Mental illness is a complex and widespread issue that affects millions of people around the world. It encompasses a broad range of conditions that impact emotional, psychological, and cognitive well-being of individuals. Understanding mental illness is crucial for promoting awareness, reducing stigma, and facilitating early intervention and effective treatment for individuals in need of mental supports. Let's take a look at the challenges Black Americans deal with when suffering with mental illness and into the causes, symptoms, and reluctance for mental health treatment options for mental illnesses, drawing insights from various research studies and reports.
Do Black Americans find it better to be alone when dealing with mental illness ?
✅Black Americans have historically faced significant disparities in access to and utilization of mental health treatment options. This opposition to mental health treatment among Black communities can be attributed to various complex factors, including historical trauma, systemic racism, cultural stigma, and socioeconomic disparities. This summary explores these issues in detail, highlighting the reasons behind the reluctance of why African Americans avoid seeking mental health treatment and the importance of addressing these barriers to improve mental health outcomes for Black Americans.
The stigma surrounding mental illness remains a significant barrier to seeking and participating in mental health care. Corrigan, Druss, and Perlick (2014) conducted a study exploring the effects of mental illness stigma on black Americans willingness to seek help. The research revealed that stigma perceptions lead to fear of discrimination especially from African Americans, causing many people to avoid seeking professional support.
✅Historical trauma plays a crucial role in the reluctance of many Black Americans to engage with mental health treatment options. The legacy of slavery, segregation, and discrimination has left deep emotional scars that continue to affect individuals and communities. The collective trauma experienced by Black Americans can lead to a mistrust of mental health systems, as they have historically been used to pathologize and control Black individuals.
✅According to Metzger., Liens., Delapp, (2018) the underutilization of mental health services among Black people is primarily attributed to a multitude of factors including stigma, mistrust of health care systems, cultural misunderstandings, and the lack of culturally sensitive treatments. For example, the Tuskegee Syphilis study that was conducted between 1932 and 1972 done is secret by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) deceived African American men by never informing them of the induced syphilis procedure that resulted in the death of many black men (Gamble, 1993).
This type of medical misrepresentation is arguably a revelation that caused distrust of medical support for illness by African Americans who were setup. Moreover, socioeconomic diversity in the American class system, and systemic barriers such as lack of access to medical care and financial constraints add to the complexity of this issue.
✅Systemic racism is a pervasive issue that contributes to disparities in mental health treatment. Black Americans often encounter racial bias within healthcare systems, which can result in misdiagnoses, inappropriate treatment, and a lack of culturally competent care. This systemic racism creates a justifiable skepticism towards mental health services.
✅Finally, American structural, and systemic issues that eliminate access to certain minority groups having a lack of health insurance, unavailability of mental health services in predominantly Black neighborhoods, and other socio-economic barriers contribute to Black individuals' reluctance to seek mental health services (Ward et al, 2013).
✅Socioeconomic factors also play a significant role in the opposition to mental health treatment among Black Americans. Limited access to quality healthcare, lack of insurance, and financial constraints can deter individuals from seeking help. Additionally, the stressors associated with economic inequality and discrimination can exacerbate mental health issues, creating a vicious cycle of untreated conditions.
✅Stigma attached to mental illness is pervasive in many Black communities and can often discourage individuals from seeking help. This stigma manifests as a fear of being labeled 'crazy', weak, or incompetent. People are more likely to conceal their mental health struggles due to this fear, thereby preventing them from receiving necessary help (Ward et al., 2013).
Can you overcome mental illness without support?
✅Denial of mental illness is a complex issue misunderstood through multiple perspectives, including social, cultural, psychological, socioeconomic, medical factors and cultural belief systems.. For example, when people appear to display or have a level of abnormal behavior, there is public stereotyping that may depict the people as dangerous or morally deficient; public perception can lead to people misunderstanding and stigmatizing, labeling individuals that display abnormal behavior as unfit or unable to fulfill social roles. Individual belief systems, people believe, can associate strange behavior with someone under a supernatural spell or lacking the willpower to control themselves.
Unfortunately, several cultural backgrounds may stigmatize people who exhibit mental illness behavior so much that people may prefer to ignore or deny the symptoms.
✅According to Corrigan, P. W., & Watson, A. C. (2002), psychological mechanisms that affect most African Americans (Blacks) with mental illness experience cognitive dissonance, which may be hard for Blacks to accept mental conditions because it can create a conflict with their self-concept, along with overthinking the fear of repercussions that come with admitting your mental illness.
Blacks with dual diagnosis (i.e., two mental illnesses occurring at the same time) may fear concerns with treatment methods, side effects from medications, or being hospitalized in a hospital ward can create complexity with how people in your community will perceive you, contributing to how people will admit you are struggling with the devil taking over your mind or your have no will power to control yourself.
Strategies for how can you tackle mental illness stigma and get help?
✅ 1. Understanding the complex factors involved in denial can be the first step toward improving awareness and developing better strategies for diagnosis and mental health treatment.
✅ 2. Through comprehensive understanding problem focused coping strategies can help you with mental illness with guidance that will help seek mental health diagnosis and treatment that is culturally sensitive and effective for you.
Improving awareness and developing better strategies for cultural mental health diagnosis and treatment involves a multi-faceted approach.
According to Bhui, K., Warfa, N., Edony, P., Mckenzie, K., & Bhugra, D. (2007), strategies like increasing cultural competency through training healthcare providers can help understand discrepancies in diagnosis of mental illness in different cultural contexts.
