Mental Health Stigmas in the Black Community

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Now the holiday season is finally upon us, and you know what that means. Family decorations and an old man breaking into your house while the children are asleep.

I still don't understand how that's legal.

But unfortunately, for a lot of people, Christmas can also be a tough time emotionally.

They call it the most wonderful time of the year, but the holidays can also bring boatloads of stress.

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as festive stress.

Holidays are typically the busiest time of year for mental health professional.

Sixty four percent of people experience feelings of anxiety or depression during the holidays.

Yeah, it turns out the holiday season is the worst time for anxiety and depression, which makes sense, chause think about it. You see your whole family and they're either not doing well or they're all doing better than you.

Either way, it sucks. Now.

One thing people can do is book more time with their therapists, but unfortunately that's not an option for everyone, and it's especially challenging for black people. But let's find out why that is. In another installment of If you don't Know, Now you Know. There are few groups who could stand to benefit from therapy more than black people. I mean, think about all the things black people have

It's hard enough to get mental health treatment in the US, but studies show that racial and ethnic minorities are significantly less likely to receive mental health treatment than whites.

Black and Hispanic children are less likely to get mental health care than white kids, and studies show that irritability and the average white teenager is often labeled as depression. That same behavior is more likely to be seen as disruptive in black or Latino children, and doctor say that can lead to feelings of hopelessness at a very young age.

Yes, one of the reasons many black people don't get the proper treatment is misdiagnosis. What is seen as depression in white people can be seen as disruptive behavior in black people. And this shouldn't be surprising, right, This kind of thing happens in medicine all the time, mixed diagnosis. It's like when a black person has a seizure. It's a medical emergency, but when a white person does it, it's called dancing.

But it turns out. It turns out even when black people are.

Properly diagnosed with mental health issues, it can still be a challenge to find a therapist who's equipped to handle their.

Needs, making the crisis worse. Not enough African American therapists today, only four percent of psychologists are black.

Kevin Durton says admitting he needed help was actually easier than finding it.

He saw three different therapists, but felt that none of them understood the stress and emotions unique to black men.

When Taraji p hens It's own son Marcel, was struggling, she found it nearly impossible to find him one.

Trying to find a culturally competent therapist was like looking for a purple unicorn with a gold horn. Do they understand the cultural contexts from which I'm coming from?

Do they understand the culture that I live in?

That's right, It's extremely difficult for black people to find a black therapist. And it's been like this for a very very long time. I mean, that's why Martin Luther King Jr. Was always describing his dreams to huge crowds, and it was just like, I had another dream, but I'm being chased by bears and my underwear. Does anyone here know what that means?

Now?

Now you may think you may think that a therapist's race shouldn't match at all, and that's true, But if you think about it, it does make sense. For many white therapists, no matter how good they are, it can be hard to understand the particular experiences of a black person, you know, just sitting there in a session, even if they're trying. It could be like, so you say, people are following you around the store and you're invisible, but only the taxi drivers.

Hmmm, paranoid delusions.

So, when it comes to mental health, there's a very real struggle for black people to access healthcare, get diagnosed correctly, and find the therapists who can relate to them. But if that wasn't bad enough, there's another major hurdle stopping black people from getting therapy, and it comes from the black community itself.

We have a stigma in the black community when it comes to dealing with mental health.

Black students say where they come from, it's shameful to talk about anxiety, depression and trauma.

It's not okay to have mental health issues, or like that's a white people think.

I've heard all the time. Black men don't go to therapy, They go to the barbershop.

I told my own mother that I was seeing a therapist, and she said, you don't need to see a therapist.

What you need to do is see a preacher. You got Jesus. You don't mean anything else, you know, just buck it up. Ah.

Yeah, that's a line every black person knows all too well.

You don't need therapy, you need Jesus.

And my response is always why can't we use both?

Because church is.

A great place for community, but therapy is great for one on one mental health needs. I mean, I bet Jesus himself wish he could have gone to therapy at times, you know, just be like, so, my best friend betrayed me and I was born in a freaking barn. Plus my birthday always falls on Christmas, so only get one set of presence.

It's so shitty. So yes, part of the problem.

Part of the problem is that there's a major stigma in the black community around therapy, and honestly, I can understand why many black people would rather deal with problems at church.

It's a familiar place.

For us, right you trust the people there, and it's also a fun atmosphere, Like therapy doesn't seem fun.

Churches is cool. I get it. In fact, that's what I was thinking. Maybe maybe that's.

One way we could try and help solve this therapy crisis. We need to make therapy a little bit more like black church, and I think.

It would be pretty dope.

I don't know. It's just really hard for me to let people in. And I feel like it's probably because every time I show affection, it just feels like weakness.

Did y'all hear that? Did y'all hear what brother Djabuki just said?

Right here?

Brother Jabuki said that he can't show affection because it feels like weakness. But before we can understand what hurts us, you gotta understand who hurt us. Who hurts your brother Dabuki?

