The African American Presence in the Mental Health Field

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 26 (4), 396. Lysaker, P.H., Wickett, A.M., Wilke, N. & Lysaker, J., (2003). Narrative incoherence in schizophrenia: The absent agent-protagonist and the collapse of internal dialogue. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 57 (2), 153 Marder, S.R., (2000). Integrating pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia.

People are unaware of the effects of mental illness, and what mental illness can encompass. “Most importantly, mental health includes people’s feelings of worth in the context of the total cultural and societal system as well as within the identifiable groups to which they belong.” (Snowden, 165) The experience you receive as a race and how you perceive your race is apart of mental illness. Many African American people look down upon their race due to socioeconomic hierarchy that society has given people. African American’s are at high risk to developing mental illness. Healthcare providers have misdiagnosed many African Americans due to lack of knowledge.

3. John H. Gilmore, MD. (2009), Understanding What Causes Schizophrenia: A Developmental Perspective, Psychiatry Online, 167, 8-10. 4. David H. Barlow (2012), Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders, Abnormal Psychology, 6, 468-500.

(1998) Cognitive therapy for paranoid schizophrenics: Applying cognitive dissonance, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 12, (1), 3-12. 8) Morrison, A. P., Wells, A. & Nothard, S. (2000) Cognitive factors in predisposition to auditory and visual hallucinations, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 67-78. 9) Patterson, T. (1987). 'Studies toward the subcortical pathogenesis of schizophrenia', Schizophrenia.

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Retrieved from http://www.sardaa.org/resources/about-schizophrenia/ Svensson, E., Rogvin, M., Hultman, C. M., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T., Sandin, S., & Moger, T. A. (2013). Schizophrenia susceptibility and age of diagnosis — A frailty approach. Schizophrenia Research,147(1), 140-146. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2013.03.004 Swierzewski, III, M.D., S. J. (2001, February 01).Schizophrenia.

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For this community to then find out that these medical providers they had trusted with their health for decades have been lying and using them comes as a big blow. What could have been a huge step forward for the relationship between disadvantaged Americans and the federal health public system became a big step back. Even forty years later, the Tuskegee Study continues to cast a shadow over the relationship between disadvantaged African Americans and the US public health practice. However, the numerous reports claiming that this study is the biggest reason why many African Americans distrust the US public health institution are wrong. Although, as stated, it did and still does have a negative impact, such claims neglect to see that this is a multidimensional issue, with other historical, political and economic factors that come into play.

Psychological Medicine, 40(2), 201-10. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709990419 Palmer, B. W., Dawes, S. E., & Heaton, R. K. (2009). What do we know about neuropsychological aspects of schizophrenia? Neuropsychology Review, 19(3), 365-84. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11065-009-9109-y What is schizophrenia? (2013). Retrieved from National Institute of Mental Health : http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia/index.shtml

For 228 years, Black people have been categorized from Slaves, Colored/Free Colored, Mulattos, Negro, African Americans, and etc. The system in which these categories were created has also demoralized other non-white races, blatantly suggesting that those who aren’t full white aren’t full humans. In the novel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, Skloot becomes fascinated with our protagonist Henrietta Lacks’ story involving the innovations through her cells and the way they’ve impacted the scientific community. But During Henrietta Lacks’ treatments at John Hopkins’s Institution, in an era of segregation and racism, Lacks undergoes procedures for an illness that becomes more of an experiment than a practice to save her life. Since Lacks is already seen as less of a human being, to the predominately white medical staff, her life is less valued and less appreciated as a patient, and due to racial categorizing, doctors, as well as researchers have treated Lacks and her family as creatures of an unknown species that represent their differences as abstracts.