“Stigma toward seeking mental healthcare, or even expressing emotions, is significant among Asian American cultures, Hsu said. Asian Americans are three times less likely to seek mental healthcare than white Americans, according to data collected in 2012 from the National Latino and Asian American Study.”
As the world copes with a global pandemic, a historical pandemic has also been illuminated: the racism pandemic. We are becoming increasingly aware of the biases inherent in the structures that frame our society, and the need to enact change is urgent. If we accept the premise that existing systems are racist, we need to turn them upside down to achieve non-racist outcomes
“Racism is pervasive. Its negative impact exists in many forms. The field of psychiatry has not been exempt from this unfortunate truth, past or present. Such truth is of great concern as psychiatry represents a group of professionals whose primary purpose is to assess, diagnose, and treat serious persistent mental illness.”
How does racism contribute to Distorted Perceptions in psychiatry?
“African Americans, Latinx, and Asian Americans receive treatment of mental health challenges at 50–70% lower rates than white Americans in this country. This is the result of failures on individual and systemic levels,” he added.
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Black respondents — particularly those who had been through higher education — reported that they had experienced stigmatization, and that professionals had minimized their mental health symptoms. This resulted in a lack of access to appropriate care.
“The stigma surrounding mental health, particularly in the Black community, has caused many to suffer in silence instead of seeking the help they need. Because the Black community has sought to portray itself as strong and resilient, the thought of seeking mental health resources is often viewed as a sign of weakness.
To start conversations about the forbidden topic, mental health is being approached through a spiritual lens to attract historically Black faith-based communities.”
“Mental health issues affect everyone, but people of color — Black, Latinx, Asian and Native American people — have higher rates of some mental health disorders and face greater disparities in getting help than White people. Those issues are primarily due to lack of access to services resulting from institutional discrimination, interpersonal racism and stigma — which can all harm the psyche of people of color in places where they are not the majority.”
“But until Indigenous and racialized people no longer face issues like poverty, inadequate housing and lower education and employment opportunities — the social determinants of health — and access to care is equitable, experts say anti-bias and anti-racism training is like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.”
“African Americans have historically faced stigma related to mental health… Events centered around racial injustices and even the COVID-19 pandemic continue to bring conversations around mental health access for African Americans to the forefront of national dialogue. This need is further perpetuated as African Americans continue to experience racism, discrimination, and inequity — all of which can significantly affect a person’s mental health,”
