Mental Health Stigma in The African American Community
The stigma regarding mental health and mental illness within the African American community is extremely prominent. Which leads to the question of why? Why is there a stigma about mental health and mental illnesses within the African American community? To dissect this question, one must first understand the stereotypes and treatment placed upon the African American community in comparison to White Americans. Since the beginning of the United States’ existence, African Americans have been perceived as “less than.” Which in turn created socioeconomic disparities, thus causing the community to not reach out for treatment.
Shame is nothing new to African Americans who speak out regarding mental illness and health. Cultural factors within the community have caused African American women to not seek mental health services. Within our society, women of this community have been given the term “strong black woman” (Watson & Hunter, 2015). There’s a saying within the African American community that, “behind every black man is an even stronger black woman.” This is one of the reasons why African American women themselves do not seek help; they believe that seeking help is to fail at being a strong black woman (Watson & Hunter, 2015). They believe that seeking help would confirm society's negative stereotypes about them, as well as stigmatize them. Women of this community are told to persevere through the hardships and oppression, and are expected to not be vulnerable. Being closed off results in them having limited contact with health professionals (Watson & Hunter, 2015). However, avoiding health professionals leads to high rates of depression and anxiety for the women of this community.
The perception of strength is a complex topic when it comes to mental health and illness among African Americans. The African American community has placed an inconceivable notion on members of their society— that one must avoid mental health services. The community does this because of the fear of being labeled, the cost of treatment, and the lack of knowledge on where to go. The healthcare industry and African Americans have a long history of opposition. According to Ormond et al. (2019), it has been shown that African Americans rely on religion and the church for support with mental health. It seems as if the church is a safe haven for the community to display health-seeking behavior. Which brings up the topic of cultural mistrust. Situations like the Tuskegee Experiments and the case of Henrietta Lacks are theorized to have contributed to the negative attitude about seeking health services within the community (Ormond et al., 2019).
The church provides coping mechanisms that pertain specifically to African Americans when it comes to mental health. It is believed among this community that the closer you are to God; the more things will be alright. This sometimes translates into praying whatever mental health issue that individual has away. An important question to ask is, how did African Americans become dependent on religion and church to help with mental illness? It stems from discrimination and Jim Crow laws. Discrimination among African Americans is categorized into two groups (major and every day). Discrimination plays a role in social exclusion within this community (Hopkins & Shook, 2017). Social exclusion not only happens outside the community, but also within the community, and can even be internalized by an individual of that community. According to Turner, Jenson-Doss, and Heffer (2015) this social exclusion within the community can start as early as adolescence. Social exclusion as an adolescent can have important consequences for unresolved psychological distress in childhood (Turner, Jenson-Doss & Heffer, 2015). It can cause problems later in life such as suicide, drug abuse, and failure to complete high levels of education.
The stigma that some African Americans hold against mental illness and mental health has a negative effect on seeking out and utilizing mental health services. Public stigmatic attitudes towards mental illnesses and within the community are likely to grow into self-stigma towards mental illness. As well as growing into internal prejudice and discrimination, African Americans tend to promote stigmatic attitudes towards themselves and people with mental disorders. Since mental health and illness is stigmatized within the community, African Americans incorporated that belief system into important social structures, including the church. Many African Americans turn to God to help lessen the burden of a mental health condition or a disorder. However turning to God isn’t always going to guarantee them a positive result as turning to God could also imply that God is punishing them with a mental disorder for sinning.
African Americans often deal with an internal debate, as well as fear of being devalued, if open about mental health. The stigma is so internalized, that oftentimes they feel embarrassment if they themselves have mental health issues. The stigma goes as far as them believing that if someone has a mental illness, that individual is dangerous, and they must distance themselves. This in turn can lead to a negative religious coping mechanism. However, religion can also be that individual’s downfall. According to McCleary-Gaddy and Miller (2019) prejudice, discrimination, and microaggressions can be internalized by members of the African American community because of the negative impacts of religious coping. Discrimination has long term effects on the psychological well-being of African Americans and can leave them feeling angry and hostile because of it (McCleary-Gaddy & Miller, 2019).
If one is discriminated against already by the world around them, imagine how mentally taxing it is to then be discriminated by their religion. What this means is that members of the African American community will oftentimes tell other members that they deserve to be going through mental turmoil in the name of God. Members of the church will tell them that they deserve to be going through depression, PTSD, or anxiety because they have sinned (McCleary-Gaddy & Miller, 2019). This causes individuals who are going through mental distress to take it as a punishment from God, thus furthering the internalization of discrimination and making one stay further away from seeking help from a mental health professional.
References
Hopkins, P. D., & Shook, N. J. (2017). A review of sociocultural factors that may underlie differences in African American and European American anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 49(1), 104–113. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1016/j.janxdis.2017.04.003
McCleary-Gaddy, A. T., & Miller, C. T. (2019). Negative religious coping as a mediator between perceived prejudice and psychological distress among African Americans: A structural equation modeling approach. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11(3), 257–265. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1037/rel0000228
Ormond, A., Barbour, R., Lewis, R. K., Montgomery, A., & Ponds, A. (2019). Results from a community mental health assessment in a historically black church: A call for action. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 1(1), 1-17. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1080/10852352.2019.1654257
Turner, E. A., Jensen-Doss, A., & Heffer, R. W. (2015). Ethnicity as a moderator of how parents’ attitudes and perceived stigma influence intentions to seek child mental health services. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21(4), 613–618. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1037/cdp0000047
Vinson, E. S., Abdullah, T., & Brown, T. L. (2016). Mental illness stigma intervention in African Americans: Examining two delivery methods. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 204(5), 400–403. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000458
Watson, N. N., & Hunter, C. D. (2015). Anxiety and depression among African American women: The costs of strength and negative attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21(4), 604–612. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1037/cdp0000015
Author: Chazz Lakey
