Mental Health written by Patricia Winston

This is the last installment in our little series in honor of Bebe Moore Campbell and National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. It was written by Patricia Winston, a TFBWL summer intern. ❤️❤️❤️

“One time, I asked one of the MTA workers to call an ambulance because I felt as though I was going to die. The person looked at me funny and said ..alright. Frustrated and panicked, I decided to leave just because of the way they looked at me. I walked off with quickness; I knew that I was the last thing in this person’s mind. This wasn’t the first, second, or third time my mental health was brushed off. In my home, my panic attacks were me “wanting attention” until the same ones who said this started to have attacks themselves. “Oh, anxiety isn’t real”...until it happens to you. If Black mental health doesn’t matter to Black people, how could it ever matter to anyone else?” - Personal Journal Entry 

The power racism has placed on the African American community has done significant harm to mental well-being dating back to slavery. Ancestral trauma continues to affect the African American community at large, especially as African-Americans continue to be affected by institutionalized racism. This Ancestral trauma that continues to be passed down generations is slowly becoming more recognizable within the African American community, however, much of the Black community continues to suffer in silence while making it exceptionally hard for those who want to explore options to help themselves mentally. SAMHSA’s 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health states, “Serious mental illness (SMI) rose among all ages of Black and African American people between 2008 and 2018”. This has much to do with the stigma that being vulnerable is a weakness within many African American households and communities. Due to this stigma, many fall into irreversible issues, such as depression, substance abuse, poverty, etc. This leads to the healthcare community’s inaccuracy about Black mental health and how much it deeply affects them, as a result, there are many inconsistencies within the healthcare system that do not support black mental health. According to Mental Health America, “25 percent of African Americans seek treatment for a mental health issue, compared to 40

percent of white individuals. The reasons for this drop-off include misdiagnosis by doctors, socioeconomic factors, and a lack of African American mental health professionals''. With the lack of representation and efficiency within the health care community, African Americans take on their issues with little to no help. Additionally, the Black church has historically been a centerpiece in uniting the Black community and creating a safe environment from external threats, however, there is a need for a critique of the most influential social institution within our community. The Black Church holds strong traditional ideologies that promote coping mechanisms that worsen people’s mental well-being. As a Black queer woman, my critique of Black families as an extension of Black churches comes from my own experience thus, deepening my argument. Mental problems within the black community are dealt with either with religious solutions or nothing else. African Americans hold this a type of invulnerability complex that hinders people from speaking about their issues. This would be called the ‘Black Secrecy Syndrome’. The Black Secrecy Syndrome is a mental phenomenon within the black community in which people can not and will not talk about issues outside the home. This also relates to inactive bystanders in which people would be aware that an issue is occurring, but decide not to do anything about it.