The African American Population And The Field Of Counseling

Statistics state that mental illness is estimated to be higher in blacks than in whites. One of the contributing factors to why blacks aren’t being cared for when they have a mental illness is because of the stigma that mental illness doesn’t exist within the community. According to Plowden (2006), “ African American men often differ in their presentation of depression and are often misdiagnosed. African American men are at greater risk for depression, but they are less likely to participate in mental health care.” This is due to the

When considering the different contexts in which counselling takes place, diversity appears to be the most distinguishing factor that is linked to client satisfaction Hankins (2007) and is aimed at providing a more ‘universal system of counselling’. (Patterson, 1996,

School counselors should be able to distinguish the differences between individual and group dissimilarities and strive to value all students and groups equally. They should advocate for the equitable treatment of all students in their school and in their community. If a school counselor wants to be successful in ensuring an equity-based program, they should consider the role of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and other factors (Curry & Milson, 2013). Any student regardless of background can face developmental and emotional issues that can be detrimental to their success. Some students slip through the cracks because they feel that there are no adults available whom they can trust. They

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.

Dr. Kimberlyn Leary writes about the application of treatment methodologies specific to the treatment African Americans but to make this suggestion is contrary to purpose of this paper. I assert that the creation of specific therapeutic methods for Black people and people of color would only deepen the chasm between black and white. What I am saying here is that there is a way to apply the existing psychoanalytic theories to Black people and most all of these theories address many of the issues of the

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

Many problems are facing African American males. Few people are knowledgeable of the disparity between African American males and females as it relates to incarceration, homicide, suicide, alcoholism, and many other ailments (p. 9).

To effectively lessen the effects of lifelong racism and discrimination, Hays & Erford (2014) recommends a strength-based approach, with the counselor focusing on the individual and family capacities. Focusing on the client’s positive attributes and favorable cultural norms can encourage one to become more resilient (Vaterlaus, Skogrand, & Chaney, 2015). Furthermore, applying counseling skills such as unconditional positive regard, empathy, consistency, focusing on the client, and providing a supportive environment can all help the therapeutic relationship (Hays & Erford, 2014). Additionally, making the counselor/client relationship equal will also allow the client to feel more comfortable, may dispel the mistrust of counseling prominent in African American culture (Hays & Erford, 2014). Finally, acknowledging the racial differences with the client could encourage them to discuss the racism and discrimination they may have experienced (Hays & Erford, 2014).

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

African Americans in general avoid counseling of any form and group counseling is no exception to the rule. There are several cultural factors that play a part in framing this rule for African Americans, but the major issues are religion and spirituality, dealing with family and personal business according to what the culture deems acceptable and prejudices both held by African Americans and their concern over the prejudices of others toward them. Unfortunately as a result of the close-minded nature of the culture to counseling and the lack of education regarding the group counseling experience and its many benefits, many African American individuals are left attempting to cope with life’s issues alone.

Important topics such as racism, poverty, education and microaggressions must be discussed in order to establish the therapeutic relationship. White therapists may feel uncomfortable discussing issues such as skin color in the therapeutic environment, however it is often welcomed conversation by the frightened and surprised Latino clients who already feel ashamed about entering therapy. In the beginning stages of therapy non-minority therapist must take a risk in recognizing the meaning of skin color and nationality on clients. Color and oppression often go hand in hand and cannot be avoided. It is often that Latino clients feel that White therapist are the experts and most knowledgeable to solve “problems.”

That means the counselors must push aside their personal bias, especially if they have negative opinion on an interracial couple. It will take clients a while to trust the counselors, so we as counselors need to keep that in our minds. Having a personal bias during the session destroys the potential professional relationship build-up and trust between the counselor and the client. Once a client loses a trust and respect for the counselor, which is going to be an ethical issue because negative consequences loom

In working with minority groups, counselors do well to remember that most counseling concepts where developed by

I read the same article as you and it was interesting looking at the research. It is important that mental health counselors understand that certain socioeconomic status, marital status, and family may impact depressive symptoms. In the article, it shows that black women that are divorced have less depressive symptoms than white women (Spence,Adkins & Dupre, 2011). I agree mental health counselors should understand that no matter what race or gender the client is that they are individuals but while still helping them, the counselor should be aware of group membership and understand that their cultural affects their outcome of a client's treatment. Great