Mental health is a state of psychological well-being. According to World Health Organization (WHO) mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others." (Organization, WHO 2001) However, cultural differences, race, ethnicity, personal background, subjective assessment, and socioeconomic status all affect how mental health is defined. This variation in definitions of mental health between different sects of our society further causes drift in methods of treatment, and may cause the burden of mental health to be greater on some cultures. There is increasing evidence on mental health disparities. Studies show that minorities are more likely to delay or not seek mental health care, receive less adequate care, and/or terminate care sooner (McGuire et al., 2008). These disparities in receiving care arise due to …show more content…
Despite the progress in understanding the causes of mental illness and the tremendous advances in finding effective mental health treatments, far less is known about the mental health of minorities. Race, ethnicity, culture, language, geographic region, and other social factors affect the perception, availability, utilization, and, potentially, the outcomes of mental health services. Across racial and ethnic groups, a significant financial barrier also greatly affects mental health and the path to getting needed mental health care. Every society influences mental health treatment by how it organizes, delivers, and pays for mental health services. Therefore the provision of high quality, culturally and language appropriate mental health services, in locations accessible to racial and ethnic minorities, is essential to creating a more equitable
Often times today, people of other racial classes and ethnic groups are experiencing oppression as a marginalized group in society today. Racial biases and culture have become an important issue in mental health due to social constructs, racial stereotypes and racial ideology. As a result, they tend to have an impact human development, racial and cultural identity. Therefore, it has become necessary for counselors to indentify and become fully aware and competent in this area due to the changes our society has undergone in multiculturalism and globalization. Due to cultural diversity, identification of minority groups has led to major breakthrough in the field of multicultural counseling/ therapy (Sue &Sue,2014).
Sarah Wilkes: Prompt 1 There are many negative stigmas in regards to seeking treatment for mental illness. Is it possible that people around the world choose to not seek treatment due to these stigmas? Or does one’s cultural beliefs keep them from seeking treatment as well? Negative attitudes and beliefs toward people who have a mental health condition is common in America and countries around the globe.
With the ongoing changes on policies in healthcare, it is imperative to consider the legal and ethical issues in health disparities and access to care based on the socioeconomic status. Research have shown over the past 25 years that disparities in the quality of care are highly influenced by individual characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity, education, income, and age. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) recognized that providing care is not simply a “one size fits all” approach especially with the diverse population in today’s society. As healthcare professionals, we need to be alert and know how to properly intervene with such disparities so that the care provided is tailored to the individual.
Integrated healthcare is key to eliminating mental and physical health disparities by addressing the needs of people based on their differences in their race, socio-economic status, and culture. An integrated healthcare organization is competent of responding to a community with challenges of long standing health disparities. Healthcare professionals in an integrated system are cross-trained in both physical and behavioral health to handle the challenges of mental and physical health disparities. It improves the quality of care of the population by lowering costs, enhancing patient access, and improving the life of both individuals and families. The con of addressing the long standing health disparity is managing the care of patients and
The diversity in the United States continues to grow, increasing the demand of creating more cultural competent programs. Health outcomes are addressed by race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. In research. race and ethnicity are potential predictors for a particular outcome. There is need for more research studies in order to provide an understanding of the different needs among ethnic minority groups.
Black people have many disadvantages stemming from multiple sources such as, slavery, race-based exclusion, lack of education, social and economic resources, amongst other things. Socioeconomic status is linked to mental health. People who are impoverished, homeless, incarcerated or have substance abuse problems are at higher risk for poor mental health. Racism still continues to have a negative impact on black people, especially the mental health of blacks. Historically and contemporary occurrences of antagonistic treatment led to a distrust of authorities.
Mental Health Disparities Among Ethnic Minorities This paper addresses the mental health disparities among ethnic minorities and the advocacy for resolving these concerns. Access to mental health services refers to providers’ ability to give direct and timely services to consumers who request or need these services (La Roche & Turner, 2002). Mental health services have been significantly decreasing lately due to pressures to limit health care expenditures in general. The world has an ongoing growth of diversity.
