TheLoop21.com

This is a great article but we need to talk solutions eg how do we empower youth with coping skills to deal with situations beyond their control?

Again this morning, I awoke to a story about Ron Artest and mental health and I....am....so....THANKFUL and ELATED! FINALLY! Mental Health in the Black community is being examined in an arena, via a tool, that is accessible to our community. Links to complete dissertations, research articles, etc. are usually not posted on twitter and to blogs. Marc, I was happy to find the link to your article. You wrote the truth and you supported it with facts. Keep talking about this. We therapists appreciate it! In my practice, I specialize in Black males and am always happy to see another one walk through my door - even if it's only one out of every 12/15 clients we enroll. I believe that we will soon normalize the idea and relevance of mental health in our community. My colleagues and I will continue to do our part. Please continue to help us.

Kamala L. Uzzell, Ph.D.

Definitely a well needed conversation not being had.
- nesheaholic.com

Great article! This is a subject that definitely needs to be touched on.

This was great and so on time for me. My younger brother (age 24) suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which began showing symptoms about a three to four years ago. Unfortunately, our family first learning of his disease happened to coincide with my mother's sudden and unexpected passing. She had gotten him into a mental health hospital about two days before she passed.

Now at the age of 26 I am trying to navigate through the web of treatment centers to get my brother the help he needs, and it is not easy. Either he feels like he doesn't need the help or the quality programs that he needs are difficult to find, especially in the NYC area that will accept Medicaid. Either way, I do not want to see him end up in a hospital again or in handcuffs being forced to go to the hospital. That in itself is traumatic for me! My father, as much as he loves my brother, does not really know how to help him and ends up enabling his disease even more. I don't know if my father is in denial or what.

I feel SO overwhelmed taking this disorder on, but what I can't do is watch my brother wither away into a life of nothingness. Although he has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he is still extremely bright and I believe has a future. He very much wants to finish college and get a job. However, his disease has to be properly managed, and the lack of management by my father has only sent deeper into the disease. It's so upsetting...

If there are any resources in our community, especially any ones that may be better for a 24 year old young black man, please, anyone pass some information along via this forum or my email address below. I'm also googling the doctor above...maybe he/she knows of some good therapists in the NYC area who can really help my brother out or give me some suggestions.

Thanks Lamont : )

goldcoastliving@yahoo.com or the email address I entered the field above.

There are not enough qualified therapists of any race to treat black people or any other people for mental health disorders. What is your solution to the full-fledged mental health crisis, Dr. Hill?

I find it is doing a disservice to black people in the United States to make blanket statements that "the black community is in a full-fledged mental health crisis" in a country that seizes every opportunity to negatively label black people, and implement social programs to marginalize us.

When numbers are mentioned in regards to prison, experts should always mention that while whites are arrested for the gamut, blacks are incarcerated at significantly higher rates for the same crimes. Check the F.B.I. website. There should be great interest in this fact because the population of whites in the United States is far greater than the population of blacks (300 million to 44 million respectively). How has it come to be that blacks represent fifty percent of the prison poulation considering the numbers of arrests comparison. A hint, racism within the criminal justice system.

In essence, all groups of people in the United States, and in the world suffer a collective mental illness crisis to some degree. This includes white Americans. This is a topic that can be discussed or debated extensively.

Having said all that, I do encourage anyone who is in need of help with handling mental health or psychological issues to seek out qualified assistance.

wonderful understanding of our Black Mental Health , as we attempt to understand our problems in this area , a new level of freedom will occur , and empowerment , not to mention the understanding of the game that is and has been played upon us.I was shocked when Ron Artest Thanked his Psychologist , but very proud that he had the courage to do it

Marc, my american husband,

Its not that people dont care about your politics and more about rap.Its (1) Politics is a 24 hour thing,all that information is available everyhwere all day,the only difference is that you are writing about it with a different twist.Therefore people are not less interested in what you have to say babe,its just that many a times we heard it already.
(2) Everyone and more people can relate to the urban gaffes from rappers every now and then;so spare the people who can only comment on cultural stuff dont penalize them with your opinions of them.

(3) We all get emotional when certain subjects are discussed.It just happens to be both times with rappers.

Luv
Sis

When has the Black Community ever NOT been in the middle of a mental health crisis? We have lived and survived a terrible trauma, without (much) help for centuries. I have been trying for decades to get my brothers and sisters to get into therapy and it is like pulling teeth. The church is often our worst enemy in this respect, you can't pray our problems away. Sometimes I think we resist "white people" just because, when in fact they often have the right answer. I know they have no problem working through their issues in therapy.

Interesting! It's funny because I didn't watch the championship game (i'm not a basketball fan), but all I heard the next day on the radio, tv, and from people was that Ron Artest thanked his therapist in his interview. And everyone thought that it was so funny. I think overall, mental health is overlooked, and obviously more so in the black community, because people think that if a person is receiving some sort of mental treatment, it means you're "crazy." Yes, I agree that it was brave of Ron Artest to admit that he was in therapy. However, I'm not sure that it will start a wave of black people deciding to get mental help. The responses that I heard to his admission was overwhelmingly negative, which in my opinion, furthers the negative stigmas attached to mental therapy. What's sad is that if more of us, that are able to, got mental help, there'd be a lot less violence and problems in the black community.

