Black men have a higher rate of depression and anxiety than white men, but here’s the catch; they very rarely get the help we need.
“The little bit of research that we do have says that things have gotten exponentially worse and when it comes to things like suicide attempts and suicide completions, Black men, Black boys in particular, are one of the fastest growing groups in that space,” Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble said.
Breland-Noble is a pioneering psychologist and founder of the mental health nonprofit The AAKOMA Project. She specializes in mental health issues surrounding communities of colors. She finds that Black men are exposed to negative stereotypes about themselves that push them further to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and even suicide.
“Black men hear that they are criminals, that they don’t take care of their children. Even though we have data that says Black men are most likely, most highly engaged non-custodial parents across all racial ethnic groups,” Breland-Noble said. “But that’s a little blip on the screen. We hear things like Black men are violent. We hear things like Black men don’t want to take care of their responsibilities. So, all of these kinds of things are these negative stereotypes, and they are just that. They are stereotypes.”
According to the American Psychological Association, only 26.4% of Black men ages 18 to 44 who experience daily feelings of anxiety or depression get help. And when they do seek help, they prefer a same race provider.
Read more at ActionNews5.com.
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