Mental Illness Among African Americans

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.

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 the beginning, Metal Illness was treated like it was a special form of stupidity, but it is in fact a serious medical issue and shouldn’t be downgraded by ignorant stigma.

African Americans acceptance of therapy has been rising in the past decade, particularly among the young and those with more education and in those urban areas with large black populations (Bahrampour, 2013). Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City stated that in the past 10 years they have seen a 20 to 25 percent rise in African Americans seeking therapy (Bahrampour, 2013). Along with this SUNY College at Old Westbury in New York, noted that more black students are studying psychology (Bahrampour, 2013). These are just a few of the examples were the field of counseling is becoming more diverse and more excepting to African Americans. This group is still behind but with progress being made they are moving in the right direction. This is needed to help with the higher rates of mental health issues that are reported in the African American community. African Americans are 20% more likely to report having serious psychological distress than non-Hispanic Whites, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Services (Hamm, 2014). Yet young adult African Americans, are less likely to seek mental health services than their white counterparts, according to a study

Treatment for mental, physical, and other health-related ailments is widely diagnosed in today’s society. Some cultures accept the aid of healthcare providers, but others believe in self-treatment. Each year depression affects an estimated 17 million people in the United States (Ward, Mengesha, 2013). In the African American community dysthymia, mild persistent depression, is a huge health concern. Findings show that African American women are at a higher risk to experience signs of depression than any other race. Even though there are several ways to improve depression symptoms, African Americans are least likely to seek help. Due to the insufficiency of requesting treatment, the effects of depression are increasing within the African American community. The possibility of developing depression is higher for those around the age group of late twenties to early thirties; depression indicators usually decrease with age. During this course of completing this paper, the main objective is to provide answers to the following questions:

According to African American population, women are the care givers and they are responsible in taking care of the family and over involve in keeping the family intact. The African American women are the ones that are affected by the negatives that the others, may be be-cause of lower educational levels, poverty or inequality. Women are found to be more depressed than the men. The depression will make the women unhealthy and physically weak. One of the im-portant factor may be during the childbearing stage due to lack of support and economic status. Some research study indicates that the child’s weakness may induce maternal depression. The three factors governing includes increased stress, weak health of

This report goes over the issues in the field of psychology. Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and behavior. Many issues in Psychology can go in hand with Mental illness which affects a large amount of the world population, young and old. Mental Illness is a variety of conditions that affect, mood , behavior and mental process. These mental illness can be depression, ADHD and more. I then further explored how children being medicated for mental problems is an issue due to the lasting effects and alternative treatments. I also began further exploring mental Illnesses in the African American community, this is an issue because that racial group receives the least care and resources in mental health. Lastly, the overall use

As of 2016, 13.3% of the United States population is African American. A large portion of that population is located in the DC and MD area, which ultimately means a substantial amount of people dealing with mental health problems. Black/African Americans hold beliefs related to stigma, psychological openness, and help-seeking, which in turn affects their coping behaviors (Ward 2013). Generally speaking, many black people are not very open to acknowledging psychological problems, but they Aare somewhat open to seeking mental health services (Ward 2013). In the city of Baltimore 15.54% of the population has a diagnosed mental illness (Baltimore City Health Department 2012), which at first doesn’t seem like such a high number but to take into

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

Expectedly, Asian American students have a variety of mental health issues including problems centered on academia, interpersonal, health/substance abuse, and family difficulties (Schoen, 2005). However, the need for counseling services does not match the rate of utilization among this population due to the stigma associated with receiving mental health services (Kim & Omizo, 2003). Studies show that less acculturated Asian Americans tend to have less favorable views on seeking mental health services than those who are more acculturated (Atkinson & Gim, 1989; Tata & Leong, 1994). Research on Asian Americans consistently show that Asian groups, including Asian American students, are likely to express depressive symptoms as somatic symptoms

Racism in societal institutions can lead to truncated socioeconomic mobility, differential access to desirable resources, and poor living conditions that can adversely affect mental health. Second, experiences of discrimination can induce physiological and psychological reactions that can lead to adverse changes in mental health status. Third, in race-conscious societies, the acceptance of negative cultural stereotypes can lead to unfavorable self-evaluations that have deleterious effects on psychological well being.

Mental health within black culture became a passion of mine after seeing the lack of diversity within the counseling field along with the stigmatization placed on mental health. Another prominent motivator is to work within minority communities to educate the significance of having social capital and how to use that capital to gain mental health services and well-being.

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.”

Many people in Africa are dying because of horrible living conditions. People who have mental illnesses are especially treated awfully and unfairly. One reason why they are treated so horribly is because countries in Africa are less developed economically than many other countries around the world. This means that these countries don’t have the money to support everyone. Mentally ill people are put at the bottom of the list. They are also affected politically and socially, because there aren't any places for these people to stay, and many are placed in prisons and tortured. The absence of a strong political government means that there is no action being taken to improve their living conditions. A

One in five Americans deal with a mental disorder in a given year, 20% of adolescents ranging from ages 13-18 deal experience severe mental disorders. 3.3 million Americans are diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, which many people refer to as “OCD.” One in ten American children go through a major depression (“Mental Health”). Mental illnesses are not partaking to a small amount of the population, these are only the numbers for people who have seen a psychiatrist and have been clinically diagnosed. 90% of people who have committed suicide, had an underlying mental illness (“Mental Health By The Numbers”).Mental illness is not something to joke about. Using bipolar to describe the weather is not funny; using schizophrenia to describe a character trait is not funny; using OCD to describe how clean something must be is not funny.