Mental health is a major issue that is often overlooked or avoided within the African-American community. However, two stories involving mental health have recently grabbed front-page attention. A month ago, there was the D.C. Navy Yard shooting, in which an African-American man killed 12 and injured eight people. Shortly after that, an African-American mother of a one-year-old child was killed when she attempted to ram her car through a White House barrier.
These are shocking and disturbing stories. Perhaps what may be more striking about these cases was that it involved two young African Americans. Both Aaron Alexis and Miriam Carey were 34 years old. Both suffered from mental health problems, and one has to wonder if lives could have been saved if they were receiving the most appropriate mental health care.
While these stories have grabbed the nation’s attention, it is likely that many African Americans are dealing with mental health conditions. Due to stigma, underreporting and under-diagnosis of mental health conditions among African Americans, it is possible that even more African Americans who have mental health conditions are not receiving the treatment they need.
Mental health problems don’t just affect a person’s mood. These problems can also affect people’s ability to earn a living. Mental health conditions don’t just affect a person’s mood. These conditions can also affect people’s ability to earn a living and their physical health.
Mental health conditions can negatively affect an individual’s social and economic success. For example, people dealing with mental health challenges are less likely to complete school. And low educational achievement is strongly associated with lower earnings. In St. Louis City, adults spend an average of 4.5 days a month in poor mental health. And in St. Louis County, the figure is 3 days a month.
Exposures to traumatic events resonate over individuals’ entire lives, and it is likely that long-term effects of exposure to poverty, violence and other stresses affect the mental health of African Americans. Mental disorders, particularly those that are untreated, are associated with behavioral problems and adult incarceration.
There is a cycle between incarceration, economic hardship and mental health. African Americans are overrepresented in prison but are far less likely to receive mental health treatment. This has obvious implications for employment opportunities. Children of people who are incarcerated are more likely to experience economic hardship. People who experience economic hardship have greater likelihood of mental disorders. Mental disorders that emerge early in life are associated with incarceration and it is estimated that as many of 64 percent of incarcerated individuals have mental disorders.
Increased effort is needed to uncover and treat mental health conditions outside of the emergency room and jail cell. Individuals may not know where to find mental health services, and opportunities to screen for mental health conditions in health care settings are often missed. There must be community-wide efforts to improve awareness of mental health problems and to tackle stigma and misinformation around mental health.
Although it is likely that many African Americans with mental health problems are not receiving the treatment they need, in-patient hospital charges for mental health conditions in St. Louis city alone are estimated to be $95,844,477 for African Americans. But the costs – financially, emotionally and otherwise – are staggering for families that have dealt with a family member who has been incarcerated or a victim of violence.
There have been large cuts to mental health services. This means that African Americans with mental health needs, particularly those without private insurance, are waiting long periods of time to receive treatment or heading to the emergency room to seek treatment. St. Louis needs more community mental health centers located in areas where there is the most mental health need.
Darrell Hudson, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University.
