![]() Adult Blacks and African Americans are more likely to have feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness than adult whites.Black and African American people living below poverty are twice as likely to report serious psychological distress than those living over 2x the poverty level.Historical and contemporary instances of negative treatment have led to a mistrust of authorities, many of whom are not seen as having the best interests of Black and African Americans in mind. Negative stereotypes and attitudes of rejection have decreased, but continue to occur with measurable, adverse consequences. Despite progress made over the years, racism continues to have an impact on the mental health of Black and African American people.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. Historical adversity, which includes 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.Women are the heads of household in roughly 30 percent of Black and African American homes, compared to 9 percent of white homes.More than 1 in 5 Black and African American people in the U.S.Overall, 24 percent of Black and African American people have a bachelor’s degree or higher as of 2017.Thirty-nine percent were from Africa and nearly half were from the Caribbean. The Black immigrant population in the U.S.According to the most recent Census data available, 55 percent of all Black and African American people lived in the South, 18 percent lived in the Midwest, 17 percent in the Northeast, and 10 percent in the West.population, or nearly 46 million people, identify themselves as Black or African American and another 2.7 percent identified as multiracial. Yet, hope for recovery should remain, as light is shed on these issues - and the general public holds accountable policymakers and health systems to evolve better systems which eliminate inequities in mental health services. Because of these factors and more, Black and African American people are more likely to experience chronic and persistent, rather than episodic, mental health conditions. Unfortunately, Black and African American providers, who are known to give more appropriate and effective care to Black and African American help-seekers, make up a very small portion of the behavioral health provider workforce (see treatment statistics below). However, MHA screening data shows that Black and African American people who screen positive for depression self-identify as planning to seek help at higher rates than the general population says they will seek help. Help-seeking behavior is affected by mistrust of the medical system and often begins with faith-based outreach. Processing and dealing with layers of individual trauma on top of new mass traumas from COVID-19 (uncertainty, isolation, grief from financial or human losses), police brutality and its fetishization in news media, and divisive political rhetoric adds compounding layers of complexity for individuals to responsibly manage. Historical dehumanization, oppression, and violence against Black and African American people has evolved into present day racism - structural, institutional, and individual – and cultivates a uniquely mistrustful and less affluent community experience, characterized by a myriad of disparities including inadequate access to and delivery of care in the health system. However, the historical Black and African American experience in America has and continues to be characterized by trauma and violence more often than for their White counterparts and impacts emotional and mental health of both youth and adults. Overall, mental health conditions occur in Black and African American (B/AA) people in America at about the same or less frequency than in White Americans.
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