tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297089662985812082024-03-05T21:50:42.315-08:00African-American Adjustment Disorder Awareness Association (AAADAA)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-33568722172269204802023-11-30T06:18:00.000-08:002023-11-30T06:43:48.332-08:00Blacks and Alzheimer’s<div><span><i>Compiled by Kenny Anderson</i></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia among older adults. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, irreversible brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and cognition — the ability to think and reason.</span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUgjLHiih2psAUDXIELB5Fja5to-PuKlcI6V5bhyphenhyphenyJALUtHmypebeETkd6q2fCoCuhsWD96tSK35l6XnTXmbbEHlwFp4a3Ihq0CN1fWgCd8jgvcdVsQaXFhQLgGEfgS9BirKhoZ7F8uiuPT10dr3OHPEcyTr4uYHVjCSAKoIQlbsaCODb_szqMOZyv1tH/s644/Blk%20Alzheimer%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="644" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUgjLHiih2psAUDXIELB5Fja5to-PuKlcI6V5bhyphenhyphenyJALUtHmypebeETkd6q2fCoCuhsWD96tSK35l6XnTXmbbEHlwFp4a3Ihq0CN1fWgCd8jgvcdVsQaXFhQLgGEfgS9BirKhoZ7F8uiuPT10dr3OHPEcyTr4uYHVjCSAKoIQlbsaCODb_szqMOZyv1tH/w465-h326/Blk%20Alzheimer%202.jpg" width="465" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Stress and Alzheimer’s</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Researchers believes that stress can cause inflammation in the brain, making the brain more susceptible to health problems like dementia. Stress can also lead to depression, a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s and related forms of the disease.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Moreover researchers have studied the effects of high stress events on brain health. African-Americans reported more than 60% of these stressful events and the study linked these events with lower cognitive function. <br /></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><i>“The stressful events were throughout the lifespan a variety of things that you can imagine would be impactful and stressful. Dementia and brain health should be thought of as life-course issues, not just mid-life or late-life problems. We have to start thinking about brain health from birth, if not before.”</i> - Dr. Maria Carrillo</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><i>“Researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health evaluated data from 1,320 participants who shared information about their own stressful life experiences and then participated in cognitive tests. Researchers found that every stressful event was equal to 1.5 years of brain aging across all participants, except for African Americans, where every stressful event was equal to 4 years of brain aging. The study also found that African Americans reported 60% more stressful events on average than Caucasians, which may help to explain why there is a higher incidence of Alzheimer’s there.”</i> - Alissa Sauer</span><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhG_BEuZYA7KWJ3LesRxB3qoPydzE35DWREGnA8yU20Bozjy-UfIG6SHMOkEACe4XYXRLxCeqiCFFGFNdwGhhJ0TOX0kG1byW1SkzZNGkl56NxbPxVctI53OIr8PoTffMS6x8wTgYEg3sAX18T6EJSK9Fxkf-6qkqAKS4lLEjxHwIaG-QHDdbMNQQBBtvO/s609/Blk%20Stress%20Inflammation%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="609" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhG_BEuZYA7KWJ3LesRxB3qoPydzE35DWREGnA8yU20Bozjy-UfIG6SHMOkEACe4XYXRLxCeqiCFFGFNdwGhhJ0TOX0kG1byW1SkzZNGkl56NxbPxVctI53OIr8PoTffMS6x8wTgYEg3sAX18T6EJSK9Fxkf-6qkqAKS4lLEjxHwIaG-QHDdbMNQQBBtvO/w429-h276/Blk%20Stress%20Inflammation%201.jpg" width="429" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Racism and Alzheimer's Diagnosing</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Studies show Black people have a greater risk of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia and they are more likely to be diagnosed later than white patients. On average, Black patients were 72.5 years old when they underwent imaging, researchers found, compared to 67.8 years for white patients; 66.5 years for Hispanic patients; and 66.7 for others. For more info on this click on link below:</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.healthday.com/health-news/mental-health/black-patients-wait-longer-than-whites-for-alzheimers-diagnosis?fbclid=IwAR1IiyyRJZuF17WG7wnUIp-2LilEuWIHKY6A7kt1cRbHDVMi2OprzHDnQUM"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.healthday.com/health-news/mental-health/black-patients-wait-longer-than-whites-for-alzheimers-diagnosis?fbclid=IwAR1IiyyRJZuF17WG7wnUIp-2LilEuWIHKY6A7kt1cRbHDVMi2OprzHDnQUM</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-60364783351801323492023-11-28T07:56:00.000-08:002023-11-28T08:30:31.608-08:00November is Diabetes Awareness Month - A Month Blacks Should Seriously Reflect On!<p><i>by Kenny Anderson</i></p><span style="font-size: large;">Diabetes is a serious chronic ‘metabolic disease’ characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar).</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />If not ‘managed’ over time diabetes will lead to various organ damage, distress, debilitation, and premature death. According to recent data from the Pan American Health Organization 50-75% of cases of diabetes in the United States is not managed ‘uncontrolled’.</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6An2f-8U-DLkpBqCkJGIwTb5vssZkMxkXSxUJ_iZHNKbwDHYfCRYORlhDLEpVadWnDcQOEe_QcVCLSb1lxjbzJaoenV60bxHW6vGz5pAzfKzfWb3op-jPN9nAIhW-5sDTPWlJGmkwPC3AW1Fk64-3IvA2VW0wSkXQKN8_kOZXnraXW0EBTadjTn0GGrC/s1851/Nov%20Diabetes%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1444" data-original-width="1851" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6An2f-8U-DLkpBqCkJGIwTb5vssZkMxkXSxUJ_iZHNKbwDHYfCRYORlhDLEpVadWnDcQOEe_QcVCLSb1lxjbzJaoenV60bxHW6vGz5pAzfKzfWb3op-jPN9nAIhW-5sDTPWlJGmkwPC3AW1Fk64-3IvA2VW0wSkXQKN8_kOZXnraXW0EBTadjTn0GGrC/w519-h319/Nov%20Diabetes%201.png" width="519" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Blacks and Diabetes</span></b></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Blacks have higher diabetes death rates than whites in the 30 largest cities in the U.S. Currently diabetes is the 5th leading cause of death among Blacks. Indeed for Blacks in America diabetes is an epidemic:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /><i>*Blacks aged 20 years or older 4.9 million (18.7%) have diagnosed diabetes, according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) national survey data<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Blacks are 77% more likely to have diagnosed diabetes to compared whites<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Blacks are at a higher risk for prediabetes than whites especially if type 2 diabetes runs in their family. Around 36% of Blacks have prediabetes, where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be type 2 diabetes <br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Blacks have very high obesity rates a major risk-factor for diabetes; nearly 50 percent of Blacks are clinically obese: about 40% of Black men and 80% or four out of five Black women are considered overweight or obese<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Blacks with diabetes are at a much greater risk factor for heart disease and stroke, suffering and dying disproportionately from them<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Blacks with diabetes are more at risk for mental health problems (depression, anxiety)<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Black women who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy face a 52% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future compared to white women diagnosed with gestational diabetes</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">*Diabetes is
the number #1 cause of kidney disease; kidney disease requiring dialysis or
transplant is far more common among Blacks. The average life
expectancy on dialysis is 5-10 years; the leading cause of death in
diabetic individuals on dialysis is ‘heart </span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 107%;">failure</span><span style="line-height: 107%;">’ </span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 107%;">(55.6%), while
sepsis accounted for 20.6% of the deaths </span></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Blacks are 2.6-5.6 times as likely to suffer from kidney disease and are at least 2.6 times more likely to have end stage kidney renal disease due to diabetes than whites</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Black diabetics are 2.7 times as likely to suffer from lower-limb amputations<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;">*Diabetic retinopathy 'disease of the retina' is almost 50% more prevalent in Blacks than whites <br /><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i>*Blacks have a higher risk of developing diabetic eye disease and vision loss than most other racial and ethnic groups; diabetic eye diseases include diabetic retinopathy, macular edema (which usually develops along with diabetic retinopathy), cataracts, and glaucoma</i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Since millions of Blacks have diabetes and millions more are prediabetic, raising ‘diabetes awareness’ is critical ‘health literacy’ so that many Blacks can reduce the likelihood that they will develop type 2 diabetes or those with it can reduce the likelihood that they’ll get complications from it.</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7gMcR3Uw0G0BAzvggJmp-W6Oj-Ow7msIMdVIuW6UlXuvb99PohdxKIXF_qonNyrJri60dmeufGJi_UTi-OOTip-1kdmM-MBADZGSL4YnMsOIJotD4WDr1oZQtUGcYwmAzXmp_jzhpPgNjer-YBVLF58CmMZVvoSxAHFZfHEclz53AdznSw10yozEQonv/s678/Blk%20Diabetes%20Fact%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="678" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7gMcR3Uw0G0BAzvggJmp-W6Oj-Ow7msIMdVIuW6UlXuvb99PohdxKIXF_qonNyrJri60dmeufGJi_UTi-OOTip-1kdmM-MBADZGSL4YnMsOIJotD4WDr1oZQtUGcYwmAzXmp_jzhpPgNjer-YBVLF58CmMZVvoSxAHFZfHEclz53AdznSw10yozEQonv/w542-h393/Blk%20Diabetes%20Fact%201.jpg" width="542" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">BLACK FOLKS PROMOTING ‘DIABETES AWARENESS’ IS A MUST – SPREAD THE WORD!</span></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-66274393690972903112021-09-07T18:01:00.005-07:002021-09-07T18:03:03.900-07:005 Factors That Affect Mental Health in African American Communities<i>by Tanya St. John<br /></i><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mental illness does not discriminate. One in four Americans will experience a behavioral health disorder in any given year regardless of age, race, religion, gender or economic status. Anyone can develop a mental health disorder.</span><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, there are factors that can increase the vulnerability to and severity of mental health disorders in the African American population and decrease their likelihood of seeking and receiving adequate treatment, including:<br /><br /><b>1. RACISM</b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mental Health America points out that, “Despite progress made over the years, racism continues to have an impact on the mental health of Black/African Americans. Negative stereotypes and attitudes of rejection have decreased, but continue to occur with measurable, adverse consequences. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAoRPGcWNex1A-_OJJy2w2iql7b24RhUR-P_NGpK9pOvMBYxFAigEQRiE2HHqzD5T-ijIRpkXOv_MsYCZurJ91gD2YaAFoDm9SriaU2iTWwHvk3I0LcaosJ0-n13lGtBGFXPfF-QuA4d0/s327/Blk+Mentl+Hlth.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="154" data-original-width="327" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAoRPGcWNex1A-_OJJy2w2iql7b24RhUR-P_NGpK9pOvMBYxFAigEQRiE2HHqzD5T-ijIRpkXOv_MsYCZurJ91gD2YaAFoDm9SriaU2iTWwHvk3I0LcaosJ0-n13lGtBGFXPfF-QuA4d0/w474-h289/Blk+Mentl+Hlth.jpg" width="474" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Historical and contemporary instances of negative treatment have led to a mistrust of authorities, many of whom are not seen as having the best interests of Black/African Americans in mind.”<br /><br />Evidence of the historic context that contributes to mistrust within the African American community can be seen in the pseudoscience of “diseases” such as Drapetomia and Dysaethesia Aethiopica, created to maintain the status quo of slavery in the South.<br /><br />During slavery, an overt display of mental illness often resulted in more frequent beatings and abuse, which forced slaves to disguise or hide their mental health issues (Hastings, Jones, & Martin, 2015). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The outcomes of these events have been long-lasting, perpetuating myths about mental illness. Sixty-three percent of African Americans believe that depression is a personal weakness. Family and community members often insist on prayer as a singular solution over seeking professional treatment:<br /><br />“Why are you depressed? If our people could make it through slavery, we can make it through anything.” “When a black woman suffers from a mental disorder, the opinion is that she is weak. And weakness in black women is intolerable.” “You should take your troubles to Jesus, not some stranger/ psychiatrist.”<br />(Depression and African Americans, Mental Health America)<br /><br />In more recent history, the CDC details the Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiment which did not inform its subjects, 600 black men, of the study’s true purpose, and did not provide proper treatment, among other failures. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Further support for this barrier of mistrust is explained in Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Man’s Disease, (Beacon Press 2010), by author and Vanderbilt University Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, Jonathan Metzl. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Metzl researched Michigan’s Iona State Hospital records and uncovered a disproportionate diagnosis of schizophrenia in African American men during the 1960’s and 70’s, speculating that the much of the misplaced hysteria was attributable to involvement of African American males involvement in the civil rights movements of the time.<br /><br /><b>2. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS</b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some African Americans even see mental illness as a punishment from God. Up to 85 percent of African Americans describe themselves as “fairly religious” or “religious” and they commonly use prayer as a way to handle stress, according to one study cited by the American Psychiatric Association. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Spiritual beliefs, family, and community are a great source of emotional support, but can be a barrier to receiving needed professional medical or therapeutic treatment. Faith communities can become a source of distress if they are not educated about mental illness and ways to support individuals and families in their struggle for recovery.<br /><br /><b>3. POVERTY</b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">While mental illness is not by any means restricted to individuals of lower economic status, the stressors that can accompany poverty – hunger, homelessness, lack of other basic needs or an inability to find jobs or afford treatment – can be contributing factors. U.S. Census Bureau data shows the 2014 poverty rate for African Americans was 26.2 percent. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, “it is well documented that mental illness is exacerbated by poverty. However, more recently, it has been recognized that poverty may contribute to the onset of mental illness.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a continuing downward spiral, mental illness can increase health care costs, effect overall health, and lead to further impoverishment. African Americans make up 40 percent of today’s homeless population.<br /><br /><b>4. VIOLENCE</b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">African Americans of all ages are more likely to witness or be victims of serious violent crimes. Exposure to violence increases the risk of developing a mental health condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. African American children are more likely than other children to be exposed to violence, which can have a profound, long-term effect on their mental health.<br /><br /><b>5. LACK OF PROVIDER CULTURAL COMPETENCY</b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">A lack of cultural competency in the mental health care system can also pose barriers to seeking professional help. Only 3.7 percent of American Psychiatric Association members and 1.5 percent of American Psychological Association members are African American. According to Psychology Today, “studies have shown that African Americans view the typical psychologist as an ‘older, white male, who would be insensitive to the social and economic realities of their lives.'”<br /><br />Without proper treatment, mental health conditions can worsen and make day-to-day life harder. Silence and stoicism – denying oneself help in order to appear strong – need to be overcome. True strength lies in recognizing the need for help and seeking it out. To make progress in this arena, there needs to be:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><i>*An end to the stigma by increasing awareness of mental health needs in the African American community<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>*An increase in the number of African American mental health professionals and greater cultural competency in those currently in the field<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>*Increased education in the faith communities about the role of professional mental health treatments and how they can work together<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>*A greater focus on prevention, intervention, and maintenance</i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidTQRgoPtt0EWlPUB5e4-CB5X8VErduhWmtKdcWW39PLeWYgRokqoDquwqwO2E95mk7Mj81QiTjaxIamQ0ZztNGgWSVnXl-c1GbktkLktmRDceEqDKmqhhtJReyQjM5JaBQfsfjfharxgv/s259/Blk+Mentl+Hlth+2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidTQRgoPtt0EWlPUB5e4-CB5X8VErduhWmtKdcWW39PLeWYgRokqoDquwqwO2E95mk7Mj81QiTjaxIamQ0ZztNGgWSVnXl-c1GbktkLktmRDceEqDKmqhhtJReyQjM5JaBQfsfjfharxgv/w467-h411/Blk+Mentl+Hlth+2.jpg" width="467" /></a></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-36020781433174251652021-09-05T07:10:00.004-07:002021-09-07T16:43:35.192-07:00Breaking the Black Emotional Dysfunctional Code <p> <i>by Kenny Anderson</i></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I often hear young adult Blacks say use the terms that they’re ‘hyped-up’, ‘amped-up’, ‘geeked-up’, their use of these terms generally refers to them being excited, provoked, or stimulated by drugs or alcohol. <br /><br />Unbeknownst to young adult Blacks and to the overwhelming majority of us the terms ‘hyped-up’, ‘amped-up’, ‘geeked-up’ can also be used as psychological 'clinical' terms that describe historical ‘hyper-arousal’ symptoms of Post-Traumatic Slavery Disorder (Cultural-Specific PTSD). <br /><br />Hyper-arousal is a primary symptom of general Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that occurs when a person’s body suddenly kicks into high alert as a result of thinking about their trauma. Even though real danger may not be present, their body acts as if it is causing lasting stress after a traumatic event. <br /><br />The relentless brutal enslavement and traumatization of our Ancestors, this intense chronic stress environment negatively altered their genes ‘epigenetically’ amplifying their temperaments and nervous system producing a temperamental predisposition to hyper-arousal passed down to us genetically. <br /><br />Behaviorally this hyper-arousal causes hyper-sensitivity ‘emotional over-sensitivity’ and ‘emotional agitation’ (irritability). Moreover hyper-arousal increases a state of being emotionally ‘hyper-vigilant’ causing over-sensitivity to your surroundings, being 'over-alert' to hidden dangers from others even when real danger does not exist; hyper-vigilance increases pre-emptive strike violence, distrust, and alienation. <br /><br />Emotional irritability is a personality dimension characterized by a tendency to be thin-skinned, moody, easily annoyed, defensive, dissatisfied, frustrated, angry, and reactive to pettiness, slight provocations, and disagreements. <br /><br />When you combine hyper-arousal emotional irritability with unrealistic expectations, negative self-fulfilling prophecies, and Black self-hate you get failed or dysfunctional relationships, Black-on-Black violence, intra-organization divisiveness, and overall disunity. <br /><br />This unaddressed self-sabotaging hyper-arousal is expressed by Black folks all the time, you know we say towards so many of us individually “if it aint one thing with you it's another” and “I can’t stand you – you get on my last nerves,” and we say collectively about us “Black folks just can’t get along with each other, we aint gonna never stick together!” “You know when a lot of Blacks folks come together something bad is going to happen.” <br /><br />The great Black revolutionary psychiatrist Frantz Fanon remarked that racially “colonized people suffer many psychological wounds which are horribly afflicting, and there is no reason to believe that such illnesses will ever completely resolve; thus the patients’ lives will always be ‘compromised’.” <br /><br />Indeed, white supremacy has genetically imprinted us with hyper-arousal; severely left us emotionally compromised ‘over-sensitive’ and ‘emotional agitated’ that undermines our ability to get along with each other on a basic level. <br /><br />As Black folks we must deepen our understanding ‘emotional intelligence’ of the impact of historical racist forces on our emotional lives that negatively impacts our well-being, our families, our relationships, our organizations, and our communities by practicing emotional mindfulness. Indeed as Black folks we must emotionally uncompromise ourselves! <br /><br /><u><b>Breaking the Black Emotional Dysfunctional Code (BEDC) <br /></b></u><br />Breaking the Black Emotional Dysfunctional Code healing method works by figuring out and detecting your specific negative emotions ‘codes’ that are energy ‘chords’ that binds us back ‘originally’ to our enslaved foremothers’ womb ‘emotional distress fetal programming’. <br /><br />During pregnancy our enslaved foremothers were gripped by the emotional distress of extreme homesickness (anxiety trauma) <i>‘forcibly stripped from Africa’</i> and heartbrokenness (depression) of <i>‘children stripped from them and sold’</i>. These original distressed maternal emotions are genetically embedded in our subconscious. <br /><br />These inherited dysfunctional trapped emotions are the basis of <i>‘Post Slavery Emotional Distress Disorder’</i> (PSEDD) that causes pain, self-sabotage, emotional problems, and all kinds of malfunction and disease - such as physical pain, anger, depression, fatigue, chronic stress, PTSD, phobias, panic attacks along with relationship problems (conflicts, violence, divorce, etc.). <br /><br />As Black folks these trapped emotions are negative emotional energies that we still carry around ‘DNA’ from slavery; past events, traumas, abuse, and current emotional distress. Trapped emotions can contribute significantly to physical health problems ‘chronic diseases’ like hypertension, heart disease, and stroke; <br /><br />Without awareness of these disturbing and disrupting negative trapped emotions there is a <i>‘fatalistic tendency'</i> amongst Black folks to view them religiously as a <i>‘curse from God’</i>, or ‘it is what is’ – apathetically aint nothing you can do about it. <br /><br />As mentioned these negative emotions are trapped in the subconscious that retains everything emotionally about you: your Ancestral emotions and your emotional experiences that unconsciously ‘drives’ influences your specific situational feeling ‘reactions’. Indeed negative trapped emotions can exert a dramatic effect on how you think, the choices that you make, and how you react to everyday life challenges. <br /><br />Again the accumulation of Black emotional distress begins in our genetic emotional predisposition, emotional state of our mothers during pregnancy; the emotional quality of family and community relationships; the emotional quality of significant relationships throughout our lives. <br /><br />Consider thinking of trapped emotions as blocks of energy that can be ‘stuck’ barriers in the body; that these stubborn emotional traits block positive emotions from arising. Unblocking trapped negative emotions should be identified individually and released one at a time, not in groups or bundles. <br /><br />Breaking the Black Emotional Dysfunctional Code is an ongoing practice of deep reflective and analytical review ‘unblocking process’ to identify, to understand, and to release trapped negative emotions for the goal of ‘emotional management’ and transformation ‘emotional emancipation’.</span>
