To address the issue of a largely absent conversation about mental health in the black community, with the exception of celebrities and public figures, and to discuss the certain misconceptions about mental illness such as that mental illness is a “luxury concern for only white people, or that mental illness is not real, and that religion is the cure for all,” Hofstra’s Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a discussion called “Mind over Matter” on Thursday October, 13. Mental illness varies from many serious diseases such as major depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder etc. The BSU felt that mental illness within their community is something that should be addressed. E-board member Heather Grant said, “This topic has always has always hit close to home … This is an issue that isn’t spoken about often, especially in a black household. Mental health isn’t taken as seriously as it should be. Because is seen as though Jesus is supposed to answer our problems, therapy doesn’t really work, and the issues that you have in your mind are made up.”
African Americans are just as likely to endure mental illness as whites. The discussion highlighted that the lack of submission to treatment usually roots back from religious or cultural backgrounds. For example, another misconception or attitude about mental illness that is portrayed in the Black community is that, “if we can go through slavery, we can get through anything.”
Freshman, Justin Ayala said that during the event he learned that the statistics were surprisingly glaring in how much the black and brown community is stereotyped with “being crazy or becoming depressed living in the ghetto.”
There are many stigmas in the community that delay people to seek out help. A 2008 study found that “more than one-third of African-Americans actively seeking treatment believe talking about their anxiety would lead to them being called "crazy" by their peers.”
The American Psychiatric Association reports that as many as 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. will suffer from some kind of mental disorder each year. Not only do African Americans suffer from these diseases, but they are more likely to endure them because of high rates of poverty.
Poverty affects the black and brown community due in part to the legacy of slavery, segregation and racial discrimination in America. Not to mention, those who live below poverty level are three times more likely to experience psychological distress than those who are comfortably above the poverty line.
Ashley Smith, a junior psychology major at Hofstra explained that “mental illness is down played in the community, most Africans Americans feel even though it’s a sickness, they can self diagnose and treat their kids themselves. Nonetheless members of the community need to be more educated on mental illness and how it his effecting their everyday lives.”