The American Psychological Association (APA) Apologizes:

In October, 2021, the American Psychological Association (APA) apologized for it’s role in “promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, racial discrimination, and human hierarchy in the U.S.” (APA, 2021).

APA promises to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion and acknowledge and rectify historically racist traditions in creating an antiracist culture within the field of psychology.

APA resolves to actively remedy historical traumas…..

The Role of Stress.

APA’s most recent report on Stress in America 2022: Covid Second Anniversary, revealed that Black adults were among the highest to report that the following are significant stressors:

• money

• economy

• housing costs

• undesired weight changes

• the loss of experiencing major life events

Other stressors include:

• health disparities

• delayed intervention for mental health disorders (such as bipolar disorder and depression) (APA, 2019)

• health seeking stigma

• systemic forms of racism

• misdiagnosis

• biased treatment

• underutilization of mental health services

• lack of culturally sensitive health providers or inadequate numbers of providers of color

• mistrust of the healthcare system

• vicarious stress (APA, 2019) related to ethnic violence, profiling and systemic racism

Intersectionality Matters.

Intersectionality refers to overlapping categories of discrimination and oppression that marginalize people (i.e., gender, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, just to name a few…)

Black Women

• experience a “Strong Black Woman” or Superwoman schema

• which involves an expectation to be psychologically “strong” without the encouragement of utilizing coping strategies to maintain optimal emotional health. (Watson and Hunter, 2016)

• involves (1) emotional restraint, (2) independence, and (3) caretaking (Watson and Hunter, 2016; Woods-Giscombé, 2010)

• leads to stress-related health behaviors, such as adverse birth outcomes, lupus, obesity, and depression (Woods-Giscombé, 2010)

• benefits (self, family and community preservation) and deficits (relationship conflict, stress-related health behaviors, and the embodiment of stress) (Woods-Giscombé, 2010)

Black Men (DeAngelis, 2021)

• are raised developmentally to be “tough”

• are susceptible to suspicions and biases resulting from a criminality stereotype

• display an underutilization of mental health services

• experience obstacles to treatment due to a lack of providers of color

• experience perceived racism and internalized masculinity norms (a need to “act tough” or in control and the avoidance of displaying emotions) related to seeking healthcare services

• seek out informal ways to obtain treatment: church, barbershops, or utilizing family members

• Creative ways to meet the unique psychological needs of Black men include:

  • community programs in barbershops

  • social media and technology outreach

  • use of Indigenous, culturally based practices

  • community and family healing groups

LGBTQ+

experience minority stress (Meyer & Frost, 2013)

prejudice and stigma that causes stress

causes adverse health outcomes (depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, suicide, and asthma)

lifelong experience

relevant to sexual orientation and gender identity

Bowleg, PhD, a professor of applied social psychology at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Her research shows that gay Black men often experience racial discrimination from gay men who are not Black, for example, while bisexual Black men experience race and sexual orientation discrimination in both gay and heterosexual communities (Sex Roles, Vol. 68, No. 11–12, 2013)

Older Black Adults

experienced social isolation, fear, anxiety, depression, and health fears during the pandemic (Frank & Delgadillo, 2021)

experienced highest mortality rates from Covid-19 (Zelner et al., 2021)

Black Youth

• Suicide attempts among black adolescents increased by 73% (1991-2017) (Lindsey, M.A., et al., 2019)

• Risk Factors for Black youth include depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as exposure to violence and racial discrimination (Abrams, 2020)

Socioeconomic Status (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, 2016)

• Black adults living below poverty

  • 2-3x more likely to report serious psychological distress than those living above poverty