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A long-term study of cognitive development in lower- and middle-class students found strong links between childhood poverty, physiological stress and adult memory. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The findings support a neurobiological hypothesis for why impoverished children consistently fare worse than their middle-class counterparts in school, and eventually in life, particularly African - American children </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">"Chronically elevated physiological stress is a plausible model for how poverty could get into the brain and eventually interfere with achievement," wrote Cornell University child-development researchers Gary Evans and Michelle Schamberg in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">For decades, education researchers have documented the disproportionately low academic performance of poor children and teenagers living in poverty. Called the achievement gap, its proposed sociological explanations are many. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Compared to well-off kids, poor children tend to go to ill-equipped and ill-taught schools, have fewer educational resources at home, eat low-nutrition food, and have less access to health care. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">At the same time, scientists have studied the cognitive abilities of poor children, and the neurobiological effects of stress on laboratory animals. They’ve found that, on average, socioeconomic status predicts a battery of key mental abilities, with deficits showing up in kindergarten and continuing through middle school. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Scientists also found that hormones produced in response to stress literally wear down the brains of animals. Evans and Schamberg’s findings pull the pieces of the puzzle together, and the implications are disturbing. Sociological explanations for the achievement gap are likely correct, but they may be incomplete. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to poverty’s many social obstacles, it may pose a biological obstacle, too. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">"A plausible contributor to the income-achievement gap is working-memory impairment in lower-income adults caused by stress-related damage to the brain during childhood," they wrote. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">To test their hypothesis, Evans and Schamberg analyzed the results of their earlier, long-term study of stress in 195 poor and middle-class Caucasian students, half male and half female. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">In that study, which found a direct link between poverty and stress, students’ blood pressure and stress hormones were measured at 9 and 13 years old. At 17, their memory was tested.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Given a sequence of items to remember‚ teenagers who grew up in poverty remembered an average of 8.5 items. Those who were well-off during childhood remembered an average of 9.44 items. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">So-called working memory is considered a reliable indicator of reading, language and problem-solving ability — capacities critical for adult success. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">When Evans and Schamberg controlled for birth weight, maternal education, parental marital status and parenting styles, the effect remained. When they mathematically adjusted for youthful stress levels, the difference disappeared.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In lab animals, stress hormones and high blood pressure are associated with reduced cell connectivity and smaller volumes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. It’s in these brain regions that working memory is centered. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Evans and Schamberg didn’t scan their human subjects’ brains, but the test results suggest that the same basic mechanisms operate in kids.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">"Brain structures change with stress and are affected by early-life stress in animal models," said Rockefeller University neuro - endocrinologist Bruce McEwen. "Now there are beginnings of work on our own species. The Evans paper is an important step in that direction."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">McEwen also noted that, at least in animals, the effects of stress produce changes in genes that are then passed from parent to child. Poverty’s effects could be hereditary. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The findings, though compelling, still need to be replicated and refined. "They’re not really saying which causal events were stressful. They’re just measuring biological markers of stress," said Kim Noble, a Columbia University psycho-biologist who studies the relationship between child poverty and cognition. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Other mental consequences of poverty also need to be measured. "I think that different cognitive outcomes have different causes," said Noble. "Something like working memory might be more associated with stress, whereas language might be associated with hours spent reading to your children." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But Noble still said the study "was very well-done. They have an impressive data set." And though some details remain incomplete, she said, evidence of connections between poverty and neurobiology are strong enough to justify real-world testing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">"Policy changes that affect environments that might affect cognitive development and brain change, that’s the ultimate future of the field," she said.</span></span> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-76504840626490513752019-11-02T14:38:00.004-07:002019-11-02T14:42:15.728-07:00How Bigotry Created a Black Mental Health Crisis<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Racism has led to misdiagnosis, incarceration instead of treatment</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">by Kylie Smith</span></i></span></div>
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July is Minority Mental Health Month, established to spotlight the flawed diagnosis of mental illness among minorities. Black men, for example, are nearly six times as likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia as white men. That problem is compounded by the fact that for minorities, especially African Americans, mental-health care often gets provided in prison, where the standard of care is so low that lack of treatment has fueled a suicide epidemic.</div>
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States are repeatedly finding themselves in court for this malpractice. Just last month, U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to take immediate steps to improve its mental health services or face a court takeover of the prison system management.</div>
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Why is so much mental health care provided to African Americans in prison? First and foremost, because African Americans are overrepresented in our prisons and jails.</div>
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There are also other historical factors that exacerbate the problem. Over the past two centuries, medical and legal professionals mislabeled behavior such as escaping slavery and advocating for civil rights as a byproduct of psychiatric madness. </div>
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Even worse, instead of treating this purported madness, they simply locked patients in facilities with deplorable conditions. This criminalization of mental health has strengthened the control of white authorities over African Americans by simultaneously delegitimizing activism and justifying incarceration. </div>
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The racial disparities in mental health today have grown from centuries of racism, and only by addressing these systemic problems can we adequately provide mental health care to minority populations.</div>
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Racial disparities in diagnosing conditions such as schizophrenia are sometimes presented as an effect of biology, but they are not. Instead, they are the direct result of racist thinking about African American psychology that dates to at least the 18th century. </div>
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Slave owners and their apologist physicians invented psychiatric “disorders” such as “draeptomania” to explain the urge to run away. In the lead-up to the Civil War, they distorted statistics to argue that freedom would drive the ex-enslaved crazy. They also propagated the idea that African Americans were more childlike and simplistic, incapable of feeling pain or sorrow, to justify experimentation and exploitation.</div>
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After the Civil War, as the South struggled with emancipation and Reconstruction, the black psyche was increasingly portrayed as immoral and inherently criminal, justifying both the need for Jim Crow and mass incarceration, in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. Sometimes the line between the two was exceedingly thin, with mental health-care facilities that functioned more like prisons than places of treatment.</div>
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Across the country, but especially in the South during the era of Jim Crow, these hospitals were segregated, with black patients held in separate parts of the institutions or in separate locations entirely. While the Supreme Court’s infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision mandated these facilities be equal to those provided to white patients, in practice, they most certainly were not.</div>
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Instead, in many states such as Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, African American patients suffered from state-sanctioned confinement and neglect. In Alabama alone, thousands of people were subjected to decades of substandard housing and nutrition in deathtrap buildings. </div>
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Hospitals were presided over by white male superintendents who employed unlicensed Cuban refugee doctors, ordered massive amounts of electroshock and chemical “therapies,” and put patients to work in the fields as though the hospitals were still plantations. These states were not outliers - they were just the tip of the national iceberg.</div>
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In Alabama, these conditions went unchallenged until 1969, when Judge Frank Johnson heard a case brought by civil rights advocates and the federal government after a joint Justice Department and Department of Health, Education and Welfare investigation revealed horrendous conditions and almost no state spending on black patients, including children. Less than 50 cents per patient per day was allocated for food and clothing. Searcy, the black-only hospital in Mobile, had never applied for federal funds to develop treatment programs because it did not believe black patients would respond.</div>
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Science, however, did not back this claim. Numerous witnesses declared there was no medical justification for segregation and no scientific difference between black and white mental illness. Looking at this evidence, Johnson declared the conditions for African Americans in Alabama’s mental hospitals unconstitutional and ordered they be fixed.</div>
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The state largely avoided enacting such changes, however, and this problem would only be exacerbated because, just as activists were tackling these deplorable conditions, their civil rights activism prompted the psychiatric community to create new justifications for diagnosing mental health issues among African Americans. </div>
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In 1968, the American Psychiatric Association took deliberate steps to change the definition of schizophrenia to include “aggression” where it had previously not. While the APA denied (and has continued to do so) charges that such a definition would target the civil rights activism of black men, the research of historian Jonathan Metzl reveals this claim to be disingenuous. The anger of black men was portrayed as a byproduct of mental illness, rather than a fight against oppression. New drugs intended to target the angry black man were advertised to psychiatrists.</div>
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The mislabeling of African American activism as a pathology and the intertwined history of racism and abuse has had long-lasting consequences. The effort to demonize activism as a mental illness has meant those who are sick may struggle to seek treatment - African Americans are significantly less likely than white people to trust a psychiatrist. </div>
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Blacks are also less likely to be covered by insurance that includes mental health services, especially in states such as Alabama that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. These structural problems often lead to a cycle of lack of care, homelessness and imprisonment.</div>
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Rather than receiving treatment for illness, African Americans end up incarcerated because of its symptoms. As the ongoing Alabama lawsuit demonstrates, the same states that warehoused African Americans without offering adequate treatment for mental illness more than 50 years ago are still locking away people in the same hideous conditions.</div>
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This tendency to incarcerate the mentally ill instead of treating them is not just a Southern problem. It’s a national one. The largest mental health facility in the country is the Los Angeles County Jail. But prisons are not mental health-care providers, and prison life itself is known to make mental illness worse.</div>
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The consequences of a system that overlays race with criminality is a lack of funding for mental health services where people need them and a continued belief that there is something biologically wrong with African Americans. We are both over-diagnosing some mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, and under-diagnosing others, such as depression, mistaking symptoms for criminality that deserve punishment, not treatment.</div>
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Instead, we should be making mental health services affordable and accessible, and keeping people with mental illness out of jail. We must also be careful not to see mental illness in activism and assertiveness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we talk about disparities in mental health, we need to look at these systemic issues, and not perpetuate myths about biological difference. The problem in psychiatry is not race it’s centuries of racism.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-55651811039375762432019-05-10T02:10:00.006-07:002019-05-10T02:25:24.161-07:00The Case for Emotional Reparations<i>By Enola G. Aird</i><br />
<i>Founder and President</i><br />
<i> Community Healing Network </i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>“Who’s going to pay reparations for our souls?”</i> – Gil Scot Herron</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZgIzDuiQP6E3N3HaaZUsA6fmZmrQgzyUnk83U6k54fGndcGGxabZ0d35HNxFncYsg8repuQscvUJbF3T4qgG_uyBPm00Wu_j2KPblZrWLhGPQ5_Bt6qeu0qglMppjHnJ_EWp-ym92lIz/s1600/Reparations+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZgIzDuiQP6E3N3HaaZUsA6fmZmrQgzyUnk83U6k54fGndcGGxabZ0d35HNxFncYsg8repuQscvUJbF3T4qgG_uyBPm00Wu_j2KPblZrWLhGPQ5_Bt6qeu0qglMppjHnJ_EWp-ym92lIz/s400/Reparations+1.png" width="400" /></a></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Any serious conversation about reparations must begin with a deep and broad appreciation of the dynamics of enslavement, Jim Crow, and colonization. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s one thing to condemn the past as a “crime against humanity,” it’s something else to try to appreciate and then calculate the full extent of the damage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The issue is much bigger than the trillions of dollars owed for the multi-generational financial damage inflicted upon people of African ancestry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s true that much of the wealth of Europe, the United States, Canada, and Latin America was built with the uncompensated labor of Black people. But even if that enormous debt were to be paid in full, there would still be a long way to go. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our moral and legal claim for reparations for financial harm pales in comparison to our moral and legal claim for emotional reparations. The term “emotional reparations” refers to what will be needed to repair completely the generation upon generation of emotional and psychological harm inflicted on our ancestors, on us, and on our children. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The emotional harm is the greatest harm of all. To fully assess the emotional and psychological damage, we need to look beyond enslavement and colonization, and even racism. We need to focus on the source of the many manifestations of anti-Blackness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Full reparations must include repair of the damage done by the poisonous lie of White superiority and Black inferiority: the root cause of the devaluing of Black lives and the underdevelopment of Black communities. It must include the work of extinguishing the lie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every person of African ancestry born over the course of the last 600 years has come into a world that profoundly devalues our lives. Starting in the 1400s, in order to justify the enslavement of Africans and the economic exploitation of Africa, Europeans devised a hierarchy of humanity with “White” people at the top and “Black” people at the bottom often even outside of the circle of humanity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They created a poisonous ideology of White superiority and Black inferiority, a lie that dehumanized people of African ancestry and has come to permeate nearly every institution of global society and the global mind</span><span style="font-size: medium;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The advantages conferred by “Whiteness” and the disadvantages imposed by “Blackness” have been multiplying over the course of nearly six centuries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For all of that time, people of African ancestry have been living our lives according to a narrative written for us by Europeans to serve their interests. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The result has been racial trauma, a multi-generational, historical and continuing wound that has profoundly undermined our physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In order to step out the narrative created for us by Europeans and into a narrative of our own making, we must go through a process of emotional repair. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The greatest damage done by the lie of Black inferiority can be seen in the way that it has undermined our ability, as a people, to fully love ourselves and each other. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It undermines our ability to love what we see in the mirror, to walk with confidence in the world, and to think clearly. That is at the heart of the crime against our humanity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We as people of African ancestry, notwithstanding the weight of the lie on our shoulders, have accomplished truly remarkable things. But these attainments have come at a heavy price: relentless racial stress and trauma and their physical and psychological effects. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So by all means let’s keep pressing for full reparations because they are due and owing. Let’s support H.R. 40 to create a commission to study the issue. But let’s not forget that the greatest harm that has been done to people of African ancestry is the harm to our psyche and our emotions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our strongest moral and legal claim for reparations is our claim for all the resources, including financial, that it will take to make us whole emotionally to restore our dignity and humanity as people of African ancestry and restore us to our rightful place in the human family. That is the greatest debt that is owed to us.</span><br />
