Mental Health Crisis in the African American Community Essay

Mental illness is an increasing problem in America. Currently about 26.2% of Americans suffer from a mental disorder. A mental illness/disorder is a medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, and ability to relate to others and daily functions. Mental illness can affect humans of any age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. However the care that is needed to effectively cure and help the people affected by the illness is not equal for everyone here in American, especially for African Americans. 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†¦show more content†¦There is no way to get help if you have no clue to what the actual problem is. Many African Americans underestimate the severity of mental illnesses. â€Å"Mental illness is frequently stigmatized ad misunderstood in the African American community.† (NAMI) This is one of the serious issues that people in African American communities suffer with, which is ignorance. Not understanding what is wrong is what will make the problem worse because they choose to ignore the signs or seek help with in families and religious affiliations. (Willie) Many people believe that if they pray or talk to family members it will help them with their psychiatric problems however they are only coping with the issue. This is mainly because of the distrus t that many people in the African American population have with psychiatrist and mental health professionals. They often believe that these people are Caucasian, whom could not truly identify with the issues that they are facing on a socioeconomic level. However many not know that, â€Å"In actuality, however, even though African Americans are underrepresented as psychologist, they are well-represented among mental health providers in general, and can be found among the ranks of master’s level clinicians, such as professional counselors and clinical social workers.† (Myers) Therefore the myth that if they get help it would not be with someone identifiable is somewhat true for psychiatrics, however for other mental healthShow MoreRelatedMental Health And Behavioral Issues Essay765 Words   |  4 PagesClinical Social Workers use a person-in-situation (also referred to as person-in-environment) viewpoint to treat mental health and behavioral issues. They may work with i ndividuals, couples, families or other types of groups (Psychology and Counseling Group, n.d.). 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