All About Black Mental Health & Why It’s Important
Black people still carry misconceptions about mental health. Here is what you need to know about the importance of black mental health.
Note: I am not a mental health professional. The information presented in this article should not be used for self-diagnosis or to replace a medical diagnosis from a mental health professional or your primary care physician. The following information is for educational purposes only.
Over the last decade, the conversation on black mental health has rapidly grown. However, despite efforts to educate black communities, black people still carry stigmas and misconceptions about black mental health, preventing many from seeking the help they need.
In 2020, roughly 41 million people identified as Black or African American in the United States (U.S. Census, 2021), and about 16% reported having a mental health illness. That means almost 7 million black people in America suffer from at least one mental health illness (Mental Health America, n.d.).
The Black community has higher mental health concerns, including anxiety and depression. But, we must continue speaking about it to eliminate the negativity behind mental health in black communities. In this post, I will dive into black mental health and talk about distrust in the community and ways to take care of mental health.
The Black Community And Mental Health
Why Their Distrust In Mental Health From Black Communities
Many black people are taught three things:
- I am not talking about mental health, especially with authority-like people like doctors or the police.
- To “suck it up.”
- If you ignore it, it’ll go away.
Many of these negative attitudes in the black community come from years of suppressed trauma, racism, cultural beliefs, and political issues minimized or ignored. This lack of empathy and understanding created lots of distrust that lasted generations. On top of that, there is a more significant misunderstanding between mental health for black men versus black women, which has created further separation in the discourse of mental health conversations.
Black people eventually began to believe that they didn’t need help or that mental health was a “white people” issue. Unfortunately, since most of the research behind most mental health illnesses is Eurocentric, it disregards the very group of people most in need.
Furthermore, given the connection between social issues such as race and inequality, the black community feels mentally aggravated and dissatisfied. In addition, other problems such as poverty, gang violence, criminal injustice, and police brutality worsen the mental health disparities already within the community.
Mental Health Disparities
You cannot address black mental health without first pointing out the obvious: the disparities. Systemic barriers such as low income, affordability, and health insurance directly and negatively impact black people to access proper mental health resources in America.
Historically, black people are given the short end of the stick. They’re subjected to many external and internal traumas like slavery and oppression passed down to future generations.
If you research this, you’ll find these disparities are nothing new. Unfortunately, they still exist and are one of the most significant contributors to the black community’s negative mental health stigmas.
Mental Health Stigmas
Despite the recent progress, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health. So often, black people struggle with understanding the psychological science behind mental health illnesses.
This lack of understanding has resulted in the negative stereotypes and stigmas that many people believe. Some of the mental health stigmas in the black community include:
- It’s a personal weakness
- People who work with depression are violent
- All you need is drugs
- It’s not real
Many black people don’t know when to seek help due to mental health stigmas. In addition, we need to work towards hiring mental health and healthcare professionals with improved cultural awareness and empathy.
Destigmatizing mental health and offering proper education can help future generations of black people to recognize it’s essential in their overall well-being. But, at the same time, we can help all black people better take care of their mental health and prioritize it before it becomes too late.
Mental Health Self-Care For Black People
It’s time to acknowledge the obvious: black people are disproportionately more likely to suffer from mental health illnesses than any other race. But, unfortunately, most people are left to grapple and wrap their heads around what it means to practice self-care as a black person and how that differs from your average Joe. So, below are some simple ways black people can adequately tend to their mental health without sacrificing themselves.
- Recognize racial trauma as a mental health issue: I said it. Like any traumatic experience, racial trauma can harm your psychological health. In addition, it can be felt at the individual and community levels, making dealing with it more challenging, especially when confronted with everyday violent or passive acts of racism.
- See a black therapist: Not to crap on the white therapists, but find a black therapist. Black therapists will better understand you on a cultural and racial level.
- Stop treating mental health as a “white people” issue: Mental health illnesses can affect anyone of any race. It does not discriminate. Pretending you are not suffering will only hurt you in the long run.
- Put yourself first: It’s okay to say no or step away from toxic situations. However, you have no reason to put yourself in harm’s way.
- Schedule Meditation Time: Find time for silence and quieting your anxious thoughts throughout the day.
These are only a few of the thousands of ways black people can use self-care to manage their mental health.
Why Is Black Mental Health Important?
Millions of African Americans and Black people yearly suffer from mental health illnesses. But unfortunately, the lack of education and resources in many communities, especially low-income ones, makes it difficult for anyone to seek help.
Black people deal with the same everyday stressors and more daily–bills, school, family, racism, classism, prejudice, health, and wealth. However, unlike some communities, black people learned to address or pretend these issues were nonexistent, making it difficult to build healthy coping mechanisms. This is why black mental health is essential.
FREE And Low-Cost Mental Health Resources
Many free mental health resources exist for black people who want to learn more about the topic or seek help. If you or a loved one is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please get in touch with 911 or your local police station.