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But whatever others may or may not do to meet their moral and legal obligations to repair the emotional damage inflicted upon our ancestors, us, and our children, the basic work of emotional reparations the repairing of that emotional harm depends upon us.<br />
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That is the fundamental premise of the movement for emotional emancipation the movement for freedom from the lie. So even if those outside of our community fail to meet their obligations, even if they do nothing, we can and will follow our amazing ancestors, and make a way out of no way.<br />
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<b>Our Children and our Ancestors are waiting!</b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-36717477642424092462019-03-16T18:11:00.002-07:002019-03-16T18:39:26.279-07:00It's Not All About the Bootstraps: There's More at Play Than Personal Responsibility When it Comes to Blacks Achieving Better Health Outcomes<i>by Shervin Assari, MD MPH</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many Americans deeply believe that people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. After all, individual responsibility is a core American value. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Too much emphasis on an individual's responsibility, however, may result in overlooking the societal and historically causes that keep racial minorities such as blacks at an economic and health disadvantage. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a member of the University of Michigan's Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, Poverty Solutions and Department of Psychiatry, I study racial inequalities in health. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My research has shown that it is not lack of personal responsibility, low motivation or culture of poverty but deeply entrenched societal factors such as racism and discrimination that cause such disparities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In fact, my research indicates that society differently rewards blacks and whites with the very same level of self-reliance and education attainment. As long as such society treats social groups differently, any policy that overemphasizes individual responsibility has the potential to unintentionally widen the racial health inequalities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bootstraps Better Serve Whites Than Blacks</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In my research, I have compared the effects of three indicators of individualism and self-reliance on blacks and whites. Specifically, I looked at: the sense of control over one's life; self-efficacy, or a person's belief in his or her ability to produce certain performance standards; and mastery, or a sense of feeling competent at life's tasks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Together, these indicators reflect one's ability to constructively control life and the environment, which has a direct effect on the quality of their health. What I have found suggests that the idea of using bootstraps to pull oneself from poverty, which is useful for whites, is not similarly applicable to blacks in the United States. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a national sample of older Americans, having a high sense of control was associated with living longer, but this was the case for whites only and not blacks. That is, while a high sense of control was giving whites extra years to live, blacks were dying regardless of their sense of control over their lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a 25-year longitudinal study of adults from 1986 to 2011, I found similar results for the effects of self-efficacy on mortality. Again, only whites, but not blacks, lived longer if they had high self-efficacy. </span><br />
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I found similar results for the link between depression and sense of mastery, or a feeling of having command of one's life. While whites with a high sense of mastery experienced less depression, blacks with a high sense of mastery still showed symptoms of depression.</div>
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Although indicators of individualism are beneficial to the health and well-being of whites, according to several studies by my team, these indicators fail to protect blacks. Ironically, a high sense of desire to take control over their lives puts blacks at an increased risk for mortality. </div>
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So, it appears that, due to systemic, persistent injustice and pervasive inequalities, the health gain from being able to pull oneself up by the bootstraps is considerably smaller for blacks compared to whites. </div>
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<b>Whites Gain More From Better Jobs, Income and Education</b></div>
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My results also show that health gains do not accrue to all races equally. For example, health gains due to education, employment and income are systemically smaller for blacks than whites. For example, the effects of education on smoking, drinking and diet are smaller for blacks than whites.</div>
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Black men gain very little life expectancy from being employed. The largest gain from employment goes to white men. In the same manner, blacks' physical and mental health benefit from marriage is smaller compared to whites.</div>
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<b>The Health of Black America</b></div>
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Also, there is a smaller gain with increased income for blacks when it comes to health. Typically, as income increases, the number of chronic diseases and risk of depression decreases. The protective effect of income on depression and chronic disease, however, are smaller for blacks than whites. </div>
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In other words, the same dollar buys less physical and mental health for blacks than whites. While white children from wealthy families are protected against obesity and asthma, family wealth fails to protect black children against same conditions. </div>
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Thus, highly educated racial minorities are not enjoying the fruits of their labor, with the returns of their investment being minimal for them. My studies suggest that when a minority family climbs the social ladder, the system holds them back by giving them smaller economic and health returns for their investment.</div>
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Studies have shown these patterns also hold across generations; parents' socioeconomic status does not beget tangible health outcomes for their children.</div>
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<b>Wealthy and Highly Educated Black Men Are More Depressed</b><br /><div>
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And, blacks sometimes face further hurdles when they succeed. For example, for black youth and adults, high socioeconomic status sometimes means more discrimination. This explains why securing more education and wealth means a higher, not a lower, risk of depression for black families who do achieve higher education and wealth. </div>
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For example, in a nationally representative study of black boys, high income was a risk factor for depression. In a 25-year follow-up study, most educated black men showed an increase in their depression. In the same study, education was protective for other race by gender groups. </div>
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These findings are also replicated in other studies I have conducted and those done by others. It could be the case that LeBron James was onto something when he said, "No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough." </div>
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Just because the U.S. had a black president does not mean racism is dead. There is little doubt that blacks have to fight existing racism and discrimination at many levels. </div>
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Police shootings, mass incarceration, residential and job segregation, and concentration of poverty and crime in urban areas are some examples of the barriers that many blacks, particularly black men, deal with on a daily basis. </div>
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My research indicates that these structual barriers to social advancement manifest themselves in health, notably how long people live and the health they enjoy during their lifetimes. I</span><span style="font-size: large;"> believe that good policies are those that are designed based on evidence, not political ideologies and values. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The idea of pulling oneself up by own bootstraps does not equally apply to all race and ethnic groups, given the history of slavery and Jim Crow as well as existing racism and segregation.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-38723823848180963852019-03-15T12:07:00.003-07:002019-03-16T18:20:07.721-07:00Mental Health Needs of Blacks Are Not Being Met Says APA President<span style="font-size: large;">There is a mental health crisis in the black community, which calls for improved cultural competency training for all psychiatrists as well as more openness among blacks to talk about these issues, said APA President Altha Stewart, M.D. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Stewart recently spoke at a session on mental health at the 48th legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), an organization aimed at advancing the global black community by developing leaders, informing policy, and educating the public.<br /> <br /> Cultural competency training is aimed at helping health care providers understand patients’ values, beliefs, and behaviors so they can customize treatment to meet patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For black Americans, this means becoming more aware of the impact of community stressors and how these factors are contributing to their mental health problems, said panelists at the first-ever CBCF panel devoted to mental health in the black community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These factors include violence and trauma, racism, implicit bias, poverty, and limited access to educational, recreational, and employment opportunities, said Stewart, who is also the director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Just being a black person in America can keep you in a constant state of rage,” she said, quoting James Baldwin. There are only about 2,000 black psychiatrists nationwide, Stewart pointed out. “There are not enough black psychiatrists in America to serve all the black people who need mental health care.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Stewart called for all psychiatrists to become more culturally competent, and for all to encourage young blacks with an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to enter the mental health field. “Medicine needs their voice. We need their presence.”<br /> <br /> Patricia Newton, M.D., M.P.H., CEO and medical director of the Black Psychiatrists of America, told attendees that less than half of blacks with mental disorders get the care they need; that number drops to one-quarter when blacks of Caribbean descent are taken into account.<br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Blacks are also more likely to be subjected to implicit or unconscious bias by clinicians, Newton added. “Very often, our people are misdiagnosed.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For example, blacks with depression are often misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and blacks grieving the loss of a loved one, who say they’ve experienced a “visitation,” have been diagnosed as psychotic, due to cultural and religious misunderstandings, she said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Making matters worse, blacks are more likely to be hospitalized for psychosis than to receive community treatment, she said. Mental illness, suicide, and sexual abuse are seriously under-reported among blacks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Stewart said because these topics are taboo in churches, throughout the community, and even within families. “You can’t get an accurate reporting of what you’re not talking about.”</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> <br /> She encouraged black people to educate themselves about mental illness using reputable sources, openly discuss issues of mental health, and identify people in the community who need help. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“We have to dispel the myth that mental illness doesn’t happen to us in the black community, that it’s a ‘white folks’ disease.’ We are suffering in silence and in pain.”</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjKMa9Eg-OiXKapLSksXgl-FkmO2TlOPspa0n6YLlqdLEhqot8-GJObOLSGQyEUuP9Y7-b5P3mryUmmU2C-7u93SiS7-EbhZbn3XaEXpiM4c6MphhCeBDbjCywzOreEhkW0URWIDwOnIa/s1600/TSP+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjKMa9Eg-OiXKapLSksXgl-FkmO2TlOPspa0n6YLlqdLEhqot8-GJObOLSGQyEUuP9Y7-b5P3mryUmmU2C-7u93SiS7-EbhZbn3XaEXpiM4c6MphhCeBDbjCywzOreEhkW0URWIDwOnIa/s320/TSP+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">New to Android and iPhone is “The Safe Place,” a
minority mental health app geared specifically towards the black community. The
purpose of The Safe Place is to bring more awareness, education and acceptance
on the topic of mental health. Not only can the black community benefit from
this app, but also mental health professionals, friends, and family of all
colors can be better educated on this serious issue and do a service by
directing their black friends, co-workers, etc. to this app. The Safe Place can
also be a great learning tool for mental health professionals to better
understand their black patients, given our social backgrounds are different and
the importance of understanding that aspect.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-40316814750764001222019-03-15T12:02:00.001-07:002019-03-15T12:03:08.274-07:00Police Killings Tied to Worse Mental Health for Blacks in US<i style="font-family: "&quot", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">By Lisa Rapaport</i><span style="font-family: "&quot", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Police killings of unarmed black people are associated with worse mental health for African-Americans across the country, even when they have no direct connection to the deaths, a U.S. study suggests.<br /><br />Each year in the U.S., police kill more than 300 black men and women - at least a quarter of them unarmed, researchers note in a report in The Lancet, June 21. African-Americans are more than three times as likely as white people to be killed by police and more than five times as likely to be killed while unarmed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Beyond the immediate impact for victims and families, however, research to date hasn't provided a clear picture of the spillover effect these killings can have in the black community. <br /><br />For the current study, researchers examined survey data from more than 103,000 black adults, collected between 2013 and 2015, to see how often they reported days on which their mental health was "not good" in the previous month. The study team also looked at data on police killings in participants' home states in the past 90 days. <br /><br />On average, participants reported 4.1 days of poor mental health. But researchers found that each additional police killing of an unarmed black person in the past 90 days before the survey was associated with 0.14 additional days of poor mental health among African-Americans who lived in the same state as the victim. <br /><br />"To people who may be suffering from poor mental health in the wake of police shootings, our study says you are not alone," said lead study author Jacob Bor of the Boston University School of Public Health. <br /><br />"There is an urgent need to reduce the incidence of police killings of unarmed black Americans," Bor said by email. "But there is also a need to support the mental health of black people and communities when these events occur." <br /><br />African-Americans are exposed to an average of four police killings in their state each year, the study found. Extrapolating the results from the study to the entire population of 33 million African-American adults in the U.S., researchers estimated that police killings of unarmed black people could contribute to 55 million excess poor mental health days annually. <br /><br />Overall, almost 39,000 of the black survey participants were exposed to one or more police killings of an unarmed black person in their state during the study. <br /><br />The largest effects on mental health occurred in the one to two months after killings, with no significant effect on psychological wellbeing for people surveyed before killings occurred. <br /><br />Researchers also didn't find police killings associated with any shifts in mental health among the white people participating in the same surveys. <br /><br />Police violence is widely considered a form of structural racism, and it's not necessarily surprising that police killing unarmed black Americans is experienced negatively by black Americans and perceived as a form of injustice that is difficult to escape or prevent, said Dr. Rhea Boyd, author of an accompanying editorial and a pediatrician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California. <br /><br />This type of systemic racism has been linked to so-called toxic stress - wear and tear on the body from chronic exposure to traumatic experiences - which can lead to changes in the brain, immune function and metabolism that contribute to physical and mental health problems. <br /><br />"While the evidence presented in The Lancet did not identify the pathophysiologic pathway by which police violence causes population mental health impairment for black Americans, evidence that such an impairment is indeed caused by police killing unarmed black Americans opens (the) question of the operative biochemical pathway," Boyd said by email. <br /><br />"Because of the relationship between racism and toxic stress, future research should explore how police violence, as a vicarious exposure to racism, may be toxic to the functioning of organ systems and thus the health of black Americans," Boyd added.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-56769241862544973452019-03-15T11:53:00.000-07:002019-03-16T18:41:30.870-07:00Historically Blacks Are Immune from Mental Illness<i>King Davis, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Ph.D.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tracing the history of how the mental health of African Americans was characterized during slavery sheds light on why disparities in psychiatric care still exist. The proportionate number of slaves who become deranged is less than that of free colored persons, and less than that of whites. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From many of the causes affecting the other classes of our inhabitants, they are somewhat exempt: for example, they are removed from much of the mental excitement to which the free population of the Union is necessarily exposed in the daily routine of life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Again, they have not the anxious cares and anxieties relative to property, which tend to depress some of our free citizens. - John Galt, Report of the Eastern Asylum (1848), Williamsburg, Va. In 2020, the Commonwealth of Virginia will acknowledge the 150th anniversary of the first mental institution for blacks in America and the theoretical and political roots that marked its segregationist origins. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this article, I will discuss changes in causal theories, legislation, and public opinion in Virginia that linked blackness, mental illness (lunacy), dependency, and dangerousness as the predictive aftermath of slavery. </span><span style="font-size: large;">It was this combination of sentiments, fear, and experiences that contributed to long-term differences in mental health care (excess admission rates, severe diagnoses, treatment, delayed help seeking). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In addition, this article describes current efforts to retain, restore, and increase access to the 800,000 historical documents that describe the historiography of this unique institution and the thousands of people who were admitted. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><u><b>The Immunity Hypothesis</b> </u><br /><br />Historically, concepts of race and mental illness have been intimately linked in American psychiatry, policies, and public opinion. Starting in the 1700s, two diametrically opposed medical views were alternatively used to predict vulnerability of black populations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From 1700 to 1840, enslaved blacks were described as immune to mental illness. John Galt, M.D., medical director at Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg, Va., hypothesized that enslaved Africans were immune from the risk of mental illness because they did not own property, engage in commerce, or participate in such civic affairs as voting or holding public office. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The immunity hypothesis assumed that the risk of “lunacy” would be highest in those populations who were emotionally exposed to the stresses of profit making—principally wealthy white men.<br />Controversy over the 1840 census may have helped influence the passage of legislation in Virginia that allowed enslaved Africans qualified admission to Eastern Lunatic Asylum. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Three conditions were included in the legislation that circumscribed their admission: <b>(1)</b> no enslaved Africans could be admitted without a petition from their owner or person who held jurisdiction over them; <b>(2)</b> the petitioner had to pay for the inpatient care of the enslaved; and <b>(3)</b> the admission of an enslaved person could not deny admission or treatment opportunities for white residents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From 1765 to 1868, fewer than 100 free or enslaved blacks were legally allowed admission to Eastern Lunatic Asylum. Findings from the 1840 census purported to show that free blacks in northern cities experienced significantly higher rates of mental illness than enslaved blacks in the south. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">However, this conclusion failed to acknowledge that mental institutions in the South were restricted by law from admitting slaves. The purportedly higher rates of mental illness in Northern states were attributed to the inability of blacks to manage freedom, and their repeated efforts to escape slavery by migrating to northern states was characterized as pathological. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Race-specific symptoms and hybrid diagnoses (for example, draeptomania) were coined to explain predictions of exponential increases in incidence and danger from idle black men if freed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1848, the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane appointed Virginia’s two medical superintendents, Galt and Francis Stribling, M.D., to develop a report to inform and guide public policy on race and mental illness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Galt believed that there was no medical rationale for separating people with mental illness by race although he agreed that slaves should be excluded. After state legislation was passed in 1848, Galt provided admission to enslaved blacks if their owners paid for their care. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Stribling, the superintendent at Western Lunatic Asylum in Staunton, Va., opposed the admission and treatment of blacks in his asylum. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Despite their differences, the 1848 report written by Galt and Stribling recommended that the states adopt a policy to segregate asylums by race. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">By 1865, Stribling’s proposal that Virginia develop a separate hospital for blacks was consistent with the expectations of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Segregation quickly became national policy, which may have influenced the quality of mental health care for blacks into the 20th century. <br /><br /><b><u>The Exaggerated Risk Hypothesis </u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Blacks could receive care until the “immunity hypothesis” was displaced. Regrettably, the exaggerated risk hypothesis predicted excess mental illness, dependency, and dangerousness of black people if slavery were abolished. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">From 1860 into the 20th century, free blacks were seen at the greatest risk of mental illness. The causes included poverty, urban living, adverse family structures, and migration. The exaggerated risk hypothesis supported increased hospitalization of blacks as a means of control and safety. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><u>The Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane </u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">After the end of the Civil War, Howards Grove Hospital near Richmond provided limited health and welfare services for newly freed slaves. But in 1868, the Freedmen’s Bureau negotiated with the Virginia legislature to accept the hospital as the first mental asylum for blacks in America. </span></div>
