a safe place to dig deep - mental health in the black community … · 2020-07-07 · the...

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#SafeSpaceDigDeep A Safe Space to Dig Deep: Mental Health and Wellness in the Black Community June 30, 2020

MODERATOR

Moderated byBrian Anderson, LPC, CSAC

Reston Behavioral Health OutpatientProgram Manager

Fairfax-Falls Church CBS


AGENDA• Welcome• Housekeeping• History and Partnerships• Introductions • Presentation

• Mental Health Stigma in Black Communities: Shifting the Narrative

• Panel Discussion• Q&A• Closing Remarks


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HISTORY


PARTNERS


INTRODUCTIONS


PANELISTS

Otis Williams III, Ph.D.Chair and Associate Professor

Dept. of CounselingBowie State University

Randl Dent, Ph.D.Health Equity Scholar

Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for HealthWorkforce Equity

George Washington University


PRESENTATION


MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY





Mental Health Stigma in Black Communities: Shifting the Narrative

Randl Dent, PhDA Safe Space to Dig Deep: Mental Health

and Wellness in the Black CommunityJune 30, 2020

Agenda

What is mental health stigma?

What can mental health stigma look

like in Black communities?

Where did mental health stigma come

from?

How does stigma impact our ability to get needed mental

health care?

How can we combat stigma? Ending Affirmation

When we say mental health stigma, what do we mean?

■ Mental Health stigma (MH stigma) is the negative reactions that people may experience after revealing they have a mental health disorder or have sought help for their mental health– Public Stigma

■ Private Stigma is rooted in how people view themselves for seeking treatment or experiencing mental health issues

What can mental health stigma look like in Black communities?

■ “We don’t suffer from mental illness.”

■ “I’m strong enough to handle it on my own”

■ “Our ancestors have been through much worse.”

■ “Keep it inside the family”

■ “If I go to therapy, I don’t have enough faith.”

Where did stigma come from in Black communities?

■ “Immunity Hypothesis” (1700s-1840s) stated that enslaved people of African descent could not experience mental illness because they did not have the “stresses of profit making” (examples: owning property or voting)

■ “Exaggerated Risk Hypothesis”- is the claim made by the 1840 census that free Black people experienced higher rates of mental illness

– Physicians were encouraged to argue that Black people had more and different mental health issues from White people.

– Drapetomania (i.e., the disease causing enslaved Africans to run away) – Dysaethesia aethiopica (i.e., a disease affecting both the mind and body

and causing lethargy and lesions)

Mental Health Stigma grew in Black communities from a warranted mistrust of mental healthcare

■ Ultimately, medicine and diagnoses were weaponized against us and used to “pathologize a human instinct for freedom and dignity” to uphold slavery as necessary and even beneficial to Black Americans.

■ Black people have a warranted mistrust of mental and medical healthcare systems.– Tuskegee Study– Henrietta Lacks– Exploitation of Black people in early mental health institutions

(i.e., asylums)


■ “We don’t suffer from mental illness.” – Stems from immunity hypothesis

■ “Keep it inside the family.”– Stems from misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis

historically and in the present– Meant to be protective but may not be anymore.

■ “Our ancestors have been through much worse.”

– This is absolutely true, but that does not mean we don’t experience trauma from racism and oppression that is happening in the present-day.


■ “I’m strong enough to handle it on my own.”

– We are a strong and resilient people. We know this!

– “Strength still needs support” - - Therapy for Black Men

■ “If I go to therapy, I don’t have enough faith.”

– “I don’t believe that you can always use a spiritual antidote to a mental or emotional problem. I think you have to treat what is hurting with what is necessary to get better.”

- - Bishop TD Jakes

How does stigma impact our ability to get needed mental health care?

■ When Black people have concerns about mental health stigma, they delay or avoid treatment for their mental health issues.

■ Mental Health Stigma may prevent us from getting the help we need.

