BIPOC Mental Health Month 2022 Week 2

Stephanie Weatherly, DNP, PMH RN-BC, FACHE

Chief Clinical Officer

July 11, 2022

As mental health care providers, we can take steps to decrease the mental health care disparities experienced by diverse population groups. We have actions that we can take to work toward healthcare equality for all. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has a wonderful resource that provides concrete steps to assist in reducing mental health inequities and ways to get involved on national and local levels. You can learn more about advocating, connecting, and educating at the APA website.

It is important to understand the disparities within the mental health space. According to the APA:

• Ethnic/racial minorities often bear a disproportionately high burden of disability resulting from mental disorders.
• Although rates of depression are lower in blacks (24.6%) and Hispanics (19.6%) than in whites (34.7%), depression in blacks and Hispanics is likely to be more persistent.
• People who identify as being of two or more races (24.9%) are most likely to report any mental illness within the past year than any other race/ethnic group, followed by American Indian/Alaska Natives (22.7%), white (19%), and black (16.8%).
• American Indians/Alaskan Natives report higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol dependence than any other ethnic/racial group.
• White Americans are more likely to die by suicide than people of other ethnic/racial groups.
• Mental health problems are common among people in the criminal justice system, which disproportionately represent racial/ethnic minorities.
• Approximately 50% to 75% of youth in the juvenile justice system meet the criteria for a mental health disorder.
• Racial/ethnic minority youth with behavioral health issues are more readily referred to the juvenile justice system than to specialty primary care compared with white youth.
• Minorities are also more likely to end up in the juvenile justice system due to harsh disciplinary suspension and school expulsion practices.
• Lack of cultural understanding by health care providers may contribute to underdiagnosis and/or misdiagnosis of mental illness in people from racially/ethnically diverse populations.
• Factors that contribute to these kinds of misdiagnoses include language differences between patient and provider, the stigma of mental illness among minority groups, and cultural presentation of symptoms.

The inequities being experienced in the mental health space according to the APA:

• People from racial/ethnic minority groups are less likely to receive mental health care. For example, in 2015, 48% of whites received mental health services among adults with any mental illness, compared with 31% of blacks and Hispanics and 22% of Asians.
• There are differences in the types of services (outpatient, prescription, inpatient) used more frequently by people of different ethnic/racial groups.
• Adults identifying as two or more races, whites, and American Indian/Alaska Natives were more likely to receive outpatient mental health services and more likely to use prescription psychiatric medication than other racial/ethnic groups.
• Inpatient mental health services were used more frequently by black adults and those reporting two or more races.
• Asians are less likely to use mental health services than any other race/ ethnic group.
• Among all racial/ethnic groups, except American Indian/Alaska Native, women are much more likely to receive mental health services than men.

These statistics are sobering, but talking about them and working toward changing them is a step toward a brighter future for our patients.

Thanks for all you do to help so many!