Black mental health resources
- Latinx Therapy
- BEAM (Black Emotional And Mental Health) Collective
- Black Mental Health Alliance
- Therapy For Black Girls
- Therapy For Black Men
- Melanin And Mental Health
- The Boris Lawrence Foundation
- The National Organization For People Of Color Against Suicide
- Balanced Black Girl Google Doc
- Black Mental Wellness
- The Loveland Foundation
- Sista Afya
- Inclusive Therapists
What do you think about black mental health? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for this informative article. I was aware of the disparities in care but didn’t fully appreciate how significant these are. I really hope this address right the way through health and social care with more resources made available as a priority.
Hi Sabina,
Thanks for reading. One can only hope that the gaps in mental health in black communities will close as resources and information becomes more widely available.
spreading awareness of the struggles / silence of mental health among the black community is wonderful! hats off to you for speaking out. 🙂
Thank you!
Excellent post. I really appreciate you writing about this important topic. Thank you for sharing this post.
Pastor Natalie (ExamineThisMoment)
Letstakeamoment.com
Thanks for reading Natalie.
This article is so important. I really love that you included free resources in your post. I hate that therapy is so expensive in so many spaces.
Fern,
I agree. Mental health services should not be so expensive.
I know how important mental health and wellness is to you. I thank you for always spreading awareness on the topic. Yes many African Americans feel afraid or ashamed to seek out the help they need. This information is everything. Thank you for sharing!!
Valarie, Thanks for reading. Black mental health is a topic I hold near an dear to my heart. I will always work on educating and closing the mental health gap in these communities.
Mental health is of utmost importance for any person. I do understand that colour can be gained in terms of everyday lives in a normal environment. often we can’t fully understand each other because of the differences we have
Lyosha,
Our differences in culture, religion, and even race definitely affects how we are impacted by mental health.
fantastic! thanks for sharing & giving light on black mental health topics.
Of course, Helen. Thanks for reading.
I love how clear and direct you are here; tackling the stigma and disparities with mental health among Black communities is something that has to be addressed. Your advice about seeing Black therapists or accessing support programs is brilliant. Addressing racial trauma is essential. Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for reading and commenting Molly. I’m trying to close the mental health gaps in black communities and hope to continue the discourse of conversation surrounding this topic.
Very insightful post and so, so important! Thank you for writing this post. While I’m not a POC, I appreciate posts directly related to mental health within minority groups. It can often be forgotten that mental health and wellness are different among all groups and that it’s not always as simple as what works for me works for you. A lot of things are whitewashed and geared towards white, western people.
Nyxie,
Thanks for reading this post. Mental health in communities is not talked about enough. It’s true that health and wellness varies on race, and that we should address this because most research is extremely whitewashed or false to modern times.
It really is so important for us to take our mental health seriously in the black community. The first time I went to counseling was in college and it helped so much.
Hi Claudie, I’m so happy to hear that you started therapy. I also started therapy in college.
Thank you for sharing this, it was well written. I agree that there are a lot of older ways of doing things that need to be changed such as how we talk about mental health, how people react to small kids crying with the whole “suck it up”, etc.
Luna,
the suck it up reaction to small children always irks me. Making simple changes to address these behaviors will help to change the discourse of conversation.
I never realized or appreciated the magnitude of how much we need to be talking about mental health for people of color. Your post opened my eyes to seeing how history can actually affect it. That wasn’t something that ever occurred to me, to be honest. I’m really glad you’re talking about this, because we need to end stigmas and help each other, but also to understand. This post opened my eyes.
Hi Erica,
I’m glad that this post opened your eyes. Mental health in black communities has a long and lengthy history racially and politically, which I don’t feel like is addressed enough.
I think it can be more of a thought like, “this is my lot to bear,” than anything else. For a lot of people, I don’t think they even stop to consider that they or a loved one may be experiencing a mental illness. In disenfranchised areas, life it just hard and coping is hard and just something you do. I think it will take a lot of demonstration and open discussion by people within those communities before that changes. The younger generation is growing up with this awareness more than the older generation, so change is coming. I just think it’s sad that people that could be helped aren’t because they just don’t know any better.
Hi Cassie,
In disfranchised areas the education is also limited, making understanding mental health illnesses a lot more difficult. It makes me happy to know that my generation nd the generation below me are working together to end these stigmas and create more awareness.
Thank you for sharing this insightful post, along with resources for seeking out help. We need to do more to reduce stigma and increase access to mental health services. Most of all, we need to eliminate implicit bias and the systemic disparities that have been built in to systems of care.
This is so true. I feel like so many times we are taught to just not say anything or don’t talk about it but we need to talk about it and people need to get the help they needed. Thank you for sharing these great resources.
Hi, Thank you for reading this post. What you said is so true, especially for members of the black community. I hope these resources help someone.