Oooh wow wow.

I would probably say my father because he was really emotionally distant, But then so was his father, which is probably where he got it from.

The sins of the father passed down from generation to generation. And what will break this cycle other than a reflective analysis of the egos.

Hold oh your second, I need to self actualize. You need what self actualized?

Self actualize?

Self actualized, self actual.

He's gonna empower himself over, deal with his forgotten memoryes question, confront his dysfunctional abordance of intimacy.

He didn't go to prompt he.

Hellodi, we're at a time we can I pick this up next.

Week, right, Thank you so much. I've just been going through a lot and it was really.

Helpful to talk.

Sorry, Uh, it should actually be covered out of.

Blue Cross Son. The only cross of my network is Jesus.

Earlier today I got the chance to talk to Golden Globe winning actor Taraji p Henson. Her foundation has launched a free virtual therapy support campaign to help people access mental health services who otherwise.

Couldn't afford it. We talked about that and much more so. Check it out.

Taraji p Henson, Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show.

Yes, thanks for having me.

How are you holding up in quarantine? Your hair looks great?

Thank you.

I've learned to do a lot in this quarantine, and this is one of the projects of getting better each and every time. The first time it took me three days. This time it took me four hours. Well yeah, four hours.

Wow.

You've always been an advocate for mental health issues. You know, You've always spoken out about it. You've always encouraged people to talk about it, share about it, get the help that they need, remove all of the stigmas in talking around mental health. And I've always appreciated you for that. I know that your foundation is doing something amazing right now during coronavirus. Tell us a little bit about that.

We're doing a virtual fundraisers called the COVID nineteen Virtual Fundraiser. And what we're doing is we're offering five therapy sessions for those.

Underserved communities who have been saying it so much.

My brain is like, but it's for those who are disproportionately affected by the COVID nineteen and it's it's basically, you know, neighborhoods that are of brown, brown and black people, so right, and because we don't really deal with mental health in our community, it's so much stigma around it.

I just felt like a face needed to be put to it.

And then in this special time now where people are isolated.

And you know that they're going.

Through things in isolation and they don't have the means or the money.

I just felt like I needed to do something.

So it really is.

Yeah, it really a beautiful move because I feel like during this period, more people have experienced and gotten in touch with what it is like to be either depressed or struggling with mental illness in a way that they haven't. You know, a lot of the time, people can avoid it, people can run away from it. People some people don't even know they're experiencing it just because of how fast their life might be moving and they have ways to escape.

You can escape.

Now you're forced to sit still. And so my prayer and my hope is that people who have shunned it, you know, seeking help or just believe the stigma around it, hopefully they can take this time, in this moment to experience it, to just try. I mean because literally, you know, we keep saying when the world opens back up, we will all have trauma to get over.

After this, all of these.

Tell me something.

How have you managed to communicate to people the importance of therapy, especially when we come from communities.

I mean, I know, for a fact, I grew up in South Africa.

I grew up in a family where for the most part, if I went to my grandparents and said therapy, they'd say, you need to run, you need to sleep, or you need Jesus.

You know.

So how have you managed to break through in communities that have always looked in therapy as like a white people thing or something that's just like a almost fake in many ways, I had.

To step up and tell my own story instead of preaching to people and you need to do this. I had to let them see that, you know, because I think the misconception of that people have of celebrities is that money can't save everything, you know what I mean, Like, oh, you're rich, you don't have no problems, and it's like

I mean, I think they still see me as an event from Baby Boy.

You know, the characters that play seemed tangible and relatable in a way, and I wear my heart on my sleeve, and so I felt like if I came forward with my own issues.

That will free up a lot of people. And it was actually very freeing for me.

For me when I did it and I said it, and I finally said it on a national platform, you know, and then I started.

Saying, other people speak up. It was like, Okay, don't you.

Know what I mean?

The big bag monster is gone, you know. And that's how you eradicate the stigma. The more we normalize the conversation, the easier it'll be to have the conversation.

Thank you so much. You made my day.

Thank you for joining us on the show. Thank you for talking about mental health, something we all deal with at different levels and people need to talk about more. Thank you for bringing the lights into our show. I appreciate you.

Thank you.

And if you want to help and don't they just text no Stigma to seven zero seven zero seven zero.

No Stigma to seven zero seven zero seven zero, okay. And if we want to book hair appointments, is there a website for that or not?

Not yet, I haven't started it yet, but you could use my tpa's products with your soul that.

Target there you have it. So Roger P. Hanson, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you, take care and stay say.

Earlier today, I spoke with the Grammy nominated multi platinum artist Big Sean. We talked about his new album, Detroit two, which has gone to the top of the charts. Welcome man, Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show, My dude. Good to have you back on the show in a very different way.

Yeah, man, I appreciate it.