✅ 3. Emotion-focused coping strategies can involve diagnostic tools that are essential to considering cultural representations that will be effective in helping with your mental illness dilemmas.
Lewis-Fernández, R., Aggarwal, N. K., Lam, P. C., Galfalvy, H., Weiss, M. G., Kirmayer, L. J., ... & Vega-Dienstmaier, J. M. (2017) mentions how integrating cultural aspects into diagnostic tools that consider cultural manifestations of mental illness is essential in considering cultural representations that increase clinical utility and provide a cultural formulation that will effectively help individuals of color with mental illness dilemmas.
✅ 4. According to Henderson, C., Evan Lackop, S., & Thornicroft, G. (2013), another strategy recommended to be effective is to include public awareness campaigns or social support targeting mental health stigma and the importance of seeking help. For example, local social supports groups will target specific communities and work to raise awareness about mental health stigma and encourage individuals intimidated to seek help due to perceptions of stereotyping helping you to reconsider getting help for mental health issues. Peer-support community interventions are effective when the intervention includes family involvement is crucial and can serve as an intermediate step toward formal mental health care.
✅ 5. Incorporating holistic treatment as an alternative medicine for mental illness healing methods may be considered along with primary psychiatric treatment and policies that address cultural sensitivity needed to promote mental health services that all ethnicities can access for mental health support (Bodeker, G., Kronenber, F. 2002).
✅Healthcare systems must work to promote mental well-being as a fundamental aspect of ensuring a person's holistic health and quality of life. In a world grappling with the complexities of modern life, stress, and mental health challenges, focusing on mental well-being has become an imperative. Several of you have witnessed in the media mass shootings that mostly result from complexities of someone with mental illness.
✅Managing ones emotions encompasses a state of emotional, psychological, and social well-being in which an you can effectively cope with stress, engage in fulfilling relationships, work productively, and contribute to their community. Blacks who need mental health support must understand your positive state of mental health helps with embracing yourself with strengths and limitations that contribute to positive self-image, satisfaction with life, achieving meaningful goals, reducing feelings of helplessness/anxiety, and self-esteem. Therefore, mental health treatment from healthcare providers must be able to encourage you to seek help when needed and gain skill building techniques or coping mechanisms that will enhance emotional regulation and promote mental clarity.
Conclusion
Understanding mental illness is critical for creating a compassionate and inclusive society that supports individuals facing mental health challenges. Black Americans seeking mental health treatment should seek sources that provide a approach to mental healthcare that includes mental health management techniques with alternatives for treating your mental illness. Seek therapist that will provide strategies and support with helping your mental illness.
To address these barriers and improve mental health outcomes for Black Americans, several strategies are necessary. Culturally competent mental health services that recognize and respect the unique experiences of Black individuals are essential. Anti-racist training for healthcare professionals can help reduce bias and improve the quality of care provided. Increasing access to affordable mental health services and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health within Black communities are also critical steps.
Hopefully, the 5 strategies for choosing mental health support has provided insights from research studies and reports that shed light on the impact of stigma, discrimination, and cultural factors on mental health help-seeking behavior. By embracing evidence-based strategies that raise awareness, and by advocating for comprehensive mental healthcare that will help you unmask the hidden struggles of mental illness helping you with effective treatment that ensures early intervention, accurate diagnosis, and productive mental health support.
References:
Ward, E. C., Wiltshire, J. C., Detry, M. A., & Brown, R. L. (2013). African American men and women's attitude toward mental illness, perceptions of stigma, and preferred coping behaviors. Nursing Research, 62(3), 185–194.
Gamble, V. N. (1993). A legacy of distrust: African Americans and medical research. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 9(6 Suppl), 35-38. PMID: 8123285.
Lewis-Fernández, R., Aggarwal, N. K., Lam, P. C., Galfalvy, H., Weiss, M. G., Kirmayer, L. J., ... & Vega-Dienstmaier, J. M. (2017). Feasibility, acceptability and clinical utility of the Cultural Formulation Interview: mixed-methods results from the DSM-5 international field trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 210(4), 290-297.
Bodeker, G., & Kronenberg, F. (2002). A public health agenda for traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine. American Journal of Public Health, 92(10), 1582-1591.
Williams, M. T., Metzger, I. W., Leins, C., & DeLapp, C. (2018). Assessing racial trauma within a DSM–5 framework: The UConn Racial/Ethnic Stress & Trauma Survey. Practice Innovations, 3(4), 242–260. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000076
Bhui, K., Warfa, N., Edonya, P., McKenzie, K., & Bhugra, D. (2007). Cultural competence in mental health care: a review of model evaluations. BMC Health Services Research, 7(1), 15.
Williams, D. R., & Williams-Morris, R. (2000). Racism and mental health: The African American experience. Ethnicity & Health, 5(3-4), 243-268.
Snowden, L. R., & Cheung, F. K. (1990). Use of inpatient mental health services by members of ethnic minority groups. American Psychologist, 45(3), 347-355.
Pieterse, A. L., & Carter, R. T. (2007). An examination of the relationship between general life stress, racism-related stress, and psychological health among Black men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(1), 101-109.
Hankerson, S. H., & Weissman, M. M. (2012). Church-based health programs for mental disorders among African Americans: A review. Psychiatric Services, 63(3), 243-249.
Legal Disclaimer: The content in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals.
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