Mental Health Impacts on People of Color

By Davena Lewis

Anxiety is defined as intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.  Going to work and not knowing if my skin color is going to be used against me when treating patients. Talking to families and trying to disguise my voice so I do not sound, “colored” as a man said to me on one occasion. Disguising my voice for fear I will not be taking seriously if I sound “Black.” 

In an article by Dr. David Williams entitled, Stress and the Mental Health of  Populations of Color: Advancing our Understanding of Race-Related Stressors, it states, “For several decades, research has shown that while blacks (or African Americans) often have higher rates of psychological distress than whites, some studies also find that whites have elevated levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to blacks (Dohrenwend 1969, Vega and Rumbaut 1991). However, when blacks and Latinos experience mental illness, their episodes tend to be are more severe, persist for longer periods of time, and are more debilitating than for any other race/ethnic group (Breslau et al. 2005). In the National Study of American Life (NSAL), African Americans and Caribbean Blacks had lower current and lifetime rates of major depression than whites (Williams et al. 2007). However, once depressed, both black groups were more likely than whites to be chronically or persistently depressed, have more severe symptoms, higher levels of impairment, and not receive treatment. 

Black and Brown people have the same life stressors. Mental health has no eyes, it does not discriminate on who it affects; therefore, treat it and its symptoms the same as treating anyone else.