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The opening of the Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane was based on the prediction that thousands of newly freed black people needed mental health care. Rates of admission and frequency of severe diagnoses at Central Lunatic Asylum increased significantly in patterns that supported dire predictions of rampant illness. </div>
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From the 1870s to 1899, the number of admissions increased almost sixfold. However, the most significant increases came during the Depression years, when close to 10,000 people were admitted compared with 1,200 in the preceding two decades. </div>
<br /><b><u>Project Aims to Put Information Online </u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1895, the Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane was renamed Central State Hospital. (Its first black director and medical director were hired in 1985 and 2000, respectively.) From 1868 to 1968, the hospital remained segregated by race and was the only hospital in the Commonwealth of Virginia that accepted African-American mental patients. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The hospital has maintained over 800,000 documents that provide details on the institution, patients, and staff. For example, the documents provide 32 characteristics of each person admitted from 1868 to 1942. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Current state law allows access to documents that are 75 years or older; however, access by families and scholars to these historic records has been limited. </span><br />
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<i>*King Davis, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the former commissioner of behavioral health and developmental services for the Commonwealth of Virginia.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-13360641256679551592018-08-22T14:19:00.000-07:002018-08-22T14:21:32.425-07:00Old, Black and Alone: A Grim Forecast<i>by Rodney Brooks</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More African Americans are facing retirement without family members to help an increasing number of African Americans are facing the prospects of a life in retirement without family members to help them with finances and health issues, according to a recent report.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />The repor<span style="color: #000032;">t</span>, <i>'Projections of White and Black Older Adults Without Living Kin in the United States, 2015 to 2060'</i>, says the number of older vulnerable African Americans without family members is increasing and will continue to grow.<br /><br />This forecast takes on added significance because African Americans have much lower retirement savings and more serious health issues than white Americans, in general, including considerably higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer-related deaths.<br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“Family members provide the majority of social support for most older adults, but not all individuals have living family,” the report says. “Those without living close kin report higher rates of loneliness and experience elevated risks of chronic diseases and nursing facility placement.”<br /><br />The report says the trend of growing old with no living relatives is being driven by the rise in “gray divorce” (the divorce rate among people 50+ increased by 50 percent between 1990 and 2010), declining marriage rates and the aging of the growing population.<br /><br />Ashton Verdery, assistant professor of sociology and demography at Penn State University and co-author the report, says the steeper rates among African Americans are driven mostly by higher rates of non-marriage and childlessness and because mortality rates are higher among African Americans at every age.<br /><br /><b>The Bleak Forecast for African Americans</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The numbers of older people without any living close kin is rising among African Americans and whites, the report says, but the numbers are growing much faster for African Americans. </span></div>
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For example, in 2015, 0.8 percent of white men 50 and older and 1.1 percent of white women 50 and older were living without close kin. Those numbers are projected to double by 2060 to 1.9 percent for white men and 2.2 percent for white women.</div>
<br />However, the increases will be much larger among blacks. The percentage of black men over 50 without any living close kin in 2015 was 1.9 percent; for black women, it was 2.2 percent. Those percentages are projected to rise to 5.6 percent and 7.3 percent respectively in 2060.<br /><br />That means there will be 1.2 million older black men and 1.6 million older black women with no living kin by then, the report says. “Our findings draw attention to the potential expansion of older adult loneliness, which is increasingly considered a threat to population health, and the unequal burden (a lack of family) may place on black Americans,” the report says.<br /><br /><b>Financial Hardships From Being Old, Black and Alone The effect can also lead to financial hardships</b><br /><br />“People without families have a higher rate of loneliness and they don’t have access to the short-term loans that families can give,” says Verdery. “A large body of research suggests the ability to rely on a family member for even a small amount in loans a couple of hundred dollars because a heating bill is higher can really bridge things.”<br /><br />Because of the racial difference between whites and blacks in wealth the average wealth of white families in 2013 was more than $500,000 higher than that of African American families — African Americans are more likely to need such loans. “And that fact that on average, they are more likely to not have any family may be concerning,” said Verdery.<br /><br /><b>Implications for Long-Term Care</b><br /><br />He said aging alone also has serious implications for residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. “Having family members come in and check, or someone double checking what doctors are doing, is a beneficial thing,” Verdery noted. “We may need to have more programs that check on people, particularly those without family.”<br /><br /><b>A Challenging Financial Future</b><br /><br />These issues all point to a challenging future for African Americans, already plagued by low retirement savings and lower monthly Social Security benefits than whites, in general.<br /><br />“We (African Americans) are not saving enough money in defined contribution plans [like 401(k)s], and not saving money in the right places in these plans,” says Aaron W. Smith, a financial adviser in Glen Allen, Va. “And when we cash them in, we don’t know how to plan a strategy to create that lifetime of income, because we don’t know what we need to outlive our assets.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Charles Winfrey, founder and senior adviser at The Rollover Co. in Nashville, says even if African Americans have enough savings today, “the challenge is that longevity will not be in your favor.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The longer you live, he notes, “the more you are affected by the cost of living, taxes going up and rising health care costs. You may be OK today. But do you have a plan to deal with health care costs, inflation and taxes?”</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-36208805898532843912018-01-10T14:27:00.001-08:002018-03-28T07:28:59.783-07:00Black History Month: 7 Ways Slavery Still Psycho-Behaviorally Impacts Black People Negatively<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSIJx9Yc7fucB6RXOBWuXsHutiUMUmRINHI8IRVULcYeOITdAtO-9SB8y__hDMH1zcDOVExBLsGVeLMbSDEPt-LidEpopO0m63PYfFek9L73rhU6ghyphenhyphenwgc5RGVoJ8covUGVmFjMiB-VJW/s1600/Black+History+Month.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSIJx9Yc7fucB6RXOBWuXsHutiUMUmRINHI8IRVULcYeOITdAtO-9SB8y__hDMH1zcDOVExBLsGVeLMbSDEPt-LidEpopO0m63PYfFek9L73rhU6ghyphenhyphenwgc5RGVoJ8covUGVmFjMiB-VJW/s400/Black+History+Month.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">From my perspective if one thinks the influences of Black enslavement is over due to the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and Civil Rights legislation (1965) then one has a limited perspective.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Though legal - physical slavery is over mental slavery is far more insidious, enduring, and manifests itself today psycho-behaviorally in self-limiting, self-containing, self-ashaming, and self-defeating ways. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>7 Ways Slavery Still Psycho-Behaviorally Impacts Black People Negatively:</b><br /><br /><b>1. Names and Identity Disorder</b><br /><br />Just as Kunta Kinte was forced under the lash to change his name in the novel and movie Roots, Black people both in America and Africa were forced to take their European slave masters’ names. Arab enslavement in Africa resulted in forced name impostion. <br /><br />Currently, most Black people still carry European or Arabic names, which is a direct link to our enslaved identity. Unfortunately today too many young Black adults and teens identify themselves as being <i>'Niggas'</i> a racist derogatory name from slavery. <br /><br />Moreover, many young Black males not only identify themselves as Niggas, they also integrate the names of White Mafia mobsters and Latin American drug cartel kingpin figures names into their own names. Also, too many young Black males identities come from street gang affiliations.<br /><br />There is a poigant scene in the classic movie Boyz From The Hood, where the star of the movie 'Tre' was talking in class and the teacher singled him out telling him to come up front and teach the class. Tre goes to the blackboard and pulls down a map of Africa and says we all come from here, a young Black male in the class immediately responds by saying <i>“Nigga I aint from no Africa, I'm from the Crenshaw Mafia”</i> (gang set). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Religion</b><br /><br />More powerful than the European and Arab names that were forcibly imposed on Black slaves, was the religious imposition of Christianity and Islam. The Catholic Church used Christianity to justify enslaving Africans and used it to control Blacks on the plantation. <br /><br />They used the imagery of a white Jesus as the Son of God to show the white man as God <i>'All-Knowing'</i> and <i>'All-Powerful'</i>; the white man is an awesome embodiment both as the 'Enslaver' and 'Savior'; that Blacks must accept a <i>'for</i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>cibly imposed'</i> Jesus for their salvation to get their rewards in heaven after death.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Regarding Islam, many parts of Africa were already under Arab Islamic '<i>conquest' </i>control prior to European Christian colonialism; Muslim Africans were captured by European slave traders and brought to America. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today you have Black Christians turning toward the <i>'Vatican'</i> and <i>'Jerusalem'</i> as the sacred lands; Blacks that are Muslims turn toward <i>'Mecca' </i>in Saudi Arabia as the sacred land. <i><u>What about Africa being Blacks sacred land, it's our birth place and the birth place of civilization and monotheistic religion?</u></i><br /><br />Black people have been taught under the domination of the religious <i>'supremacy'</i> and <i>'exclusivism'</i> of the Abrahamic faiths of <i>Judaism, Christianity</i>, and <i>Islam</i> that these are the <i>'only'</i> religions that God accepts! That Judaism - <i>'Jews'</i> are God's chosen people, that Christianity - <i>'Jesus Christ'</i> the Son of God must be accepted as Lord and Savior to enter the kingdom of heaven; that Islam - <i>'Prophet Muhammad' </i>must be accepted as God's last and final Messenger to enter paradise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thus as a Black person practicing any Traditional African Religions or New World African Religions is inferior and doom to go to hell; so our salvation in the afterlife is in following the religions of <i>Jews, Europeans</i>, and <i>Arabs</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">John Henrik Clarke stated: "Anytime someone says your God is ugly and you release your God and join their God, there is no hope for your freedom until you once more believe in your own concept of the 'deity'." </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The majority of Blacks forcibly brought to America and enslaved came from 4 </span><i>Traditional African Religious</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> (TAR) centers: </span><i>Bakongo, Yoruba, Akan,</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> and </span><i>Vodun</i><span style="font-size: medium;">, most Blacks today no nothing of their Traditional African Religious heritages. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Historical research shows that most enslaved Blacks during slavery did not identify themselves as Christians because they practiced an integrated and modified version of Traditional African Religion in the new world known as <i>'Hoodoo'</i> a natural spiritual healing system. <br /><br />In the Book “Slavery, Civil War, and Salvation: African American Slaves and Christianity” by Daniel Fountain, successfully challenges assumptions regarding the ubiquity of Christianity amongst Black slaves and suggests that the Christianization of most African Americans occurred after Emancipation. <br /><br />It was during the Reconstruction Period when white Christian missionaries helped finance and build new churches and schools for freedmen which created a tremendous conversion of ex-Black slaves to Christianity. <i><u>Without slavery there would be no Black Christians in America!</u></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Food</b><br /><br />The diets of many Black people who in live in the Diaspora are a direct result of slavery. The slave masters generally consumed the lean and fleshy parts of farm animals, and left the scraps for the enslaved. Enslaved Africans were forced to incorporate those leftovers such as chitterlings, hog-maws, ham-hocks, pig nose, pig ears, pigs feet, and other bad foods into their daily meals. <br /><br />Those unhealthy foods from slavery are still part of the diets of many Black people today along with the high consumption of fast-food and junk-food. This diet is harmful to the body and are the cause of chronic illnesses that plague our communities including Strokes, Heart disease, High blood pressure, Diabetes and Obesity. <br /><br /> Currently African American adults are nearly 1.5 times as likely to be obese compared with White adults. Approximately 47.8 percent of African Americans are obese (including 37.1 percent of men and 56.6 percent of women) compared with 32.6 percent of Whites (including 32.4 percent of men and 32.8 percent of women.<br /><br /><b>4. Economic Dependence</b><br /><br />Before Arab and Transatlantic slave trade, many African economies flourished and were the foundation of stable, developed societies. Mansa Musa, who was king of the great Mali empire in the 14th century, was the richest man on the planet, worth $400 billion dollars, which is more than any black nation’s annual GDP today. <br /><br />In the post Civil Rights era, Blacks tend to invest the majority of their income in communities outside their own to the detriment of their daily lives and well-being. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today Blacks have purchasing power of over a trillion dollars, almost all of this buying power goes to non-Black businesses; for every dollar Blacks spend only 2 cents is spent with Black businesses resulting in <i>'economic suicide'</i>. <u>We've become consumer slaves believing other people need our buying power more than we do; we've become <i>financially insane</i>!</u><br /><br /><b>5. Language</b><br /><br />Currently the official language of many people who are African or African descent is either European or Arabic. Whether it was during the 8th century Arab invasion into north Africa or the European colonization and slave trade that began in the 15th century, foreign languages were forced upon Black people and have been the legacy for generations. <br /><br />Today Black youth are encouraged to learn second languages like French, Spanish, Chinese, Japenese, and Arabic, but are not encouraged to learn the Pan African language of Kiswahili. Around 5 million Africans speak Swahili as a native language and a further 135 million speak it as a second language.<br /><br /><b>6. Self-Hate</b><br /><br />The slave masters used Machiavellian systems to mentally break the enslaved Africans. While validating themselves as superior, they used every propaganda tool within their power to teach Black people to hate themselves. The results still have major impact on the psyche of Black people today - our hair being an example.<br /><br />On the slave plantation Black women were told they had <i>'bad hair' </i>nappy and wooly; taught to be ashamed of their hair. During slavery, Black women with lighter skin and curly hair were more likely to be house slaves, whereas Black women with darker skin and kinky hair were relegated to the fields with 'Mamies' being the exception. <br /><br />Since slavery Blacks have consistently altered the natural texture of their hair or worn wigs to cover up their hair. The Black revolutionary movement of the 1960's to the middle 1970's was the greatest period of promoting and wearing natural Black hairstyles. <br /><br />Just look around today and see the majority of Black women wearing long hair wigs and weaves. I hear Black women give all kind of reasons why they prefer long hair, but the bottom line psychologically from my perspective is they subscribe to a white long-hair beauty standard <i>'consciously'</i> or <i>'unconsciously'</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How often do you see White women, Korean women, Arab women, or other non-Black women wearing braids or natural Black hair styles – rarely or never!<br /><br /><b>7. Family</b><br /><br /> The destruction of the Black family unit through the slave master’s intrusive sexual exploitation of women and other evil designs, evolved into a volatile moral code for Black people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On plantations enslaved Black men were not men <i>'fathers'</i>, only the white plantation owner was the <i>'godfather'</i>, enslaved Black men were not fathers, they were <i>'breeders'</i>. Enslaved Black fathers had no ultimate control over their children; they could not protect their children from the master's harsh discipline or prevent them from being sold.<br /><br /> When enslaved Black males turned 15 years old and younger in some cases they had their first inspection. Boys who were under-developed, had their testicles castrated and sent to the market or used on the farm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Each enslaved male was expected to get 12 females pregnant a year. The men were used for breeding for five years. One enslaved man name Burt produced more than 200 offspring, according to the Slave Narratives. <br /><br /> A weakened Black family emerged from slavery, as a consequence today over 70 percent of African-American children are born to unmarried women in America. That number is an astonishing residual effect of slavery; such large numbers of Black children born to single mothers is clearly the wrong model. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Too often I hear young Black women and older referring to Black men as <i>'sperm donors'</i>, just a new term for Black men as breeders. There is a growing trend where Black women in lesbian relationships are sexually manipulating Black men in sperm doning so they can have a child and get child support. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Indeed, Black men are increasingly viewed as marginal in the new version of the Black family of <i>'man-less'</i> households. