Psychiatric Problems Among Immigrant Black Americans Essay

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.

Research shows that 44 % of African Americans pray when it comes to a serious personal issue. Although, there’s different methodologies on how to take care of a problem, they believe prayer works the best. As for Caribbean blacks, the level of education they had made them more open to participate in religion based activities to address mental illnesses within their community. Black Caribbean’s from Haiti were more likely than Jamaicans to use prayer under stressful

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 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.

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

The lack of mental health care services for minorities is a long-standing problem in the United States. The first time the issue received attention was in 1985, when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report that described serious health discrepancies that minority populations were enduring. In 1986, because of this report, the Office of Minority Health was formed to assist in the reduction of the health care shortages for

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

These mental health concerns are attributable to the long-standing tradition that Latina women should not speak about their problems to anyone, regardless of their relationship. Poverty coupled with a secret vow of silence make Latina women more susceptible to diagnosable mental diseases like depression and anxiety. Latina women who may possess a mental illness not only refuse to talk about it, they do not seek out proper treatment. In the Latino community, mental illness is either ignored or negatively sanctioned. It is almost taboo to discuss having any sort of mental illness since many consider it to be a phase or issue of a different nature.

During the mass immigration era of America, an abundant number of people traveled to the urban industrial society of the United States in aspiration to seek job opportunities and better lives than the ones they left behind. These groups included the Poles, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, Japanese, East European Jews, and the African- Americans. However, one of these groups mentioned was distinctly different from the rest: the African-Americans. They were already American citizens, who migrated to the northern American cities to free themselves from segregation, oppression, and harsh conditions they experienced in the South and obtain equal rights and opportunities. Although the African-Americans'

Furthermore, there is also a difference on how adolescents and their parents adjust to the process of immigration and their mental health. According to Scuglik and Alarcon (2005), adolescent immigrants are most likely to suffer more mental health problems than adult immigrants. For example, adolescent Somali immigrants experience more psychological distress compared to their parents. The reason on why adolescent Somali suffer more mental health problems than their parents is because their process of adapting to a new culture and environment is sometimes more intense. Thus, it is harder for them to get used to a new lifestyle, adolescents are at an age where everything seems to be more difficult and challenging. In addition, children are most likely to struggle with their fluency in English more than their parents because

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.).

In my own belief, I feel as though Haitians handle things a lot different than other. When it comes to an individual with problems or a mental health issue, it is hard for them to want the proper help. Haitians’ cultural resistance and lack of trust in the efficacy of mental

The case of Pakoro Toyin from Guinea reminds me of a similar research I did in my research 11 class project “The Mental Health Needs of Immigrants”. Pakoro Toyin case follows a unique pattern that often most migrants and college students experienced. While Pakoro can feel homesick from an entire continent, people can even feel homesick by moving just a street away which can apply to out of state students. According to Fisher j. founds that most university environments provide a student with opportunities for advancement, whiles many other needs are not necessarily met for example 47% of university residents reported financial problems ranging from feeling of poverty to concern about management of little resources; 45% of university residents