Breaking the Silence: Prioritizing Mental Health in the Black Community
Everyone deserves access to mental health services, regardless of race or ethnicity. Prioritizing your mental health matters, especially in the Black community. Seeking out mental health services hasn’t always been an easy topic of discussion for people of color because of the stigma around mental health and racial disparities in the healthcare system. As we celebrate Black History Month, it’s important to shed light on the many health challenges the Black community faces in the mental health space.
Understanding the Impact of Mental Health on the Black Community
Due to the history of generational trauma, systematic racism, discrimination, and lack of resources, these factors have impacted the mental health of many Black individuals. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Black adults are more likely to experience feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and anxiety but less likely to receive mental health support. In the Black community considering therapy can be seen as a sign of weakness. Many Black kids grow up being told to have thick skin causing them to hide their emotions because there isn’t a safe space for them to speak freely about their feelings. Why does this happen you ask? Well, this is due to generational trauma. Slavery, Jim Crow Segregation, and police brutality are some of the many contributing factors that have caused generational trauma in the Black community. Many times, speaking up about what you felt led to violence and this has ultimately put fear in Black people to express themselves.
The lack of trust in the healthcare system and a lack of access have also made it difficult for the Black community to seek therapy. Many Black individuals have faced racism and discrimination by doctors. They have often been told that their symptoms aren’t serious or that they are strong enough to face pain therefore they have been denied medicine in some cases. One of the most known cases of mistreatment by medical professionals happened between 1932 and 1972 with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study when the United States Public Health Service and the CDC conducted a study on about 400 Black men by giving them syphilis. Over 100 men died due to this study and this was not too long ago so you could imagine the fear that is still carried by many Black people. If the Black community would consider therapy, they would most likely feel more comfortable having a therapist who looks like them and understands their experiences firsthand. However, only about 4% of therapists in the United States are Black.
How to Support Mental Health in the Black Community
At MM Therapy we have many licensed therapists of color specifically Black therapists. We understand that taking care of your mental health in the Black community is important and we pride ourselves in offering accessible care to all our clients. If you are interested in therapy and are ready to take the next step in your mental health journey, click the button below to see our team of therapists. Picking the right therapist for you is important!