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-3404377731475491492017-09-22T12:43:00.002-07:002018-03-28T07:42:20.835-07:00Self-Care for Black People 101: Options Outside of Church and Therapy<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>by Risa Dixon<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Living while Black is a term that is used to describe the reason why vast numbers of Black people face injustices and prejudices at an alarming rate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">The tragic results of these continual situations in the lives of Black people have led to increased amounts of depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">The two solutions that continue to be presented as ways to cope are seeking solace in a higher power or going to therapy. But what if those two options don’t work for you? What else can Black people do to battle depression?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">When we hear the terms ‘depression’ or ‘therapy’ the phrase ‘white peoples problems’ pop into the heads of many in the Black community. Depression is an issue that continues to either get swept under the rug, ignored or treated as a momentary emotion that will eventually pass. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">These notions have led to more Black people hiding their mental illness instead of dealing with their issues head on. According to Mental Health America, adult are 20 percent more likely to report serious psychological distress than whites. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">We have already seen too many situations in the Black community that led to suicide because someone was depressed but never expressed it to a single soul. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">The fact of the matter is, not everyone believes in a high power, practices a religion or can afford therapy. These people still deserve options that will help them deal with depression in a constructive way, a way that they can turn into a lifestyle practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Below are suggested solutions to dealing with depression:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Meditation - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">It has been proven to reduce stress, increase happiness, acceptance and self-awareness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Enhance your self-esteem - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Read uplifting Black books that provide you with self-appreciation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Daily Journaling - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Journaling assists in clarifying your thoughts and feelings, reducing stress and solving problems more effectively.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Exercise - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Regular exercise improves your mood by triggering endorphins in your brain and helps to boost energy; walk for full body exercise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Finding group activities to partake in - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Sites such as Meet-up, Living Social and Groupon have a plethora of engaging group activities to partake in to lift your mood. You also can find groups of people who either suffer from the same issues as you or are just as passionate about particular topics as you are. Being around people like this will help you to feel less alone in your struggles. It can expose you to a community that you didn’t know existed. Do volunteer work!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Picking up a new hobby such as playing an instrument or painting</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"> - Making music has been proven to be a powerful antidepressant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Join a grassroots organization dedicated to uplifting the Black community and combating systematic racism - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">If one of the reasons or the main reason for your depression is racism or the socioeconomic status of Black people, then join a local grassroots organization or nonprofit whose mission is to improve conditions for Black people. Being proactive about solving issues that threaten your mental stability can assist with the loneliness your depression may cause. It also can give you a sense of purpose and meaning for your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Unplug from the news and social media - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Black people are bombarded with images and news of dead Black bodies, discrimination and injustices towards the Black community on a daily basis. Studies have shown that ingesting all of this negative media can lead to severe depression. It is crucial to unplug from it all and focus on the things that bring you joy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Go outside and get some sunlight - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Studies have shown a link between Vitamin D deficiency and depression. The natural way to get this crucial vitamin is going outside and basking in the sun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">*Adult coloring books - </span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">I know this may seem funny at first, but experts have said that adult coloring books help to alleviate anxiety and depression. I can personally attest to the calming effects of coloring books. Whenever I feel my depression or any kind of stress creeping up, coloring is one of the things I do to deal with it. Adult coloring books have become a new trend and are easy to find. Some even have positive affirmations that go along with every image. There are many Black-owned businesses that sell them at affordable prices. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Depression continues to carry a stigma in the Black community, but that stigma is killing Black people. Experts state that the majority of African-Americans still look at depression as a personal weakness instead of a mental illness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">In all actuality, it shouldn’t be referred to as <i>‘white people problems’</i> because Black people have been dealing with major depression dating back to slavery. During those times, spirituality and community were how we stayed strong. Depression was considered just another part of Black existence and that notion carried on to future generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">In the current political and social climate living while Black has become more and more difficult. A study showed that more Black people are suffering from PTSD simply from watching media coverage of Black men, women, boys and girls being unjustly killed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">It is essential to our well-being as a community to address mental illness head on and provide various solutions to combat it. When we say “Black lives matter,” it should mean every aspect of Black life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Prayer isn’t always the answer and there have to be alternatives when therapy isn’t accessible. Ignoring an epidemic never made it go away.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-43306152070915020042017-07-22T19:20:00.002-07:002017-07-22T19:30:10.806-07:00African Americans Don't Sleep as Well as Whites an Inequality Stretching Back to Slavery<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>By Benjamin Reiss</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we study racial inequality, we tend to consider factors that affect people while they are awake. Differential access to safe neighborhoods with good schools, decent jobs and unbalanced treatment by police and the courts surely have much to do with the stubborn disparities in wealth and well-being among blacks and whites, in particular. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Yet it may be just as important to consider what happens when we’re asleep. Race shapes our sleep, a relationship that has surprising roots deep in our national past.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">African Americans suffer from a sleep gap: Fewer black people are able to sleep for the recommended six to nine nightly hours than any other ethnic group in the United States; compounding matters, a smaller percentage of African Americans’ slumber is spent in 'slow-wave sleep' the deepest and most restorative phase of sleep that produces the most benefits in healing and cognition. <br /><br />Poor sleep has cascading effects on racial health disparities, including increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. </span><span style="font-size: large;">The racial sleep gap is largely a matter of unequal access to safe, reliable and comfortable sleep environments, and this sleeping inequality has a long history. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />For centuries, whites have tacitly accepted and even actively created such inequality. Aboard the ships of the transatlantic slave trade, African captives were made to sleep en masse in the hold, often while chained together. <br /><br />Once in the New World, enslaved people were usually still made to sleep in tight quarters, sometimes on the bare floor, and they struggled to snatch any sleep at all while chained together in the coffle. <br /><br />Slaveholders systematically disallowed privacy as they attempted round-the-clock surveillance, and enslaved women were especially susceptible at night to sexual assault from white men.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Poor sleep has cascading effects on racial health disparities, this includes increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. One might think that slaveholders, looking out for their bottom line, would be interested in ensuring at least a modicum of restful slumber for their enslaved workers. <br /><br />The social reformer Thomas Tryon made this argument in 1684 when he wrote of “inconsiderate masters” who compel the enslaved to work so hard that they were often so “overcome with weariness and want of proper Rest” that they would “fall into the fierce boyling Syrups” of the sugar pots. <br /><br />Ensuring proper rest, he wrote, “would add much to their Profit” as well as to the slaves’ health. Yet just as often, slaveholders justified overwork and minimal rest as a positive good, in the process elaborating curious theories about the supposed natural differences between the races.<br /><br />Thomas Jefferson, for instance, opined that black people simply “require less sleep” than whites. And while he noted enslaved people’s propensity to drop off quickly at the end of a long day, he convinced himself that a rapid descent into sleep was evidence of inferior intellects (rather than insufficient rest). <br /><br />White people, he observed, could keep themselves up late into the night to pursue intellectual or creative endeavors, whereas Negroes were deficient in the powers of “reflection” that allowed them to do so: “An animal whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect, must be disposed to sleep of course.”<br /><br />Louisiana physician Samuel Cartwright, who conducted a widely disseminated study of the medical condition of slaves, also believed that differences in sleeping were evidence of the natural supremacy of the white race. <br /><br />Cartwright claimed that black people at rest instinctively smothered their own faces with blankets or clothing, impeding the flow of oxygen to the brain, and that this obstruction permanently stunted their intellectual development. <br /><br />As for slaves who wandered exhausted across the plantation, he considered this a special kind of black-people disease known as “dysaesthesia aethiopica.” The cure, Cartwright counseled, was “hard work in the open air” and increased discipline on the part of the slaveholders.<br /><br />The killing labors, constant anxiety and wretched sleeping conditions of slavery no doubt produced chronic fatigue, and yet Jefferson and Cartwright perversely identified exhaustion as the problem and hard work as the cure. <br /><br />Such cures were often administered at the end of a whip. As Frederick Douglass put it in his memoir, “More slaves were whipped for oversleeping than for any other fault.” Douglass went as far as to suggest that keeping the enslaved population in a state of constant fatigue was a useful tool in breaking their will. <br /><br />Douglass wrote that, on Sundays, he regularly found himself “in a beast-like state, between sleep and wake” that made it impossible for him to act on the “flash of energetic freedom [that] would dart through my soul.” Sinking back to the ground, he would simply mourn over his “wretched condition.”<br /><br />What remains of this history is a profound confusion as to the causes and effects of our racial inequalities. Out of Jefferson and Cartwright’s pseudo-scientific racism, the stereotype of the “lazy black man” was given medical legitimacy: Exhaustion was seen as a character trait requiring more hard work, rather than an effect of a fractured sleeping environment and extreme physical and emotional duress.<br /><br />To this day, opportunities for sound sleep are distributed unequally among the races, while the effects of such disparities are frequently misidentified. For example, minority students who perform poorly on tests, appear apathetic or act out in school are often blamed for lack of will or poor values, when in fact they may be irritable, depressed, or unfocused in large part because they’re tired and stressed.<br /><br />An ongoing study by psychologist Tiffany Yip of Fordham University examines the joint effects of ethnic discrimination and sleep deprivation on African American and Latino youth; her preliminary findings suggest a vicious cycle in which experiences of discrimination lead to poor sleep, which in turn leads to higher levels of anxiety, lower engagement in school and deepening problems of self-esteem.<br /><br />Some pediatricians, psychologists and public health advocates are beginning to understand that detection, prevention and treatment of poor sleep is an important aspect of improving the educational performance of socioeconomically disadvantaged children.<br /><br />Little public attention, however, is given to the more pervasive problem of unequal sleeping conditions that is borne of our troublesome racial history.<br /><br />Slave quarters are now tourist attractions, but the descendants of enslaved Africans are still more likely than whites to live in inhospitable sleeping environments. <br /><br />As public health scholar Lauren Hale points out, African Americans tend to live in noisier and more dangerous urban environments than whites; such environments may lead to shorter and shallower sleep. <br /><br />African Americans are also more likely to have undesirable or unpredictable work schedules than whites, which leads to chaotic sleep schedules. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Increased risk of hunger as well as fear of violence or of harassment by police make a good night’s sleep even harder to obtain. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Langston Hughes described American slavery as “the rock on which/Freedom stumped its toe.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As we attempt to address the inequities of wealth, education, health, and incarceration that persist across the color line, we would do well to remember that these problems were formed by night as well as by day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />If we want to close that gap, we’ll have to confront Hughes’ stubborn rock, which for too many serves in place of a pillow.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-87458017645189061922017-06-04T00:35:00.001-07:002017-08-30T09:02:52.045-07:00Blacks and Shame-Based Living<i>by Kenny Anderson</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wrote this article reflecting back on the racist shooting massacre of 9 Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina that took place in a Church two years ago this month (June 17, 2015). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As Black folks we must constantly remember this date like we must constantly remember the date September 15, 1963 when 4 Black girls were murdered in a church in Birmingham, Alabama by a white supremacist bombing attack.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Recently, a Black man </span><span style="font-size: large;">Kiese Laymon wrote an article based on a conversation he had with his grandmother reflecting back on the Charleston murders. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Laymon said his grandmother who had never talked about the racism she experienced growing-up in the South mentioned about all the work we did to forgive white supremacy, hoping then to be chosen by them and by God. That Black churches have taught us to 'forgive' white people but we learned to 'shame' ourselves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the article conversation Laymon had with his grandmother he stated:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>“We will lament the numbers of folks killed in mass murders in the United States. There’s a number for that. We will talk about the numbers of people killed in black-on-black murder. There’s a number for that. We will never talk about the number of unemployed and underemployed hard-working black folks living in poverty. We will never talk about the numbers of black folk in prison for the kinds of nonviolent drug-related offenses my white students commit every weekend. We will never talk about the number of human beings killed by young American military men and women draped in camouflage, or the number of human beings murdered by drones across the world. We will never talk about the specific amount of money this country really owes Grandma and her friends for their decades of unpaid labor. We will never talk about the moral and monetary debt accrued by the architects of this Empire. There are shameful numbers for all of that, too.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Indeed, from my perspective I fully agree with Brother Laymon that we as Black folks for the most part don’t want to see, hear, or talk about the atrocities of the slavery <i>‘Black Holocaust’</i> and the continued racist oppression we face.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Yes, we feel ashamed when Black enslavement is discussed, in a distorted self-blaming sense we don't want to talk about slavery as though we enslaved ourselves; that we are our own worst enemy, we just want to forget what we've done to ourselves - don't bring it up! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not only were we told to 'forgive' whites for our enslavement without <i>'reparations'</i>, we want to 'forget' about slavery too. Too many Blacks view our enslavement suffering in America as an embarrassment <i>'ashamed of it'</i>, yet Jews <i>'honor their suffering'</i> under Hitler's Nazism vowing <i>'never again'</i> - they are <i>'</i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>empowered'</i> </span><span style="font-size: large;">by its remembrance. Unfortunately too many of us feel <i>'powerless' </i>about our enslaved memory to the point that most of us don't observe Black History Month.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> When the movie 12 Years of a Slave was out in theaters I asked many Black folks that I know had they saw the movie, some said they didn’t want to see it because it would make them angry, but most who said they didn’t want to see it did not give a reason, for me the unspoken reason was shame!<br /><br />Long before Brother Laymon’s talk with his Grandmother and long before the movie 12 Years of a Slave, I grew up in the 1960’s (Detroit, MI) around adult Black southern migrants - parents, relatives, and their friends who never discussed their experiences growing up in the racist <i>‘Jim Crow’</i> south. I learned about their lives in the South through the Civil Rights struggle exposed on television news coverage.<br /><br /> Like my parents generation who covered-up their Black experiences, most folks of my generation that I know admit they haven't talked to their children and grandchildren about their Black experiences; have not really discussed racism, thus <i>'shame non-communication'</i> socialization continues which often leaves our children <i>'racially ambivalent'</i>.<br /><br />Often today when I visit family, relatives, and friends and bring up any discussion of racist Black oppression, folks get immediately uncomfortable and defensive, some will even say I don’t want to talk about <i>‘that Black stuff’</i>, some are even harsher saying I don’t want to hear that <i>‘Black shit’</i>.<br /><br />I told them that you won’t hear white people say I don’t want to hear that <i>'white stuff'</i> when it comes to their issues; you won’t hear Middle Easterners say I don’t want to hear that <i>‘Arab shit’</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This attitude of <i>'not trying to hear no Black stuff'</i> is shameful; shame in the sense of not addressing the varied problematic socioeconomic issues that we face due to racism; shame of not being responsible to ourselves; shame of not doing what we should be doing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unconsciously, Black folks are ashamed <i><u>‘covering up'</u></i> - avoiding discussing their experiences with racism in the past and present; the roots of the word shame derives from a word that means <i><u>‘to cover’</u></i>. <br /><br />Black shame is similar to wanting to hide our faces behind our hands, wearing a mask desperately trying to <i><u>'escape'</u></i> from dealing with racism or <i><u>'pretending'</u></i> that everything is okay. The more powerful our experiences of shame are, the more we need to hide those aspects from others and even from ourselves.<br /><br />A part of who we are as a Black person or how I feel must now be disowned, silenced, or hidden at all cost, and I essentially become estranged from a part of myself. <br /><br />At the heart of Black shame is a feeling that we are exposed either to others or to ourselves. No other feeling is more disturbing or destructive to the self. Black shame is stressful, it's <i>'inner-enslaving'</i> and toxic!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><br />Black Shame</u></b><br /><br />Black enslavement in America is a dehumanizing legacy; a socio-psychological transmission of an internal sense of Black inferiority, inadequacy, and unworthiness. This shameful legacy has led us to continue to feel as though our whole self is flawed, bad, and subject to exclusion. <br /><br /> Malcolm X once said the greatest crime of slavery was the white man taught Negroes to hate themselves; this self-hatred caused the <i>‘toxic shame syndrome’</i>, he expounded on this hate induced shame:<br /><br /><i> "In hating Africa and in hating the Africans, we ended up hating ourselves, without even realizing it. Because you can't hate the roots of a tree, and not hate the tree. You can't hate your origin and not end up hating yourself. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself. You show me one of these people over here who has been thoroughly brainwashed and has a negative attitude toward Africa, and I'll show you one who has a negative attitude toward himself. You can't have a positive attitude toward yourself and a negative attitude toward Africa at the same time. To the same degree that your understanding of and attitude toward yourself become positive, you'll find that your understanding of and your attitude toward yourself will also become positive. And this is what the white man knows. So they very skillfully make you and me hate our African identity, our African characteristics. You know yourself that we have been a people who hated our African characteristics. We hated our heads, we hated the shape of our nose, we wanted one of those long doglike noses, you know; we hated the color of our skin, hated the blood of Africa that was in our veins. And in hating our features and our skin and our blood, why, we had to end up hating ourselves. And we hated ourselves. Our color became to us a chain - we felt that it was holding us back; our color became to us like a prison which we felt was keeping us confined, not letting us go this way or that way. We felt all of these restrictions were based solely upon our color, and the psychological reaction to that would have to be that as long as we felt imprisoned or chained or trapped by Black skin, Black features, and Black blood, that skin and those features and that blood holding us back automatically had to become hateful to us. And it became hateful to us. It made us feel inferior; it made us feel inadequate made us feel helpless.”</i><br /><br />You won’t find <i>'disorders of shame'</i> as a category in the DSM-5 (the official American manual for mental health diagnoses), and yet shame is probably the biggest single driving cause of most Black psychological problems - an ongoing source influence of <i>'internalize oppression'</i>. <br /><br />Excessive feelings of shame are at the heart of much Black psychopathology. It is concealed behind guilt; it fosters low self-esteem; it lurks behind anger; it fuels Black-on-Black violence; it can be disguised as despair and depression; its demoralizing and breeds apathy; it influences addictions and suicides. <br /><br />As Black people we rarely talk about shame experiences; shame is a difficult emotion to detect, especially as it comes in so many disguises. Many Black people with shame develop an obsession with becoming someone other than who they are - <i>'wanting to be white'</i> in some form or fashion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For many Blacks their entire life becomes a flight from self and a desire to merge with the ideal white image standard by altering themselves. They want to be free from Blackness and embarrassing traits, but can only hope to achieve this by cutting off a part of who they are.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the distancing solution they are seeking - the problem they are trying to escape are two sides of the same coin. The more they pursue to become other than their Black self, the more they increase their judgment on who they really are. Shame and the pursuit of overcoming shame are thus often one and the same.<br /><br />The problem is of course that we cannot run away from our past, nor can we heal the wounds of shame by simply trying to run away from our self. Shame will always follow us as our shadow unless we attend to it and address its root cause.<br /><br />Moreover, Black shame may lead a Black person to make negative attributions about other Blacks that are disguised attempts to restore a positive self-view or hide negative self-perceptions in order to escape shame's self-diminishing effects. Thus a Black person attempts to bolster their own view of themselves by finding flaws in others so that they become the ones who are shameful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">This view of flaws in other Blacks also has collective self-sabotaging consequences; it fosters doubt and distrust that undermines racial <i>'Unity'</i> preventing us from uniting to struggle for <i>'political self-determination'</i> and <i>'economic self-reliance'.</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">We can continue to choose to be injured victims of our Black 'shame wound' or try to defeat it through a courageous battle that includes psycho-healing:<i> improving our sense of self-esteem, increasing our feelings of worthiness and belonging; fostering greater self-acceptance; and reducing unhealthy reactions to shame such as avoidance, defensiveness, and attacking.</i> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Countering Black shame-based living is the process of transforming daily who one is and how one feels about oneself; it doesn’t come from changing who one is, but rather from truly embracing, knowing, becoming, developing, actualizing, and honoring who one is.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-53391609861863475782017-05-10T08:38:00.004-07:002021-09-05T07:36:19.620-07:00What is Black / African Centered Psychology?<span face=""verdana" , "sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Definition from the Association of Black Psychologists (ABP) </i></span></span><br />
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<span face=""verdana" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">African Centered/Black Psychology is a dynamic
manifestation of unifying African principles, values and traditions. It is the
self-conscious "centering" of psychological analyses and applications
in African realities, cultures, and epistemologies. </span></div>
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<span face=""verdana" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">African Centered/Black
Psychology, as a system of thought and action, examines the processes that
allow for the illumination and liberation of the Spirit. Relying on the
principles of harmony within the universe as a natural order of existence,
African Centered/Black Psychology recognizes: the Spirit that permeates
everything that is; the notion that everything in the universe is
interconnected; the value that the collective is the most salient element of
existence; and the idea that communal self knowledge is the key to mental
health. </span></div>
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<span face=""verdana" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">African Centered/Black Psychology is ultimately concerned with
understanding the systems of meaning of human beingness, the features of human
functioning, and the restoration of normal/natural order to human development.
As such, it is used to resolve personal and social problems and to promote
optimal functioning." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"> <b>Dr. Kobi Kambon on Black Psychology</b></span><br />
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10 African American Psychologists You Should Know </span></h1>
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<i>by Barry Wallace Jr.</i></div>
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<div class="entry-meta"><strong>1. Kenneth Bancroft Clark (1914-2005)</strong></div><div class="entry-content">
<em>Contributions: </em> Work essential in case of Brown v. Board of Education. In the famous “Doll Study” he studied the responses of more than 200 Black children who were given a choice of white or brown dolls. His findings illustrated that children showed preference for white dolls from as early as three years old. Thus, he concluded segregation was psychologically damaging which played a role in the Supreme Court decision in outlawing segregation. Additionally he was the first black president of the American Psychological Association.<br />
<span id="more-2200"></span><br /><strong>2. Francis Cecil Sumner (1895-1954)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> First African American to receive his Ph.D. in Psychology. Helped establish the psychology department at Howard University to train African American Psychologists. Sumner completed vast amount of research which counteracted racism and bias in psychological studies of African Americans. Some of his students went on to becoming leading psychologist in their own right, for example Kenneth Clark.</div><div class="entry-content"><br /><strong>3. Mamie Phipps Clark (1917-1983)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> Her work with children showed that African American children became aware of their racial identity at about three years old. Many of these children began to see reflect and internalize the views that society held about them. She also found that many African American children who were tested and informed they had a learning disability or disabled were diagnosed incorrectly due to biased psychological testing.</div><div class="entry-content"><br /><strong>4. Inez Beverly Prosser (1891-1934)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> She was the first African American woman to receive her Ph.D. Her dissertation examined the academic development of African American children in mixed and segregated schools. Her findings showed that African American children fared better socially and academically in segregated schools. Specifically she found that African American children from integrated schools experienced more social maladjustment and felt less secure, a barrier to their learning. She spent the last seven years of her life teaching at historical Black colleges.</div><div class="entry-content"><br /><strong>5. Robert Lee Williams II (1930-Present)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> He was a founding member of the National Association of Black Psychologist and served as its second president. He created the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity by utilizing African-American vernacular and personal experience. This test showed that African Americans weren’t intellectually inferior to European Americans, but the differences in speech and experience can skew IQ results. Also, he created the term Ebonics to refer to the African American vernacular English.</div><div class="entry-content"><br /><strong>6. Albert Sidney Beckham (1897-1964)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> He is regarded as the first African American to hold the title school for Juvenile Research and Chicago Bureau of Child Study. He brought together ministers whose parishes included families of students he was working with, allowing for the first time a church-neighborhood-school relationship in the community that benefited African American youth.<br /><strong><br /></strong></div><div class="entry-content"><strong>7. Kobi Kambon (aka Joseph A. Baldwin)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> Served as the president of the Association of Black Psychologists from 1982-1983. He does research in the areas of African American mental health and psychological outcomes of racial-cultural oppression of African Americans in American society. He developed several measures of African-centered worldviews and philosophies. His works examine how deviations from African-centered worldviews can have detrimental effects for African Americans in the US.<br /><strong><br /></strong></div><div class="entry-content"><strong>8. Beverly Daniel Tatum (1954-Present)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> She’s widely recognized as a race relations expert and leader in higher education. Her areas of research include racial identity development and the role of race in the classroom. Her book, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” examines the development of racial identity. She argues racial identity is essential to the development of children.<br /><strong><br /></strong></div><div class="entry-content"><strong>9. Joseph L. White (1932-Present)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions</em>: Helped found the Association of Black Psychologists and establish the first Black Studies Program during the 1968 strike at San Francisco State University. He wrote “Toward a Black Psychology” and argued that whatever the future of race relations and the destiny of Black people, the creation of a Black Psychology was necessary because psychology created by white people could never adequately apply to define African Americans. He pointed out that the application of white psychology to African Americans often led researchers to incorrectly conclude that African Americans were lacking and less than.<br /><strong><br /></strong></div><div class="entry-content"><strong>10. Herman George Canady (1901-1970)</strong><br />
<em>Contributions:</em> He was the first psychologist to examine the role of the race of the examiner as a bias factor in IQ testing. His master’s thesis discussed the role of race of the examiner in establishing testing rapport and provided suggestions for establishing an adequate testing environment in which African American students could thrive. He was instrumental in founding the West Virginia Psychological Association, the West Virginia state board of psychological examiners, and the Charleston Guidance Clinic.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-75807773960604026272017-05-04T13:02:00.004-07:002017-05-04T13:05:01.532-07:00Why Are So Many Black Kids Dying From Suicide<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>By Alex Zielinski</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />From police brutality to health care gaps, there are countless forms of systemic violence that impact black communities. But there’s one quieter, overlooked threat that’s begun to have a deadly impact on black children: mental health stigma.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>The rate of black youth committing suicide has never been higher. A</b></i></span> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2015 study</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that for the first time, the suicide rate of black children in between the ages of 5 and 11 had doubled between 1993 and 2013 while the rate among white children had declined. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Suicides by hanging nearly tripled among black boys in particular. These findings were so surprising to researchers that they spent an extra year re-analyzing data just to double check themselves, only </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">to find the same results.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We must combat the notion that blackness has to be synonymous with pain. </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And while white people still have the highest suicide rates in the country, suicide rates among black youth have increasingly grown over the past decade. The most recent census data found that </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">black youth are killing themselves far more frequently</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> than their elders and suicide has become the third leading cause of death for black people between the ages of 15 and 24.<br /><br />These sobering numbers reveal how mental health problems have been quietly chipping away at the young black population over the past decade. However, in many black communities, community health experts say mental health remains a deeply stigmatized “white people problem,” or</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> a personal weakness</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, rather than an illness. And little is being done at the community health level to shift this perception.<br /><br />Jessmina “Minaa B.” Archbold, a social worker and mental health resource for New York youth living in poverty, is hoping to change that.<br /><br />In 2014, Archbold began an online story-sharing project for people struggling with addiction, inspired by her own work in the field. After hearing so many stories of stigmatized mental issues in the black community, she helped the project morph into a platform for black girls to talk openly about mental health. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The project, called Respect Your Struggle, quickly became a place for black girls and women to work toward unapologetic acceptance of their unique battles with mental health issues.<br /><br /> To Archbold, the biggest challenge in getting her audience to embrace their health challenges is shattering the stigmatized labels that surround it. “People hear ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression,’ they are told medical diagnoses, they see white people on the internet sharing their stories of battling mental health — and they think ‘Oh, that’s not me’,” she said.<br /><br />So instead of instantly assigning people to a clinical label, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Respect Your Struggle</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> shares relateable stories from other black women and offers holistic ways for women to practice self-care framing it as a strength-building process as opposed to an illness. <br /><br />This approach is merely a first step in a bigger effort to do more community mental health outreach in black communities, work that Archbold said shouldn’t stop at black girls. In a white-dominated industry, Archbold said it’s vital to also educate professionals on how to relate to black youth battling mental illness. <br /><br />“People need to be with someone they feel safe around, who have a sense of understanding of the pressures they face,” she said. Ideally, Archbold said, this would be another black person. Many fellow experts in her field agree that increasing the numbers of black doctors and social workers could help black communities feel more comfortable about accepting health care. <br /><br />Trusting health professions has never come easy for black communities. Haunted by destructive clinical experiments by white doctors like </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Alabama’s Tuskgeegee study,</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> in which federal researchers misled black men into participating in a study that tracked their untreated syphilis and findings of </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">present-day unconscious racism </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">within the medical system, it’s not surprising why.<br /><br /><i><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I found my own strength through facing my weaknesses. Without them I would be powerless. </span></b></i>“There’s a history of medical experts violating black people’s trust. They’re not eager to relive that. Seeking that care is looked down on in black communities,” said Kimya Dennis, a professor of sociology and criminal studies at Salem College, who has studied the factors contributing to suicide among black youth for several years. <br /><br />“A lot of families rely more on spirituality to heal. Going to a professional would be a betrayal of faith — regardless of your faith base,” she said. <br /><br />This deep distrust in medical professionals could leave children, who may be dealing with serious mental health, undiagnosed or untreated leading to long-term neglect. To combat this, Dennis said some organizations should set up mental health screenings in predominantly black churches to approach people in a comfortable space. <br /><br />If parents do decide to seek professional help for their child, Dennis said many are quickly deterred by the cost in the current health care landscape. The uninsured rate among black Americans is </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">persistently higher</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> than the rate for white Americans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Plus, more than 50 percent of the county’s </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">black population lives in the South</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, where </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">few states have expanded their Medicaid programs</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> to reach more people living just above the poverty line. For many, lacking insurance could be the deciding factor between getting their child on recommended medication or continuing to ignore a serious mental illness. <br /><br />Dennis agrees that addressing the heavy stigma associated with mental illness in the black community, especially within families with children, is key to moving forward. <br /><br />“We must combat the notion that blackness has to be synonymous with pain,” said Dennis. “Some people believe that to be black means to be permanently outraged. We want to be the people who can overcome any trauma. But it’s not that simple.” <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>A lot of families rely more on spirituality to heal. </i></b></span>Which Archbold has struggled with herself. She openly identifies as a strong black woman. But as someone who quietly battled thoughts of suicide in her teens, she’s hesitant to fully embrace this label. <br /><br />“For black people, ‘strength’ means being too proud to accept help. It means taking on a heavy load of stress and suffering silently. It’s become an unrealistic stereotype among black girls,” she said. “I found my own strength through facing my weaknesses. Without them I would be powerless.” <br /><br />She’s seen this struggle in the faces of many black girls raised like her in a black community where emotional weaknesses were looked down upon, and believes it’s time to shift the long-ignored stigma. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Archbold said this strong pride that black communities have in their ability to endure should actually embolden them to seek care. The strength of her ancestors fighting for equality paved the way for allowing black people to access mental health resources. <br /><br />“This is 2016. Our ancestors didn’t have the resources we had today, they didn’t have Black Lives Matter, they couldn’t speak out about their health problems,” she said. “We can no longer be blinded by our pride. It’s time we redefine what these terms we want to represent really mean. Then we can see change.” </span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-80271535691513722822017-01-13T15:34:00.004-08:002017-01-13T15:36:44.539-08:00Hidden Mental Health Issues: The Unique Challenges Black College Students Face<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">by
Tamiya King<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Researchers have concluded that Black college students
rely on “grit” to get ahead, which means they view their college experience