In recent years it has gotten worse as states move to adopt stricter immigration laws and policies (Sue & Sue,2013). For example, in states such as Arizona they have adopted a law that make it illegal for immigrants to be in the state without proper paperwork (2013). Law’s such as these combined with the discrimination and language barriers cause a great deal of stress to the hispanic population. Many in the Latino population are fearful of reaching out for government or medical assistance for fear of being deported, even if they are legal citizens (2013). This means that the there are members of the Latino population who may be suffering from mental illness such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD and which are all common side effects after being subjected to discrimination and racism ,(Chávez, & French, 2007 ) are not getting the services they need
In general negative descriptions are credited to those who suffer mental illness. Cultural identity (Tata & Leong, 1994), cultural mistrust (Nickerson,Helms,&Terrell,1994),and cultural commitment (Price & McNeill, 1992) have been linked with factors such as attitudes toward seeking help, tolerance for the stigma associated with seeking help, and being open to talking about problems with a
Disparities are all around us and can account for inequality that is seen among different race, in education, business, politics and even healthcare. Inequality can affect all aspects of a person’s life. In the United States it is unfortunate that every citizen is not privy to the same quality of healthcare. This is one of the major challenges and growing issues for the United States healthcare system. The gap in care is derived from racial, ethnic, gender differences in populations.
Although, studies of attitudes and beliefs specific to African American women are scarce, a recent qualitative study of African American women 's beliefs about depression found the women believed they were not susceptible to depression (Waite & Killian, 2008). They believed that an individual develops depression due to having a “weak mind, poor health, a troubled spirit, and lack of self-love” (Ward, Heidrich p. 189). The amount of resources to get help is low. African American women 's use of mental health services also may be influenced by barriers, including access (inaccessible location, transportation problems, lack of health insurance, and poverty), availability of services (few opportunities for group counseling and in-home services), social issues (lack of childcare), poor quality of care (limited access to culturally competent clinicians and case management), and cultural matching (few opportunities to work with racial and ethnic minority clinicians; Cristancho, Garces, Peters, & Mueller, 2008; Miranda et al., 2003; Tidwell,
Brief statement of the problem Hispanic and Latino populations are not being provided with adequate mental health care and are an underserved population (Peters, Sawyer, & Guzman, 2014). There are several barriers, cultural and other, that prevent and dissuade Hispanic and Latino individuals from seeking mental health care (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2015). Lack of bi-lingual providers is one of the many obstacles this population is faced with. Details of the problem A large minority population: • According to the U.S. 2010 Census, 16% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino decent.
According to Webster, Wellness is the state or condition of being in good physical and mental health. Although, African-American are considered to be the minority in America we are a huge fraction of the diseased American population. African Americans are 60% more likely to contract diabetes; also African Americans are more likely to suffer kidney disease, resulting from diabetes. 3 million African American’s have diabetes; the more astonish fact is that a third of the people with diabetes are oblivious to the fact they have it. African American’s develop high blood pressure earlier in life than other Americans; 45% of black women have the affliction.
The health status of African American men constitute a complex story of historical oppression, social forces of discrimination at political, institutional, and individual levels, and economic disadvantages that have worked against the health of black men for centuries. Many African American men continue to suffer disproportionately from poor physical and mental health, and are also feared and marginalized in American society. It is clear that the health disparities among African American men are astounding when compared to other racial, ethnic male groups, especially white males. The awakening to the existence of health disparities has brought concern about African American males ' health issues in the US. Though many other indicators of quality
Introduction It was difficult to make the decision to be public about having a severe psychiatric illness, but privacy and reticence can kill. The problem with mental illness is that so many who have it especially those in a position to change public attitudes, such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, and military officers are reluctant to risk talking about mental illness, or seeking help for it. They are understandably frightened about professional and personal reprisals. Stigma is of Greek word of the same spelling meaning "mark, puncture," came into English through Latin Stigma is it is commonly used today to describe the negative feelings and stereotypical thoughts, and attitudes about people based on the traits of a person, which can