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How socioeconomic status affects mental health
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Essay on African American in Mental health
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According to research, African American women face tougher hardships when dealing with depression. This is a research proposal examining how African American females rate their levels of depression. The National Institute of Mental Health defined depression as “a mental illness when someone experiences sadness and a lack of interest in everyday social activities.” The DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance) stated that at least 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older, suffer from some form of depression. Depression is sometimes used to describe those that are sad from time to time with or without “valid” explanation as well as those who often feel lonely or neglected. No matter what …show more content…
During slavery, African American women were the ones that stayed home all day and cooked and cleaned for their families. These women were always told to just keep quiet and believe in God or their religious belief through everything they were going through. African American women didn’t have a voice in society so they couldn’t express their feelings like others could. This cultural aspect of African American women, just going through life and not being able to express themselves has contributed to many of the ladies suffering from depression. Depression amongst African women is very high because of past cultural experiences. African American women are one of the major groups of people that have sacristy of resources. Many times when African American women go to their doctors the doctors tend to diagnose them incorrectly or some time even give them the wrong treatment (Carrington, C. H. ,2006). African American when were always made to just deal with the problem that they were going through at the time not matter the mood they were in (Carrington, C. H. …show more content…
Since they are so stressed out, the health effects have an impact on their whole health. A studied showed that the reason that many of the women suffer from the different things are because they don’t get the proper treatment (Barbee, E. L. 1992.). Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in African American women. Breast cancer can form due to stress leading to depression in African American females (Natarajan, et.al 1985). If our ladies would have more ways to relieve their stress, we could decrease the rate of breast cancer in African American
The Author of this book (On our own terms: race, class, and gender in the lives of African American Women) Leith Mullings seeks to explore the modern and historical lives of African American women on the issues of race, class and gender. Mullings does this in a very analytical way using a collection of essays written and collected over a twenty five year period. The author’s systematic format best explains her point of view. The book explores issues such as family, work and health comparing and contrasting between white and black women as well as between men and women of both races.
‘Molly Mormon’ is the perfect woman. She never raises her voice. Her house is always sparkling clean and she excels in every church calling. She’s understanding and supportive of her husband and children. In essence, ‘Molly Mormon’ is the ideal wife, mother, helpmate, PTA leader, quilter, baker, and casserole maker; she is consistently well-groomed, cheerful and bright (Egan 1).
Jewelll, N., & Russell, K. (1992). Current health status of african americans. Journal of community health nursing, 9(3), 161-169.
Decades of research has shown us that African Americans have been depressed for hundreds of years. Although the Declaration of Independence states “All men are created equal,” that rule did not apply to African Americans. By the end of the Civil War more than 180,000 black soldiers were in the United States Military. After the Civil War, many Africa...
Depression is a mental health disease, which sometimes goes undetected for many months or years in patients. There is not a certain characteristic the one has that says whether or not they will be affected by depression. Depression is like a rain cloud constantly hovering one or like a big black blanket that one cannot pull off of them. (Leung, LaChapelle, Scinta, & Olvera, 2014) states in a study it was report that “Mexican Americans were more likely than any other racial group to have a persistently high depressive symptoms trajectory. The study also found that Mexican American women had higher rates of depression than the men in this group. Depression is defined as a feeling of hopelessness.” Depression can be treated with medications like anti-depressants or Beta-Blockers. In some patients the mental illness never dissipates even with the help of
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
"African American Communities and Mental Health." Mental Health America. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014. .
Mental illness is an increasing problem in America. Currently about 26.2% of Americans suffer from a mental disorder. A mental illness/disorder is a medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, and ability to relate to others and daily functions. Mental illness can affect humans of any age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. However the care that is needed to effectively cure and help the people affected by the illness is not equal for everyone here in American, especially for African Americans.
Together, these show that chronic stress is often a result of inequality and lower status. This stress, to a great extent, is adverse to one’s health and can cause anything from obesity to mental illness and even premature
Clinical depression is very common. Over nine million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression at some point in their lives. Many more people suffer from clinical depression because they do not seek treatment. They may feel that depression is a personal weakness, or try to cope with their symptoms alone. On the other hand, some people are comfortable with admitting their symptoms and seeking help. Such a discrepancy may account for the differences in reported cases of depression between men and women, which indicate that more than twice the numbers of women than men are clinically depressed. According to the numbers of reported cases of depression, 25% of women and 10% of men will have one or more episodes of clinical depression during their lifetimes.
National Institute of Mental Health. (2014). “Depression: What Every Woman Should Know”. Pub No. 95-3871.
Depression can affect anyone, being rich, poor, young, old, race, or religion (D-1). Because depression is a medical condition dealing with the functioning of brain chemicals and emotion, that make any person susceptible. Common causes for depression include death, romance divorce, or moving (D-2). Pain is caused from a displeasure from something that is important to the person suffering. Divorce rates are rising, making it no surprise that people are suffering due to a relationship problem. Being overweight can be a degrading trait, especially to teens and young adults because of them importance of appearance (D-3). Obesity in America is becoming more prevalent, therefore making the chance of depression and suicide much higher for many more pe...
Mental health professionals classify depression as a disorder that affects a person’s thoughts and feelings. “At some point during their lifetime, depression plagues 17 percent of U.S. adults.” (Myers, 2006 p. 621) In the year 2000, 76% of college students felt “overwhelmed” and 22% were unable to function as a result of their depression (American College Health Association, 2001). Major depressive disorder is characterized by extreme...
African-American people have had to mount over many obstacles to get their standing today. First was the selling of their people into slavery. Then, they endured slavery itself, being treated like animals. After slavery was abolished, colored people still had to deal with racial discrimination, demoralization, subjugation and hatred, especially colored women. Black women have had to face unbelievable odds at obtaining self-assurance.
Depression is one of the most common psychological problems. Each year over 17 million Americans experience a period of clinical depression. Thus, depression affects nearly everyone through personal experiences or through depression in a family member or friend.