The stigma of mental illnesses and conditions is universal almost, but I noticed within the black community the stigma of it is MUCH worse. Not only the stigma is worse, blacks are also less likely to believe in the more “modern” conditions such as AD/HD, OCD, Alzheimer’s, etc.
My question is, where did this attitude originate from?
I hope I’m being clear here.
Black people perceive greater stigmatization at having mental illnesses than white people at the same economic and social level? Umm… not really IMO. I think more poorly educated people and people in the economic underclass might be less sympathetic to people with mental problems, and to the degree black populations intersect with those cohorts, then yes it is possible some pooorly educated and underclass blacks have this attitude, but I don’t see it as unique to black social attitudes across the board.
I don’t know if it’s MUCH worse. Yes, I think black people tend to not put much worth in “psycho-babble” and the findings from people who believe in “psycho-babble”. But crazy is crazy all the day long. I don’t think black people view psychoses any differently than anyone else. But neuroses, yeah.
I have my opinions about where this stems from:
The idea that black people have to be “strong” or even “stronger” than white people. “A strong black person” does not cry over trivial things. Not when our ancestors went through much worse than what we’re going through. How do your problems compare to that of a slave’s? Personally, I do this all time. I always think of slavery when I start feeling sorry for myself. This usually makes the sadness worse.
Black people’s spirituality. I know this is a generalization–and I ask forgiveness from all of the black Dopers who are reading this–but from my experience, many black people are more likely to seek help from a minister or other religious-type person before they go to a doctor. Especially a shrink. And I think this is related to the first point. A minister will help you tap into the higher power so you can be strong. It requires you to be active in the healing process. A doctor’s treatment makes you a much more passive participant.
I also think things like ADD, ADHD, etc. are often seen as excuses for bad behavior. On more than one occassion, I’ve heard people say something like, “When black children act up, they’re bad. When white children act up, they’re sick.” I think this is due to fatigue. People–no matter what their color–are tired of the “new” diseases and syndromes that keep cropping up. And because most of the people “discovering” these conditions are white, they are often viewed as “white” diseases and “white” syndromes. Unfortunately.
What you’re saying is true.
So, maybe I should change the question slightly: Why do poorly educated and underclass (which are often intersected with black populations) tend to stigmatize mental illnesses more than the rest of the population?
I would think that any group of people unfamiliar with the concept of mental illness and the treatments available would tend to want to lay blame for these illness on what they do have experience with and what they do understand…each other. “It comes from her side of the family” or “his father/mother drove him to it”. My hispanic father was very upset about me seeking therapy after my divorce—this represented a failure on his part, not being able to ‘fix’ me when I was broken. Me going ‘outside’ the family and that ‘people’ would know I was seeing a therapist were very hard for him. He knew poor, he knew hungry, but he didn’t know depressed.
Mental Illness has been (and continues to be) the most stigmatized and misunderstood illness. It is often harshly looked upon as a weakness, instead of what it is, an illness. Some people are becoming more educated now about this; still, many people are not able to get beyond what some movies and other forms of mis-information depict. I hope this changes soon in the coming years.
Persons who have suffered hardship are easier prey to the horror of the anguish of being stricken with this illness, which the Black race and the Poor and the downtrodden certainly can understand. We have all been subjected to the myth, for instance, that the Illness of Depression is something that is to be overcome by “pulling oneself up by the bootstraps” and “bucking up”, “put on a happy face”. None of which a person from suffering from this illness can do. Nor do any of the other Mental Illnesses have easy false outs.
I am involved in a museum exhibit on the issue of Mental Illness, and am very familiar with the sufferings of those afflicted.
Understanding (i.e. learning about) Mental Illnesses is a journey, and not an easy one. Compassion for the sufferers is a great step toward healing and finding hope for all people, no matter what ethnic or economical background.
All people have mild forms of Mental Illness, to a greater or lesser degree. I think that many Black people, and downtrodden people of any culture, suffer more harshly, because they are expected to overcome what has been dished out at them, and remain outwardly strong and silent. And, yes, I know we “all” are expected to do this, by ourselves or others. But from what I’ve been privy to, the people who have suffered collectively - have the harshest sufferings. And this definitely includes Black ethnicity.
I’m sorry this is a long post, please forgive me for this. I found this thread and was drawn to it. Thank you for the time you spent reading this post.
DougC, you have expressed a common misconception. What you have said is a little like saying that people are more likely to get Parkinson’s Disease from going to a doctor who diagnoses it.
Cite for the accuracy of your statistics?
Cite for the claim that “housewives” are more likely to be bored?
Cite for the claim that "housewives have lots of time on their hands?
(These claims don’t sound like they came from an scientific research.)
Women are more likely to be diagnosed because they are more likely to seek help. Because there is such an “unmanly” stigma attached to depression, men don’t seek help as often and are more likely to take their own lives.
You are promoting the stigma.
While I don’t entirely agree with DougC’s assessment, he does have a point about the issue of the degree of a person’s poverty sometimes being inversely proportional to the quality of medical care s/he receives.
For this reason, it may be true that in some instances, a Medicaid patient who goes to his doctor and says, “I dunno, Doc, I’ve lost my appetite, I can’t get out of bed in the mornings, and I just feel like shit all of the time” might not be offered the same treatment avenues as a person who makes six figures and has insurance out the wazoo. Sure, they might both be prescribed medication, but my guess is that it would pretty much stop there for the first guy, whereas the second guy might be referred to a therapist, etc.
Now if the first guy said, “I’ve lost my appetite, can’t get out of bed in the mornings, and find myself entertaining thoughts of killing my wife,” somebody might snap to. But I think that overall, there are many ailments (physical and mental) that are not as well-treated among the poor.
JMO.
But that’s neither here nor there. In terms of the OP, I think monstro’s, assessment is right on, and will add that I think this applies also to older people as well, for many of the same reasons. Many of them can remember struggling through the Depression or a World War, and so are disinclined to complain about (small “d”) depression if they otherwise have what they need (i.e., food, shelter, relative safety). In addition, they’ve lived in times when mental illness was largely underdiagnosed, so unless someone is a danger to himself or others, they’re just used to thinking, “Oh, that’s Crazy Melvin. He’s a little off.” and moving on.
Good topic, BTW.
First you have to prove that they do. I don’t think they do.
If anything, maybe there are more acceptable forms of mental illnesses in various cultures.
Maybe it’s a matter of definitions, maybe.
In my experience black people have no more hesitance coming in for therapy than any other racial group. Actually, if anything I’d say my African American clients seem more open about coming to therapy than others.
Also in my experience, the educated and middle class tend to stigmatize mental illness as a disease highly associated with poverty.
I don’t know many upper class people.