with determination and a strong sense of mental toughness. This is especially
prevalent among Black students who are attending predominantly white colleges
and universities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A new study from Vanderbilt has revealed that this
approach to the college experience has given birth to a new mental health
crisis among Black students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Weathering the cumulative effects of living in a society
characterized by white dominance and privilege produces a kind of physical and
mental wear-and-tear that contributes to a host of psychological and physical
ailments,” says Ebony McGee, an assistant professor of diversity and urban
schooling at Peabody College at Vanderbilt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">McGee also says that her research team has documented
“alarming occurrences of anxiety, stress, depression and thoughts of suicide,
as well as a host of physical ailments like hair loss, diabetes and heart
disease.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">McGee also co-authored a paper with David Stovall,
associate professor of African American studies and educational policy studies
at the University of Illinois at Chicago titled “Reimagining Critical Race
Theory in Education: Mental Health, Healing and the Pathway to Liberatory
Praxis.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The paper explores race theory and the authors challenge the principle
of hard work and perseverance, asserting that mental health issues among Black
students are often unnoticed because of the students’ intense academic focus
and desire to achieve.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“We have witnessed black students work themselves to
the point of extreme illness in attempting to escape the constant threat of
perceived intellectual inferiority,” she says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She also shares that teaching African American students
to be more focused and overachieving in school than their white counterparts,
without fully explaining and preparing students for the social injustices of
racism, can take its toll on even the most successful pupils.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The research gathered in the study compares
high-achieving Black college students to historical legend John Henry. Henry
was an enslaved African who literally worked himself to death, in an attempt to
prove his worth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The study states that “John Henryism is a coping
strategy often adopted by high-achieving African Americans, who may
unconsciously (and increasingly consciously) sacrifice their personal
relationships and health to pursue their goals with a tenacity that can be
medically and mentally dangerous.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Grit” is technically a term that is neutral in terms
of race. However, it is often associated with comparing success through goal
achievement and the evidence of certain characteristics, while ignoring the
discrimination that often hampers Black students’ success, explains McGee. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Resilience, time management and a goal-oriented mindset
are essentials for any college student, regardless of race. However, Black
students also have the additional responsibility of proving they are
intellectually worth while facing both underlying and overt racism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stovall and McGee are both mentors and teachers, and
have been aware of the firsthand accounts many Black students have experienced
as they try to both survive and thrive in a mostly White environment. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Stovall asserts that Black students facing this
multi-faceted burden have to be “protected against daily discrimination.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There
are also research studies indicating that grit is needed for mental fortitude
when accomplishing a task. Still, a more holistic approach is needed when
gaining a clear understanding of the mental, emotional and psychological harm
that Black students face while in college and beyond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The authors of the study make a case for systemic
changes in the university system, so that Black student healing can begin. This
healing will have to take a different approach than traditional wellness
methods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The process of healing from racial battle fatigue and
institutional racism requires significant internal commitment and external
support,” the study concludes. “Black college students are brilliant, talented,
and creative, and they dream as big as other students. Pursuing higher
education should not make them sick.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-68566573094301515512017-01-13T15:24:00.002-08:002018-06-18T09:09:19.018-07:00Frequent Exposure to Shootings of Black People Can Cause PTSD-Like Trauma, Research Says<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">by
Tanasia Kenney<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Graphic footage of Terence Crutcher’s final moments
have been on a constant loop since his ill-fated encounter with police, playing
over and over again as Americans struggle to digest what they just witnessed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Images of Crutcher’s bloodied body lying in the middle
of an Oklahoma road immediately populated social media, sparking outrage from
many wondering why the police would shoot a Black man who clearly had his hands
up?</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Disturbing video of police shooting Black civilians are
simply hard to escape once they go viral. That’s been the case for most of the
recent police shootings caught on tape.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For instance, video of the Baton Rouge shooting death
of Alton Sterling nearly broke the internet; the girlfriend of Minnesota man
Philando Castile live streamed the bloody aftermath of his shooting death on
Facebook for the whole world to see; and outrage peaked when video captured a
Miami police officer shooting Charles Kinsey, an unarmed behavioral therapist,
as he lay in the road with his hands in the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With so many images of violence and death permeating
the social media space, some people find it necessary to unplug for a while.
Mental health experts think that’s not such a bad idea. According to recent
research, frequent exposure to videos and images of Black people being shot and
killed can have ill, long-lasting effects on Black mental health.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monnica Williams, a clinical psychologist and director
of the Center for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Louisville,
said that these graphic images, coupled with lived experiences of racism, can
lead to severe mental health issues and PTSD-like trauma.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“There’s a heightened sense of fear and anxiety when
you feel like you can’t trust the people who’ve been put in charge to keep
you safe,” Williams said. “Instead, you see them killing people who
look like you. Combined with the everyday instances of racism, like micro-aggressions
and discrimination, that contributes to a sense of alienation and isolation.
It’s race-based trauma.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A 2012 study on racial discrimination and
psychopathology by researchers Chao, Asnaani and Hofmann found that
African-Americans experienced more racism than both Asian and Latino Americans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Furthermore, African-Americans who experienced significantly higher rates of
racism were also more likely to experience symptoms of PTSD. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s not uncommon for Black Americans to speak on their
racism-related experiences, whether they be subtle micro-aggressions or flat
out acts of discrimination. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over time, these experiences, depending on their
frequency, make it hard for victims to “mentally manage the sheer volume of
racial stressors,” thus leading to trauma, Psychology Today reports.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though it’s important to be socially “woke” in today’s
political climate, it’s also clear to see how constant videos depicting
violence against Black bodies does more harm than good. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“We’re witnessing mentally and emotionally traumatizing
videos and pictures,” April Reign, managing editor for Broadway Black, told PBS
NewsHour. “It’s enough, it’s just enough. It’s just so overwhelming all the
time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">There are people who are having trouble sleeping, who are having trouble
eating. There are people who are having those symptoms of PTSD in the
truest sense.” </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reign agreed that sometimes those hard-to-watch videos
are needed to bring light to certain social issues, but she pointed out that
decisions to censor graphic footage is driven by implicit racial bias. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reign cited the August 25, 2015 incident where two white North Carolina news anchors
were murdered on national TV by a former co-worker. When other news stations
covered the story, they “selectively censored” portions of the footage out of
respect for the victims’ families. That same respect and consideration wasn’t
given to Sterling, Castile or other Black Americans whose final moments were
played out over and over again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It is a dehumanization of Black people, and we don’t
see that with any other race. It’s ingrained in us from our history,” Reign
said. “White people used to have picnics at hangings and at lynchings, bringing
their children to watch Black bodies suffer and die. We are not far removed
from that, it’s just being played out through technology now. And it hurts.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The overwhelming emotional impact of watching Blacks
die at the hands of police has taken a toll on everyone, from the average Black
citizen to the BLM activist on the front lines. Williams said the first step in
reducing this stress is to acknowledge that racism and public murders of
minorities is affecting you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Recognize that if you’re numb, that means something,”
she explained. “If you’re breaking down in tears, that means something. “It
affects you more than you know, and there is nothing wrong with saying that
this pains you. Understand it, and actively move toward healing yourself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-78883897770531112522016-11-04T12:44:00.000-07:002016-11-04T13:11:51.417-07:00Black May Not Crack, but We’re Aging Faster Inside<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">by
Lottie L. Joiner </span></i><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">African-American women are 7.5 years biologically
“older” than white women because of extreme stress, health experts say.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">You’ve probably heard the expression “Black don’t
crack,” a reference to black women’s ageless beauty. But though their skin may
be smooth and wrinkle-free on the outside, black women are aging faster than
white women on the inside, health experts say.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Dr. Michelle Gourdine, a former deputy secretary of
health and chief public health physician for Maryland, explains that extreme
stress causes wear and tear on our internal organs, contributing to heart
disease, high blood pressure and stroke in black women - all diseases of aging. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“The cells that make up your heart, your blood vessels,
whatever else, begin to age prematurely because of all the stress, and that
predisposes you to disease,” says Gourdine, author of Reclaiming Our Health: A
Guide to African American Wellness.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">She points to a 2010 National Institutes of Health
study titled <u><i>“Do US Black Women Experience Stress-Related Accelerated
Biological Aging?”</i></u> The study’s authors analyzed data from the Study of Women’s
Health Across the Nation and found that black women between the ages of 49 and
55 are 7.5 years biologically “older” than white women.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“US blacks are more likely to experience stressful
situations, such as material hardship, interpersonal discrimination, structural
discrimination in housing and employment, and multiple caregiving roles than
whites,” the authors wrote.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">According to the study, this cumulative impact of
overexposure to stress hormones takes a toll on the body and contributes to the
development or progression of such ailments as “cardiovascular disease, obesity,
diabetes, susceptibility to infection, carcinogenesis, and accelerated aging.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“What the article seems to imply is that we just have a
heavier load to carry, bottom line,” says Gourdine, currently a clinical
assistant professor in the departments of pediatrics and of epidemiology and
public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and a senior
associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“When you think
about black women and how we’re all raised to be strong and that’s what we
expect each other to be as African-American women, what comes with that is a
set of added responsibilities.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Gourdine points to how black women are often the
primary breadwinners in their families and have to juggle multiple
roles sometimes navigating a culturally insensitive workplace while also acting
as caregivers for children, grandchildren and ailing parents. And for black
women in high-powered positions, there’s an even greater risk, she says.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“In meetings where you’re the only woman or only
African American, you feel like all eyes are on you,” Gourdine says. “You feel
that pressure to perform, of proving that you’re good enough and that you do
work hard. There is stress from always having to be ‘on.’”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Those expectations are compounded by our cultural
expectations of “strong black women,” she continues. “We are expected to be
independent and not ask for help, keep our needs inside and not admit that we
need help,” she says.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Dr. Gayle Porter, a clinical psychologist and
co-director of the Gaston & Porter Health Improvement Center, says she is
amazed at how reluctant black women are to acknowledge that they’re stressed.
“Strength means being able to acknowledge that you need help and support.
That’s part of being strong,” she says.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Instead, black women tend to deal with stress through
destructive behaviors such as overspending, which can cause financial stress,
or overeating, which can lead to obesity and diabetes. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“These are some of our brightest, hardworking, most
intelligent, most loving women,” notes Porter. “We are dying at rates that are
greater than any other group of women from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and
stroke, so whatever it is that we’re doing is not working.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Indeed. Black women develop high blood pressure which
could lead to strokes or heart attacks at an earlier age than white women and
have higher rates than their white counterparts. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Although heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in
general, black women are more likely to die from the disease than women of
other races. <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">Breast cancer</span> and diabetes also affect
black women at higher rates.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Porter is a co-founder, along with Dr. Marilyn Gaston,
of the Prime Time Sister Circles a 12-week program that helps black women
between the ages of 40 and 75 improve their health and deal with stress. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The major stressors that women in the group have
identified are health, financial stress and caregiving responsibilities, says
Porter. “We give sisters a safe space where they can learn how to identify
stress, how to appropriately cope with it, how to reduce it if they can’t
eliminate it, and learn how to function in an assertive way that will teach
them how to take care of themselves and take care of other people,” she says.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The group teaches participants stress-management
techniques such as deep breathing and encourages daily exercise. The women also
have to keep a daily log of stressors. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“As black women, we have to look at the
relationships between how we are dealing with stress and the fact that we are
dying,” says Porter. “Our folks don’t want to acknowledge how stressed they
are, but it’s evident, and it impacts our entire community.”</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-30090140309503603822016-10-22T23:05:00.001-07:002018-06-18T09:19:40.284-07:00Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome and Intergenerational Trauma: Slavery is Like a Curse Passing Through the DNA of Black People<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">By
<span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">David Love</span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The new reboot of the miniseries <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;"><i>“Roots”</i></span> reminds us of the physical toll
that slavery has taken on Black people. Slavery was an exploitative
system that built global capitalism through the theft, kidnapping, torture, and
prison labor of millions of Africans.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">However, that process is and continues to be an
intergenerational one, in which Black people have suffered psychic
damage. The experiences of the dreaded slave ship dungeons of the Middle
Passage in which millions of souls still rest at the bottom of the Atlantic - the
auction blocks, the rapes, whippings and lynchings, the slave patrols, the
backbreaking and life-ending labor at gunpoint, the separation of families all
inflicted psychological damage on the victims and their descendants. </span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Though their trauma was profound, enslaved Black people had no mental health
therapists available to them, no counselors to help them cope and heal. And the sickness was passed down to subsequent generations who to this day have not received the treatment they so desperately require.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Monnica Williams, Ph.D., director of the Center for
Mental Health Disparities at the University of Louisville says </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Black people have post-traumatic stress disorder, or <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">PTSD</span>, and they may not even know it. “PTSD symptoms typically include intrusive thoughts about the trauma, avoidance
of thoughts or reminders of the trauma, anxiety, concerns about safety, feeling
constantly on guard, fears of being judged because of the trauma, and
depression. </span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Individuals may also have flashbacks and feelings of
dissociation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Very severe PTSD can result in psychosis, and PTSD can be temporarily
or permanently disabling,” Dr. Monnica Williams, clinical psychologist and
director of the University of Louisville’s Center for Mental Health
Disparities, told Atlanta Black Star. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">According to Williams who is also a
professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences and writes
the <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">“Culturally Speaking“ blog</span> at Psychology
Today - PTSD has particular significance in the Black community. “Symptoms
specific to <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">race-based trauma</span> in African-Americans may
include avoidance of white people, fears and anxiety in the presence of law
enforcement, paranoia and suspicion, and excessive worries about the safety of
family and friends.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In a society in denial, racism is proclaimed dead and
an historical phenomenon. Yet it is very much alive, as manifested in the
behavior of Black folk. In her book, <i><u>Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome:
America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing,</u></i> Dr. Joy DeGruy discusses the
condition that serves as the title of her book:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Dr. DeGruy argues that typically society does not
address the role of history in producing these negative behaviors and
perceptions. African-Americans she contends adapted their behavior in
order to survive chattel slavery, an example of “transgenerational adaptations
associated with the past traumas of slavery and ongoing oppression.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“I think there is too much emphasis placed on racist
individuals as opposed to the social forces that create racists. Everyone
behaving a slightly racist way has a much more deleterious effect on Black
people than a few people being very racist,” Dr. Williams said. “Racism is
built into the power structures and institutions in our society, and White
people are taught to propagate racism and not to see it. This process is
maintained by pathological stereotypes and misinformation about Black people.
White supremacy is a reaction to feeling one’s social status threatened by the
advancement of African Americans.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">And while racial oppression has a psychological,
multigenerational impact on Black people, it also leaves a biological and
genetic imprint in its victims. In other words, research suggests the
trauma is embedded in the DNA, changing one’s genetic makeup and becoming
transferrable to subsequent generations.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">According to the National Institutes of Health, chronic
stress and exposure to stress hormones alter our DNA not the gene sequence but
rather gene expression. When we are under stress, we produce steroid
hormones called glucocorticoids, which affect various bodily systems.
