Title: 
Headings: 3 African American Leaders in Mental Health
3 African American Leaders in Mental Health
Mamie Phipps Clark
Maxie Clarence Maultsby, Jr.
Freda C. Lewis-Hall
The Importance of Mental Health in Black America
Improving Mental Health and Striving for a United America

Content: Culturally, being mentally ill is often seen as negative among minorities, especially blacks. Being “crazy” is seen not so much as a medical condition with a wide range of causal factors (including biological and genetic ones), and more as a character flaw or personality trait. This means people who could get treatment fail to do so – and people with a predisposition towards one or another mental illness are more likely to become mentally ill, without the proper support to prevent mental diagnoses like depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. One mental illness often carries the risk of producing another – addiction can be a coping mechanism for mental illness, or it can lead to symptoms of depression and other illnesses, for example. By ignoring the issue and letting it foment in an environment of prejudice, it continues to grow. We must do more to help our black communities learn about the truths of mental illness, and widen the availability of treatment options beyond the spectrum of rich and poor. Improving Mental Health and Striving for a United America
Regardless of race and gender, psychiatrists and mental health experts throughout the United States continue to make strides in the industry of psychology and mental health. Yet while our understanding of the human brain and the human mind – two separate disciplines and objects of study, mind you – continues to widen and grow, the fact remains that to the public at large many mental health issues that could be resolved fail to see the treatment they deserve. Mental health in America is a huge issue – but has to be examined within proper context when compared globally. While we spend a comparable amount on mental health treatment versus other developed nations, we continue to be plagued by alarming statistics of depression and anxiety.