And congratulations. I feel like last time you came on the show, you had your album out and you were at the top of the Billboard charts. Detroit two just dropped and you have debuted at number one. Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

Man, Thank you so much. And it means a lot to debut like that. But for me, it was already number one just because of what I wanted to put into music and the impact that I wanted to make for the people who are ready for that, you know, so that that actual number one was just like a cherry on top.

For sure.

Listening to it, I was really intrigued by the journey that you take us on. It's an emotional journey. You talk about America's healthcare system, you talk about religion, you talk about your own anxiety and depression as a human being. I mean, this is not something you normally hear rappers rapping about. Like it's a very vulnerable album, but at the same time, it's not weak. It's a really delicate balance. Why did you feel the need to make an album that is so vulnerable.

Honestly, it wasn't even by choice. It was just what was in my heart at the time. You know, I feel like I got into a point in my career. I feel like whenever you do something for ten years plus, your passion starts to change for it. You know, it's not the same hunger that you had when you first got into it. And I was experiencing that, and I was experiencing all this anxiety and depression and I didn't know why.

I was like, let me focus on me.

And you know, I did therapy. I spiritually really really got my spiritual connection stronger and that foundation stronger. And in doing that, like through all the meditations I was doing. One of the things that I that I did was visualize and go back to when I was fifteen or when I was nineteen and twenty one, and when I was sleeping in the studio, like why why was I

Can do that is through the music.

And when I did that, when I said that, that's when all the honesty really started coming through because it was like, Okay, I may have to sacrifice my privacy, but it's going to help somebody and it's going to inspire somebody and lift them up. And that's what I needed. I need an inspiration and motivation, so that that was my whole goal.

I feel like I feel like you've done that, you know, time and time again throughout this album. I think there's a reason it's number one right now in the charts is because you know, it's not just great music, but it connects to what many people are going through, especially

I mean, I don't apply everything I learned in physics or you know, the trigonometry I had to learn, or like all these things. It's like so I think they need to really incorporate that into the health class because mental health is your health. You know, it's called mental health to specific to you know, to specifically point that part of the health out. But I don't say, like, hey, my hand health is good today, or my eye health is really strong today. It's like, to me, it's all health.

Also things like taxes.

Like all the things I learned in school, especially all the math classes I needed to learn more about taxes, set up LLCs, you know all those things.

Man, it's been three years since your previous album. It's been three years of Big Sean living his life. It's been three years of you growing as an artist. What do you think has been the biggest change.

Well, I feel like I'm still learning and still going through it, you know, I feel like it's a journey. But to me, the biggest I guess the biggest transformation that has happened since my last album is that I've been able to listen to my gut, listen to my heart,

I think you've done that, man, I think you've done it in the music. I think you do it in your life. I appreciate you, Man, Big Sean, thanks for joining us on the show.

Yes, sir, please bro.

My guest tonight is Grammy Award winning artist Miguel. We talk about what he's been up to over the last couple of years, his brand new EP, and so much more.

Miguel, Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Man. It feels like you're doing everything.

It feels like you're comfortable doing everything, which is what I really enjoy about watching you work. You know, whether it's creating new music, whether it's working with Rihanna for fancy even to things even to things like being a mental health advocate. I mean that a few years ago wasn't the sexiest thing in the world. But you were someone who came out or You've always talked about therapy, whether it's for.

Couples or for individuals.

You've always talked about, you know, preserving your mental health. I'd love to know why you felt like No, as Miguel, I'm not just going to keep the enigma around mental health going.

I will keep myself.

That but talking about mental health is something that I'm going to instill in everybody.

Why did you feel the need to do that?

I mean, the the real thing is a platform to reach people. You start to realize that there's opportunity to help somebody somewhere, and I guess just just just not wanting to take that for granted and realize there's a kid like me somewhere that grew up in some neighborhood that was underprivileged like I was, or came from a you know, broken family, or is a mixed heritage like I am, or you know, just all the different things

Oh, and I.

Think the earlier we can instill that in you know, other you know, younger kids or younger people, the more likely they're they're they're going to be at building and curating their own mindset as they get up and hopefully, you know, a happier, more fulfilled people.

That's the future.

So I just think of that kind of thing, Emma.

I appreciate it, honestly. I appreciate. I appreciate what you speak on. I appreciate the music that you put up.

I appreciate you being you because it's just like it's I think it's inspiring to see people who work at being comfortable being themselves because I think it inspires everyone to try and do the same thing.

So I'm excited. Thank you for the music.

Thank you.

Really.

Whenever we get an odd Dealer Chic, it means there's a Miguel album coming up. I know you're not going to say anything, so I'm just going to assume that and I'm going to be ready for it. But in the meantime, I'm going to be listening to this, I'm going to be enjoying it.

Keep doing you, Migael. Thank you so much for joining me on the show.

Appreciate you, rewatch you every segment. Thank you so much, Man for the information and a last, it's so much. I appreciate it.

Brother, I appreciate you, my dude.

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