And wow, it's scary that our children experience enough violence to qualify for PTSD!! Mind-blowing!

Great read! Thanks for investing the time... I've known several people that have experienced race-related trauma and never received medical help. Thus, met their demise due to unhealthy behavior. God Bless you!

I agree with the spirit of this article, but walk away confused by the solutions. Mr. Hill you admit in the article that Blacks continue to be misdiagnosed with schizoprenia, but later talk about cultural stigmas that enable the problem. Why would Blacks seek out mental health services from a system that misdiagnoses them with great frequency? I have a younger brother, that is a registered nurse of ten years, who confimed that the medical system kills 195,000 people per year from misdiagnoses and wrong medication being prescribed. Just two weeks ago doing orientation for an ICU position he was told these statistics. This is equal to 3 Vietnams per year as far as deaths are concerned. His wife is a Psychiatrist who is in counselling for depression. Whites abuse prescription drugs far greater than Blacks to sedate themselves from the wonderful "America Dream" they live. And, yet, we want parity with white people. The system they have created is killing them mentally, emotionally, and definitely spiritually. We must come up with a different paradigm to deal with our issues. I am familiar with those mental health practitioners who advocate a different approach, but they oftentimes are a lone voice in the wilderness. Keep up the good work Mr. Hill!

Thanks Marc,

Finally I Heard a voice, Marc I'm not a PHD but I know them essential neurons and relative transmitters such as dopamine,serotonin,nor-epinephrine,GABA and adrenaline...I know the limpic system and the function of the amyglada,straitum,thalamus ,anterior nuclei, the hypothalamus,hippocampus, substantia nigra , locus coeruleus ,the VTA and the nucleu accumbens the septum the primitive Brain and the grey matter, pre-frontal lobe,reticular formation and the insular cortex,Hey Marc, I can talk about stuff dem reward pathways delivah an dem excitatory and inhibitory,agonist and antiagonist and whycome the Brain responds to the continuous repetitious behavior and make a song oughta it, Marc my brother,I aint eloquent like you wit all dat diction but Marc, when it comes to that convict addict, that veteran on the street from adolescence to just about dead,from nevah picked up a book to baccalaureate If I can have a moment of clarity I can brang em back home I know addiction in a very practical way.

My brother Marc, Ive been doing this a very long time, I was assessed in the pen in 67 as having a 3rd grade education level... I Quit college in 98 started picking people off the street to train them to drive trucks (you didn't need a back ground check nor did you need a work history ,simply could you pass a physical and a drive test) (Today there is a criteria but it only involves long haul and not local, rural or agricultural driving,In any case, there are a lot of assessable disciplines to chose from) The point is that once the problem of depression or addiction has been resolved people need jobs and a sense of financial security to sustain that sense of normalcy... That's exactly what I want to do, not only will it help the economy it would also cut down on crime health insurance prisons & jail expenditures and Quite possibly the turmoil at the southern border, anyway my Bro thanks from my heart for being on the earth and for us.

Sincerely,
Rome/Indugoschool

As an African American therapist I agree with much of what is said here; problems cannot be solved until faced.
We should note though that as black people we are very strong and have sought our many ways that are healthy to treat our struggles to remain psychologically healthy; lets start with the culture that we have provided to America, Jazz, Blues, Rock and Roll, all health medicine, not to mention how we often use other more physical outlets and enage and excel in many sports. Imagine how many more of us would be psychologically stressed without such outlets.

I have worked in juvenile and adult correctional facilities and I have always said Jails are basically mental institutions for many blacks; especially at the juvenile level. Kids that fail foster placements will often do so because they are note receiving quality mental health services due to sexual abuse, physical abuse, learing disabilities and related problems, the movie Precious may have touched on much of these issues.
I live in Oakland Calif and when I worked on a crisis line I was surprised to see how open many people/ blacks are to therapy, and we do not always feel we need a black therapist; we have a gift for knowing who is "real" most of us know that, consequently we do not care about the color of the therapist. However having said that there is still no substitute for a good black therapist working with certain issues when they come up. I hope the openess of perspective about therapy we have in this area will spread. One thing I have found is that groups can be very helpful and they have the ability to reach a lot of people all at the same time; groups are powerful because more than anything it re- connects people to something outside themselves, we need more group healing!
The other issue here is something I once read that Peter Bell, a mental health professional in the midwest said , paraphrase;
"Black people set the threshold for pain very high, so by the time we come in for help we often look worse than other people." True for many reasons, as a black mental health therapist I am part of a very small group. Many black people avoid the professions of social services, because they think it is just about giving out food stamps or something, but we need more of us in the mental health professional field of psychology and social work. You often have to pass some tests to do private practice and I think that perhaps that is a path that obstructs many of us, again for many reasons, nevertheless we need to improve here. Last but not least remember people with some type of religous faith will perservere in ways others may not, much of that may very well have to do with the fact that you automatically become part of a community.

