Mental Health & The Afro-American
I’m Writing this Down so I don’t forget. You’re very much free to add your thoughts if you are able / interested to. As this is really surface level stuff.
Today, I saw a friend of mine talking about how their mental state wasn’t all that great. As I was Reading their posts, I saw them mention—“Older Black People hate the idea of Your Mental Health affecting your school life & grades”—Which… Yeah. They do hate it, And they aren’t very welcoming about you opening up about your issues to them. At least in my Experience.
But the more I thought about it, the more & more I realized maybe this is the cause of a deeper issue? Within the community? I mean—thinking about it—you have a lot of people who don’t trust doctors or the medical industry because of the way Doctors have Mistreated black people; used them as science experiments without their consent or knowledge, and have different terms for us when diagnosing us & giving us care. Because we are seen as a “Medical Unknown” in the Medical World, Doctors wanted to collect data about us whether it be Ethical or not. They even have different terms to give us to make us seem more “Violent”, “Aggressive”, & “Unwilling to let the Doctor work”.
While Researching Intersex variations & Intersexism, the discrimination against Intersex Individuals, I saw how much it intertwined with the racism towards the Afro-American. The fixation with our bodies; whether it be studying bits & pieces of our body parts to find flaws to make us seem more Inhuman or Animal-Like or the pure obsession over our genitalia, has been like I said, a huge discussion within the medical world. Intersexism has a Lot of Racial Double Standards, many Black Individuals with medical conditions that Are (or could be) considered as Intersex are immediately seen as Intersex, even if they’ve never come out and said they were. Not everyone with a Intersex Variant considers themselves to be intersex which is Okay, but Nonblack people are not immediately seen as Intersex when they are diagnosed with any Intersex Variant. In fact, they are constantly denied the label. It aligns with the Belief that being Intersex is more common within Black People when everyone from every ethnic group has an equal chance of someone who is Intersex in their community!
A lot of this discrimination & dehumanizing of Black Peoples bodies causes a lot of Afro-Americans to have an aversion towards going to the Doctor for Anything, as a lot of times our needs go unnoticed, or even ignored by professionals. Which segways into the main topic of this blog post.
A Lot of people deal with some form of Mental Illness or Neurodivergence. A lot of people, are also undiagnosed and unknowingly suffering from mental illness. I think that… a lot of Black Americans do go under the radar when it comes to mental health. A lot of us sweep it under the rug & not take it seriously when we should. Like it’s things your child will grow out of. But then they don’t grow out of it—So What Now? Or there’s another route where the symptoms are demonized. Neither is right and it shows that a lot of us don’t take mental health seriously or see it as something that is make-believe.
I don’t want to Generalize, but in my experience, I do think it could possibly be the mindset of a lot of Afro-Americans to dismiss our own issues whether it be mentally or physically. I see videos about focusing on our mental health & better our states of mind, but I don’t really see videos talking about specific disorders. And because mental illness presents differently in everyone, and in every culture, a lot of us may be experiencing every single symptom of a Particular Disorder… and not get diagnosed. It’s depressing really.
And because of how the majority of Disorders are discovered through White Patients & studied by White Doctors, it’s hard to get diagnosed when you’re not what they look for. It’s like using the DSM-5 to diagnose ADHD in girls, when they studied boys. Especially if you are the inattentive type of ADHD, which is apparently very overlooked and not a lot of Psychotherapists know how to Care for women with ADHD.
Whatever Whatever… that’s off topic. I’m just saying Black People are overlooked in the medical industry, whether it be mental or not. And that we’re also dismissed by our own people when it comes to expressing how we feel & what is affecting us psychologically. Having it brushed off as something we’ll grow out of or something extremely demonic & foreign, when most if not all disorders stay with you and develop with you as you age.
Whatever… my point got lost in the sauce. I just hope for things to change and that the black community is more open minded towards mental disorders & younger generations talking about how depressed or stressed they are, as you get shut down for talking about how you feel. You know what I mean… the “You’re too young to be Tired of Anything!” Statements… the idea that younger people don’t suffer or go through anything… You know what I mean.