How Do We Break the Stigma of Mental Health For Black People?
The younger generation of Black people are working towards taking care of their mental health but we still have a long way to go to break the stigma.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! If you grew up in a traditional Black household, it is common that mental health may not have been talked about that much. For older generations of Black people, having mental health issues are seen as negative and almost associated with the devil. Many older religious people believe that any mental health issue can be fixed with prayer and religion. I did not grow up in an extremely religious household but my parents are older and do have ties to Baptism. One day when I was sitting on the couch with my mom, she saw on my website that I had posted an article about being diagnosed with depression. Without even asking questions, she jumped up in distress and said “OMG!” Her reaction was so unsettling that I got annoyed and tried to change the subject. I reassured her that it was not anything that serious for panic. If she would have approached the situation better I might have been open to explaining. And if she read the article she would see that I was diagnosed with minor depression and was struggling adapting to real world problems after college. It is common for people in their young twenties to experience depression. I think my mom immediately felt like she had done something wrong raising me and that’s why I had depression. But life happens, and so does depression regardless of your upbringing sometimes.
It’s funny that white people get mad when we relate everything back to slavery, but almost every issue for Black Americans does trace back to… Slavery! Slavery, sharecropping, and race-based exclusion from health, educational, social, and economic resources, translates into socioeconomic disparities experienced by Black and African American people today. Socioeconomic status, in turn, is linked to mental health: people who are impoverished, homeless, incarcerated, or have substance use problems are at higher risk for poor mental health. [Source]
According to Mental Health America, more than 1 in 5 Black people in the U.S. lived in poverty as of 2018. Black people living below poverty are twice as likely to report serious psychological distress than those living over 2x the poverty level.
Issues like racism, generational trauma, and medical mistreatment make it difficult for many Black people to recognize issues with their mental health and oftentimes they do not have the resources to treat these issues.
In 2018, 58.2 percent of Black American young adults 18–25 and 50.1 percent of adults 26–49 with serious mental illness did NOT receive treatment. [Source]
Even though we have a long way to break the stigma amongst Black people, I have hope for the future because this current generation. I see so many Black Millennials and those of Gen Z openly talking about mental health struggles online as well as setting boundaries to protect their mental health. The younger generations are taking steps to make sure they prioritize their mental health and hopefully this actions catches on to both older and future generations.
For this episode, we interviewed, Shae Nicole Williams, a therapist who helps women and marginalized populations heal from trauma, enhance their self-care needs and nurture growth from the inside out. Williams discusses everything from how to heal from childhood trauma, getting older generations to break the stigma on mental health (10:50) and tips on finding a therapist that is a fit for you. She enlightens us on the damage of self diagnosing (33:00), why a mental health diagnosis can’t be done after one session and goes in depth on why the journey to forgiving other starts within (37:00).
You can find Shae Nicole Williams at her website www.shaenicole.com or on Instagram @traumahealher.
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