Inner City Industry's Dedication to Education Reform Strategy is a multifaceted approach to Education Reform, Economic Empowerment and Cultural Understanding. As the organization’s mandate, D2ER will empower and enable youth to reach full human potential through social, emotional and professional development while inspiring the academic excellence necessary to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods.

ICI will launch D2ER with an advocacy campaign centered on eliminating stigma associated with mental health by promoting Social Emotional Learning throughout K-12 Education. D2ER is designed to reengineer the current two-tiered Management and Instruction Education System into a three-tiered approach integrating a Learning Supports Component that will address non-academic barriers to learning. Learning Supports involve Systems of Prevention, Systems of Early Intervention and Systems of Care to ensure all students with the opportunity to succeed at school and in their community.

THE EXISTING PROBLEM: The dropout rate in Los Angeles is increasing and students are leaving school with little sense of self-identity or interpersonal skills. Students with behavioral issues as a result of societal stressors are not appropriately assessed and are being cast with the stigma of having a “mental illness.”

THE SOLUTION: Inner City Industry’s K-12 Dedication to Education Strategy (“D2ER”):

• D2ER addresses the scale of public education in the United States and realigns current school-based mental health services considered fragmented and marginalized, and

• Decreases barriers to learning caused by social stressors, i.e. gang and domestic violence, substance abuse, child abuse, neglect and an entire realm of child trauma, and

• Combines Education Achievement and Workforce Development simultaneously in a complimentary manner providing jobs in the local community.

RESULTS: By revamping the educational system through ICI’s D2ER strategy, the learning experience for millions of students will be greatly improved well into the 21st century.

"It's time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it. It's time to make education America's national mission." -President Barack Obama, November 4th, 2009

CONTACT: www.innercityindusry.org or 424/298-8796

[Last Week A federal appeals court has ruled that New York State must comply with a lower court’s order to begin immediately transferring thousands of people with mental illness in New York City out of large, institutional group homes and into their own homes and apartments, where they will continue to receive specialized treatment and services.] http://streetvisuals.posterous.com/state-must-move-mentally-ill-from-gro...
[It is imperative that all our communities, organizations, activists, people of faith, etc. support the work Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities has been doing in whatever capacity possible.]

We must ensure those brothers and sisters finally being released are provided with solid foundations and alternatives that'll lead them a normal way of life and not disregard them, so that the nypd can't target them and generate revenue for the prison industrial complex.

Date: Saturday, August 7, 2010 - 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: Herbert Von King Park Amphitheater: Tompkins Ave and Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Contact:

Lisa Ortega: 646-260-6575 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 646-260-6575 end_of_the_skype_highlighting , lortega@rippd.org, www.rippd.org

MAP: http://bit.ly/b58aww; Transportation:G to Bedford-Nostrand; B43 bus via Tompkins & Throop; B38 via Lafayette & Dekalb

If you or your loved one is in a psychiatric crisis are you afraid to call 911/the police? Do you wish there was a more humane and effective response to mental health crisis calls in NYC. Did you know that NYC is one of the only major cities in the US that does not have a specialized response to mental health crisis calls?

Join Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities in a Community Day. It is time to bring light to the challenges that people with mental illness face. We as a community can bring about change. We can break the stigma.

We hope that all in the NYC mental health community (and beyond) will come out and support this event. This day will give us an opportunity to create more awareness for the issues that people with mental illness face in our communities. It will also be an opportunity to gain support for the many solutions that exist including Community Crisis Intervention Teams.

The afternoon will include entertainment from local artist as well as presentations from people who have been effected by the criminalization of mental illness.

Please get the word out about this very important event. We are looking co-sponsors as well as artists to share their talent with us for this important community event. If you are interested please call Lisa Ortega at 646-260-6575 or lortega@rippd.org.

Listen to Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities WBAI Interview and learn of some of the challenges faced http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF-ddA-LtZc&feature=player_embedded

I wrote a thesis last year about formerly incarcerated/ crack addicted African-American women and what I learned from them is gender makes a difference when assessing and treating mental health problems, not just race. For example, one woman described being "raped and set on fire," by a neighbor and his assault definitely sought to destroy her humanity through violent misogyny. This is only one example, but the trauma women endure based on gender hatred must be taken into account when discussing such an important topic as the African-American mental health crisis. Women have special psychiatric needs because we experience different forms of sadism that target us specifically based on gender. This article lacks this crucial acknowledgement.
My only other critique is that there is no mention of the quake in Haiti and the needs for emergency psychiatric care of the Haitians who lost more than 200,000 mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters and sons in a single day. Having said this,
I am very grateful for this article.
-aurora