable information to individuals outside of the family is viewed as prohibited (Watson & Hunter, 2015). The resistance of African American women to seek help for psychological distress contributes to them being "often invisible, misdiagnosed, and ineptly treated" for mental illness (Walton & Gyewuwo-Gassikia,

The culture of a person suffering from mental illness affects whether or not they comply with treatment or rather continues with treatment. The economic status of an individual suffering from a mental illness plays a significant role in whether or not utilize mental health services. The attitudes toward treatment among African American Males have to do with their cultural, economic status and demographic factors (Versola-Russo, 2006). African American Males after having been diagnosed with a mental illness and discharged from the hospital find it difficult to return to work and to go back to normalcy as they know it (Eack & Newhill, 2012). Studies show that African Americans are less likely to use outpatient mental health services as compared

Our general knowledge about mental health has increased substantially is the past several decades. However, much of research conducted on psychological wellness was done with a sample size of a white population. Although there have been strides to complete more research for more diverse populations regarding race, there has been little psychology applied to diverse populations in counseling and/or clinical settings. For my paper, I will argue that the common “one size fits all” way of treating mental health problems is not the best treatment due to diverse backgrounds of current and future patients. To complete this paper, I will need to learn about the psychological differences between the general white population and those of minorities.

A population of client’s I hope to work with in the future is African American women suffering from depression. The depression rate among African American women is at an all time high, with low rates of treatment according to the Huffington Post, 2014. This population of women needs help and are often forgotten about. In addition to helping the population of women, I also have a goal to help bring a heightened awareness of the high percentages of depression among African American Women. Mental health is often stigmatized in the African American community.

Mouzon, D. M., Taylor, R. J., Keith, V. M., Nicklett, E. J., & Chatters, L. M. (2016). Discrimination and psychiatric disorders among older African Americans. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. It is with extreme sadness that I read this article. The thought, that an entire population of people exist every day feeling less than, treated less than and receive less than their white counterparts for no other reason than the color of their skin, is sickening. Then to find that many disorders and mental health issues are the result of this treatment is beyond horrifying. The purpose of this article is to determine how racial and non-racial discrimination affect the mental health and psychiatric disorders regarding older African Americans. A population of people who have dealt with years of segregation, poor education, poor housing and unfair treatment in the workplace. Major discrimination is defined as occurrences that involve being denied or severely limited in access to opportunities in important life domains such as work, housing, and education (Williams et al., 1997). I will focus on what is considered everyday discrimination, three disorders that are relevant to discrimination along with the results for these cohorts.

Mental health is defined as a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. In this day and age, mental health is a very prevalent matter considering that more and more people are opening up about it and showing others that it indeed is okay for you or someone you may know to seek help. Unfortunately, within racial minority groups it is not as prevalent as we would hope and it remains partially understood. According to Taylor, Chatters and Nguyen (2013) “there is a limited body of research on the mental health of Black Caribbeans.” Miranda, Siddique, Belin and Kohn-Wood (2005) also stated that even “to date, very little information on psychiatric problems among immigrant black Americans is available.”

The Somali community participants consisted of two focus groups, one group for each gender, with 24 participants total, where 14 were females and 10 were males. The age of the participants was 40 and above. This study aimed to understand the concept and the experiences of mental health specifically depression and anxiety among the minority groups it sampled, including the Somali community. It also aimed to get more knowledge on how to increase access to psychological therapies for these communities (Loewenthal, et al., 2012). The study found the cultural barriers to approaching service providers for the Somali group had a recurrent theme, which consisted in the escape of a person with mental illness from the community. Participants shared that they know examples of people, especially mothers with children with mental illness who move out of their neighborhood feeling ashamed and stigmatized by the community, and the male group shared that issues of mental illness were not tolerated in the community. One solution that both groups the females and the males came up with were was distracting

A large fraction of the United States population is made up of groups of minorities including immigrants. Due to persistent social and racial disparities, U.S. minorities’ mental health issues are not usually diagnosed or treated that makes them increasingly vulnerable to be at risk for other health conditions (Figure 3.). This additionally reduces their economic productivity and income, which is already lagging behind the majority of Americans. An important factor that prevents this population from receiving the mental services is limited knowledge and lack of appropriate access to the mental health services (Chapa, 2004). According to Chapa (2004, p 4.) “for those who do receive mental health interventions, the appropriateness and quality

In addition, those that secure residence in highly segregated, economically impoverished neighborhoods, who were subjected to the likelihood of violence, crime, overcrowding or high turnover were at an even greater risk for adverse mental health conditions. (Williams and Morris 2000) concluding that the social construction of poverty is a pathogenic phenomenon. Researchers understand that the subjective experiences of violence, discrimination and racism over time can induce negative health consequences. Pieterse, Todd, Neville and Carter (2012) sampled 815 Black / African American respondents between 12 and 30 years old. They found that health outcomes were negatively impacted through poor diet and substance use which was then interpreted as a tool to counterbalance the negative effect of their perceived

Ultimately, several aspects intersect that result in African American women not seeking Formal Mental Health treatment, separate from Socioeconomic reasons. Women may fear and consequently face stigma when disclosing their illness to their social support networks and even professional help (Ward, et al., 2013). Families may discourage women from seeking help or their attitudes toward it may make women think twice before actively seeking help. In many cases, it is their relationship with the therapist, counselor, or helper and concerns with it. Issues of confidentiality are raised with the belief that it may not be maintained and trust will be broken (Leis, Mendelson, Perry, & Tandon, 2011). African American women have a hard time

They hypothesized that African Americans would have more negative attitudes towards seeking help for a mental illness even though they are more prevalent to suffer from a mental illness because of socioeconomic status and their limited availability to a mental health professionals. White and African American who suffered from major depression (n=427), any psychiatric disorder (n=1892), a severe disorder (n=855), or if they were general population (n=5877) were asked the probability that they would seek help for emotional health, their level of comfort talking to a professional, and the level of embarrassment they would feel if their friends knew. The study found that African Americans had more positive attitudes in all questions among all

Kalibatseva and Leong (2014) conducted a literature review to examine culturally adapted or “sensitive” treatments of depression for ethnic minorities. The researchers aimed to (1) review what makes a treatment for depression culturally sensitive (2) review what treatments have already been adapted or tested (3) review what groups are these treatments targeting (4) make recommendations for future interventions. Articles included in the study focused on “culturally sensitive treatments for depression,” mentioned at least one treatment component related to the clients’ culture, and described the adaptation used in the treatment. Prevention studies were excluded from the review. A total of sixteen studies were identified through searching the PsychInfo database. The culturally sensitive treatment samples’

For example, a study by Gadalla (2009, p. 233) suggests that ethnic background significantly impacts the treatment-seeking rates for major depression, when controlling for socio-economic, demographic, and health factors. Moreover, further research has noted additional barriers to treatment-seeking amongst racialized immigrant groups, including barriers pertaining to the use of existing health information and services, those related to the immigration settlement process, and the availability of appropriate services (Thomson et al., 2015, p. 1895).

As a woman of color in a working class family, I barely met other people of color who openly discussed emotions, mental health, or mental illness. During my graduate studies, I was typically 1 out of 5 ethnically diverse students in the majority of my classes, and 1 of 2 in my undergraduate studies. These experiences made me aware that there is a lack of mental health representation amongst people of color. Although my interest in understanding perception, emotional processes, and trauma, developed long before my pursuit of higher education, I realized the importance of pursing a PsyD. is not only for personal growth, but also to better serve my community.