The COVID-19 pandemic, racial unrest, and police brutality over the past year-plus have all contributed to increased reports of anxiety and depression in the United States. The trauma experienced as a result of these tumultuous events has elevated conversations about mental health in the Black community, where the topic was once largely taboo.
It’s never been clearer that prioritizing our mental health is a must, but for many Black Americans, social and structural systemic factors have been barriers to getting mental health care. In the second year of #BlackHealthFacts, which was launched on Juneteenth 2020, Everyday Health examines these issues to raise awareness and help influence change.
Patrice Harris, MD, a psychiatrist and Everyday Health’s medical editor in chief at large, examines the stigma associated with mental illness, mistrust of the healthcare system, and other factors that have prevented Black Americans from receiving appropriate treatment in the past, and looks at how to make mental health as important as physical health.
Read more at EverydayHealth.com.
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