Why should we combat mental health stigma narratives in our communities?

■ We, as Black people, deserveto live healthy full lives in which we are safe, valued,and affirmed.

■ Taking care of ourselves and our mental health is an ESSENTIAL part of living a healthy, full life.

How can we shift the narrative about mental health?

In our communities:■ Dispel myths about mental

health and therapy

■ Normalize talking about your mental health and seeking help with your loved ones

■ Talk about it as if you were talking about going to a physical wellness visit

How can we shift the narrative about mental health?

In mental healthcare systems:■ Access to quality appropriate and culturally

responsive mental health care

■ Building trust with Black communities

■ Community-based treatment options

■ Models of care that center Black experiences

■ Create a pipeline of training Black mental health professionals and hiring them into the field AND leadership positions.

Ending Affirmation

•As a Black person, I deserve to live a healthy, full life in which I am safe, valued and affirmed.

Questions?

■ Randl Dent, PhD

■ [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

References■ Alvidrez, J., Snowden, L. R., & Kaiser, D. M. (2008). The experience of stigma among Black mental health consumers. Journal of Health

Care for the Poor and Underserved, 19(3), 874-893.

■ Alvidrez, J., Snowden, L. R., & Kaiser, D. M. (2010). Involving consumers in the development of a psychoeducational booklet about stigmafor black mental health clients. Health Promotion Practice, 11(2), 249-258.

■ Baker, F. M., & Bell, C. C. (1999). Issues in the Psychiatric Treatment of African Americans. Psychiatric Services, 50, 362–368.https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.50.3.362

■ Briggs, H. E., Briggs, A. C., Miller, K. M., & Paulson, R. I. (2011). Combating Persistent Cultural Incompetence in Mental Health Care Systems Serving African Americans. Best Practice in Mental Health, 7, 1–25.

■ Davis, K. (2018). ‘Blacks Are Immune From Mental Illness.’ Psychiatric News, 53. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2018.5a18

■ Gara, M. A., Minsky, S., Silverstein, S. M., Miskimen, T., & Strakowski, S. M. (2019). A Naturalistic Study of Racial Disparities in Diagnoses at an Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic. Psychiatric Services, 70, 130–134. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201800223

■ Hackett, J. R. (2014). Mental Health in the African American Community and the Impact of Historical Trauma : Systematic Barriers.

■ Harrell, S. P. (2000). A Multidimensional Conceptualization of Racism-Related Stress: Implications for the Well-Being of People of Color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 42–57.

■ Jackson, V. (2001). Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racially Segregated Psychiatric Hospitals A Cultural Competence Training Tool. https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.6.01bus

■ Logan, S. L., Denby, R. W., & Gibson, P. A. (2007). Mental Health Care in the African-American Community. Routledge.

■ Nadeem, E., Lange, J. M., Edge, D., Fongwa, M., Belin, T., & Miranda, J. (2007). Does stigma keep poor young immigrant and US-born black and Latina women from seeking mental health care?. Psychiatric Services, 58(12), 1547-1554.

■ Williams, S.-L. L., & Cabrera-Nguyen, E. P. (2016). Impact of Lifetime Evaluated Need on Mental Health Service Use among AfricanAmerican Emerging Adults. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 22, 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40945-017-0033-9.Using

PANEL DISCUSSION

Otis Williams III, Ph.D.Chair and Associate Professor

Dept. of CounselingBowie State University





Q1. How does stigma impact inequities in

health outcomes in black communities

compared to other races and white communities?


Q2. What is the historical

and very current impact of racism on the mental health

in the Black community?


Q3. Discuss the recent incidents of

police brutality & violence.


Q4. What can we do, individually and

collectively, to bring about meaningful and long overdue change to improve

outcomes in the lives of our Black community?


Q & A


CLOSING REMARKS


THANK YOU


PARTNERS


a safe place to dig deep - mental health in the black community … · 2020-07-07 · the...

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