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Past studies have shown that these glucocorticoids alter the genes that control
the HPA axis, which includes the hypothalamus and pituitary glands of the
brain, and the adrenal glands near the kidneys. When the Fkbp5 gene is
modified, this leads to PTSD, depression and mood disorders. Studies
involving the descendants of Jewish Holocaust survivors under Nazi Germany
found that these individuals had an altered Fkbp5 gene, along with PTSD,
hypertension and obesity.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A 2008 study in the National Academy of Sciences found
that people who were prenatally exposed to the Dutch famine of 1944-5 had an
altered IFG2 gene which plays an important role in human growth 60 years
later. Children of mothers who were pregnant during that famine developed
a number of health problems such as obesity, diabetes, kidney damage and heart
disease.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The implications for other inter-generationally
traumatized groups who have endured genocide and racial oppression, such as
Native Americans and African-Americans including <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">Hurricane Katrina survivors</span> are blatantly
clear. When racism is understood not merely as a system of discrimination
for a particular generation, but also a curse that is passed through generations
and affecting our health like the DNA, this helps to shape the discussion on
the full extent of the damages created by racism, and the need for remedies,
repair and recompense.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Dr. Farah D. Lubin–Associate Professor in the
Department of Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham told Atlanta
Black Star that genetics is a matter of nature vs. nurture. “Nature is
what you get from your parents, while nurture is how your environment shapes
you as an individual,” she said, noting that an individual might have a
predisposition to developing a certain condition such as bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia or suicide. Lubin’s primary research is focused on
investigating the molecular and genetic basis of learning, memory and its
disorders.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“You can
experience stress early on or later on in life,” said Lubin, who is
also Co-Director of the NINDS Neuroscience Roadmap Scholar Program, whose
goal is to “enhance engagement and retention of underrepresented graduate trainees
in the neuroscience workforce.” “Your gene sequence changes as you age,
and stress can distort that trajectory for the rest of your life,” she noted,
adding that there are different types of stress, such as acute, chronic and
moderate levels. And if you are exposed to chronic, unpredictable stress,
that could have an impact on how you respond to your environment.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Farah D. Lubin, Ph.D., Department of Neurobiology,
University of Alabama at Birmingham says </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Epigenetics acts as an interface between your
environmental experiences and how your DNA will be interpreted in response to
those experiences,” Lubin said. “Sometimes these are extreme and
destabilize you to your experiences". </span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In cases on extreme stress, you can have
long term effects. The Bible refers to generational curses and
influences, and interestingly nature actually supports what The Bible says,
which is, there is an effect on the molecular epigenetic information that is
affected by stress that is transgenerational and passed on to your offspring.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">What are the solutions? “It is difficult because
we are just beginning to understand these mechanisms and how they are
triggered,” according to Dr. Lubin, noting all the complexities involved in the
science of trauma. “Behavior therapy, environmental enrichment has been
shown to cure a number of disorders. Exposing yourself to new, novel things is
good for you, but we don’t do enough of it. In animals and humans we know
enrichment helps to cure and alleviate disorders. The problem with enrichment
and proper diet is that it takes more than taking a pill,” she said.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“As a science I know that diet changes your epigenetics
and how you deal with stress. It helps you deal effectively and appropriately
to stress. It reduces cortisol levels so you are not as fearful. I think
awareness first and foremost is most important,” Lubin added, noting that Black
people are beginning to take matters into their own hands. “African-American
society is embracing more of who they are. You see that with women wearing
their hair naturally” she said. Lubin also noted that attitudes about
race are evolving among millenials, including Black young people. “But
that’s not to say they do not have some of the residual effects of slavery,”
she said.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In addition, Lubin says, we can learn from those who
are resilient, and attempt to mimic what is present in resilient people in
order to seek treatments for trauma. “There is a resilient population and
a susceptible population. Whether they are disabled, have a background as
slaves, suffer from the Holocaust, you can separate them into two groups. What
make the resilient (bounce back) and what makes the susceptible stay stuck. The
genes that encode are different in the resilient and susceptible groups.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Interestingly, these generational effects of trauma are
not believed to last forever, according to Dr. Lubin. “I believe it is six to
seven generations (with 25 years a generation). Technically we are beyond these
numbers, but we were re-inoculated with Jim Crow and the civil rights
movement,” she offered.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“I think we as a culture need to make some major
changes in the way we think about harm caused by historical trauma,” said Dr.
Williams. “We now know it’s not simply ‘in the past’ but continues to influence
descendants through both social and genetic (epigenetic) mechanisms.
Reparations need to be meaningful and not simply symbolic to have any real
impact,” she added.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Meanwhile, in the Black Lives Matter era, more attention
is paid to the legacy of slavery and its significance in the present day. “Police
have been killing and abusing our people with impunity for centuries, and now
thanks to <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>dash-cams, cell phone videos,
and public outrage (Black Lives Matter), this problem is now getting the
attention it deserves.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Williams said “These images can contribute to a sense
of community/cultural trauma if nothing is done, but with continued attention I
think we can bring about change. These problems go back to the slavery
where force of law was used to intimidate slaves and then after the Civil War
to exterminate and neutralize Black males.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Finally, Dr. Lubin responds to those who say that Black
people should “get over” the trauma of slavery. “It’s a naive sentiment to say
get over it, but they don’t even know what they are getting over. There are
symptoms and they don’t even know why they are there. It is hard to say to a
Holocaust survivor, ‘Get over it.’ They are having the same generational
effect from their experiences as well.”</span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-35410451510790103142016-10-22T22:52:00.003-07:002016-12-24T06:49:30.536-08:00Report: Too Few School Counselors for Traumatized Black Children But Plenty of Punishment<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">By
<span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">David Love</span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As the nation grapples with the problems of the
school-to-prison pipeline and the intersection of racial justice, the criminal
justice system, law enforcement and education, the need for new priorities for
children comes to light. For example, in a national public school system that
is now majority children of color, students are suffering from trauma.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">And while there is a shortage of support staff to
service public school children — including counselors, psychologists and social
workers — children of color are hit especially hard. Black and brown
children, who are most likely to live with trauma, run a much greater risk of
facing harsh punishment and school discipline rather than receiving the crucial
mental health counseling they need.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A new research report from the Center for American
Progress (CAP), “Counsel or Criminalize? Why Students of Color Need Supports,
not Suspensions,” tells the story with the first-of-its-kind, state-level
analysis on the shortage of counselors, psychologists and social workers in
America’s public schools.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Consider, for example, that 35 million children in the
U.S. are suffering from trauma, yet only 8 million (22 percent) have a school
psychologist at their disposal. Only 63 percent of public schools have a
counselor, and a mere 18 percent have a social worker. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Also the challenges facing children of color place the
extent of the problem in full view. African-American, Latino and Native
American children, who are most likely to experience traumatic events, are also
disproportionately poor, which in itself is a risk factor for psychological
distress.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Moreover, nearly 3 million children are suspended from
school each year, reflecting zero-tolerance policies that are racially
discriminatory in nature. Those students who face draconian disciplinary
measures are also those who risk dropping out and going to prison traumatized
children.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">According to the report, 90 percent of juvenile
detainees are living with trauma. Further, Black children are three times
as likely to suffer from abuse or neglect than white children, and are also
three times less likely to receive mental health care. And because of
institutional racism and the perception that their behavior is disruptive,
Black children also have a fourfold risk of suspensions over their white
counterparts. Meanwhile, Native American youth face the greatest barriers
to mental health, as they have double the risk of committing suicide as other
groups.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Delving into the statistics on a state-by-state basis
reveals the extent of the crisis, which CAP says amounts to a “silent
epidemic.” While it is not surprising that the states of the South suffer
from the most dire shortages of social workers and psychologists, it is
shocking that the bottom is so low.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">For example, the seven states accounting for 90 percent
of the cases of corporal punishment of Black children in 2011-2012 —
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee — had
psychologists in only 10 percent of their schools. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Only 24 percent of Georgia schools have a full-time
psychologist, while Alabama, Mississippi and Texas have the lowest supply of
such professionals. Alabama, which suspended 20 percent of its Black
children, has almost no in-house psychologists. In Mississippi, the
schools have a student-to-counselor ratio of 436-to-1, nearly double the recommended
ratio, while only 3 percent of schools have a psychologist.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">And in Wisconsin, where more than one fourth of Black
students were subjected to out-of-school suspensions, only 59 percent of public
schools employed a counselor.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“The numbers are sobering,” said <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">Perpetual Baffour</span>, Research Assistant for
Education Policy at CAP and author of the brief, in a press release.
“When millions of children live in poverty, experience physical or sexual
abuse, witness tragedy in their communities, lose a parent to incarceration,
and/or lack access to safe and clean drinking water, it should be no surprise
when they experience challenges in the classroom. Children cannot learn when
they lack adequate and meaningful supports for their well-being.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The national issue of traumatized Black children
receiving severe punishment rather than beneficial support services was on
display in <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">Spring Valley High School</span> in 2015, when a
recently orphaned girl named Shakara was assaulted by a police officer in her
classroom for failing to comply with an unfair punishment, and then was
arrested along with a classmate. Atlanta Black Star has reported on the
ways in which <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">violence causes PTSD-like symptoms in Black people</span>,
and has examined the <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">neuroscience of poverty</span> and the impact of
racism on the mental well-being of African-American children and adults. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The trauma facing Black people is hereditary and <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">intergenerational</span>, <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">passing through the DNA</span> and reflecting a
legacy of oppression from the Middle Passage, though enslavement and Jim Crow
to the present day.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Regarding the unaddressed trauma among public school
children, CAP offers several recommendations, including making school-based
counseling and mental health programs a funding priority, crafting an approach
to school discipline that is restorative rather than punitive, and developing
culturally sensitive policies for emotional and behavioral support services.</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-56582497849713626252016-10-22T22:36:00.004-07:002016-12-24T06:45:55.718-08:00Trauma and Poverty Alters the Brains of Black People, and It Will Take Black Institutions to Stop It<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">By
<span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">David Love </span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The shame is not ours. That holds true of the horrors
and the trauma of the Middle Passage, and the toll it exacted on the bodies and
psyches of African people. And that applies to the continued racial
oppression, the deprivation and the economic, physical and mental violence to
which Black people are subjected every day. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">While white society has told Black people that their
“problems” are of their own making, a result of their moral failures and lack
of work ethic, white America promoted this false narrative by punishing Black
folks through public policy.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">What if the shame is indeed not ours? What if
neuroscience, the study of the brain, can make sense of the effect of trauma on
the very minds and behaviors of Black families, adults and children? What
if white supremacy takes its toll on the health and development of our minds,
not just in a philosophical, political or cultural sense, but from a medical
and scientific standpoint?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">If the problem is one that Black people face, then
Black institutions will solve it. For the first time, two African-American
organizations — a health services agency and a fraternity — are teaming up to
address the neuroscience of poverty and the impact of trauma on the Black mind
and behavior.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The Columbus (Ohio) Area Integrated Health Services,
Inc. (CAIHS) and the Columbus Kappa Foundation, Inc. — part of the Kappa Alpha
Psi fraternity — have formed a partnership called the Global Life Chances
Initiative. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The project will provide services, education and
outreach to Black families hit the hardest by infant mortality, educational
under-performance and economic dislocation. Further, through a concept
known as the neuroscience of poverty, the initiative will address prevention
and repair of Black people traumatized and damaged by economic deprivation and
exploitation and the toll poverty has on the brain.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The concept represents a bold and innovative research
approach. Past studies have examined <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">intergenerational trauma</span> and post-traumatic
slave syndrome, and the ways in which the psychic damage of enslavement,
genocide and other forms of oppression can be passed down through generations.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A recent Newsweek article addressed how poverty impacts
the brain. Specifically, it said that “poverty, and the conditions that
often accompany it — violence, excessive noise, chaos at home, pollution,
malnutrition, abuse and parents without jobs — can affect the interactions,
formation and pruning of connections in the young brain.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Anthony Penn, President/CEO of Columbus Area Integrated
Health Services, Inc. (CAIHS). Anthony Penn, President/CEO of CAIHS, told Atlanta
Black Star that by focusing on the Black community, what the initiative learns
ultimately will benefit all communities.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“This is an
important initiative for this historically African-American mental health
organization. For decades, we have witnessed clients that our agency has
provided services for suffer from trauma and issues that professionals have
found difficult to treat,” Penn told Atlanta Black Star. “When you look
at the high rate of infant mortality in Columbus, the parents that are impacted
by high infant mortality, there is a large [amount of] depression and need for
support to those families.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Penn added that it is important for the
African-American community to move beyond these long-term issues that hold our
community back. As Nate Jordan II, President of the Columbus Kappa Foundation,
Inc. noted, the new initiative will be based in the Mount Vernon section of
Columbus, where the Kappa House is located. Jordan told Atlanta Black
Star that Mount Vernon is “one of the most economically depressed areas from
redlining. A lot of abandoned housing, all of the detrimental things are
exemplified in these housing areas.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“In Ohio, the Black infant mortality rate is 48th in
the country. In Columbus, the Kappa House is in [an area with] one of the
highest infant mortality rates in Ohio, where there are seven hot zones” for
infant mortality, he added. Jordan noted that the Kappas became involved
in the Global Life Chances Initiative through their engagement in infant
mortality, safe sleeping issues and matters concerning Black fatherhood.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“We also looked at the father missing out of the family
unit and how the father can make a big difference from an infant mortality
standpoint…even when the baby is still in the placenta, having the father
acting from a nurturing standpoint,” he said.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Jordan also mentioned the Kappa’s Nurturing Fathers
program, an evidence-based, 13-week program in California that improves life
chances for children and puts fathers back into the lives of their
families. A group of 10-16 fathers receives services and education around
their relationships with their child, the roots of fathering, nurturing,
discipline without violence, anger management, nutrition, housing and other issues.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Nate Jordan II, President of the Columbus Kappa
Foundation, Inc. “We’re Black men showing leadership, and we already have a
tremendous following. We’re politically in position, and people are looking for
our leadership. So this is another example of the Kappas being on the front
burner, and this model we’re putting together will be going nationwide,” Jordan
noted. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">For Dr. Stacy Scott, a consultant with the
National Kappa Foundation’s Healthy Kappas/Healthy Communities National Initiative says this new partnership makes sense. “I work in the infant mortality field, and we
know the impact of stress on African-American women and the impact on their
outcomes. We know African-American women have the highest rate of infant
mortality, with 14 African-American babies dying for every 1,000 — 6 for white
babies, so that is double,” Dr. Scott told Atlanta Black Star.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“We see a lot of babies who die because they are in
unsafe sleeping environments,” she noted. “We are in the process of
training Kappa membership to go out in the community to target specifically men
on safe sleep practices for infants. It is growing; it is amazing when
you start teaching men. When men are involved in prenatal care,
especially in the first 3 to 4 weeks, we see how infants thrive,” Scott added.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Two issues that concern the participants in the Global
Life Chances Initiative are the trust of the Black community, and the stigma
over mental illness among African-Americans. “That whole trust issue, that’s
why it is so important that the partners look like the community we’re
servicing,” Dr. Scott said “A predominantly African-American membership
is important because there is that mistrust. We know because of the <span style="color: windowtext; margin: 0px;">Tuskegee fiasco</span>,“ she noted, adding it is
important “to have key people and key researchers who look like our community
and build that trust so that people will not be exploited. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">There is such a disproportional representation of
communities of color with health disparities, and it turns into an indictment
of a particular group. And it is not an indictment, but reflects
discrimination and segregation, and so I think it is going to be a slow-moving
train” she said, noting that it all adds up to getting the message out one
person at a time.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“It is a fresh new phenomenon. and the community is
ready. And we are tired of ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps,’ ” Scott
added. “Maybe it is not something wrong with me, and I am a victim of
racism.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Dr. Stacy Scott, National Kappa Foundation’s Healthy
Kappas/Healthy Communities National Initiative says “On a national level, 1 in
5 people are impacted by a mental health condition, and we know that stigma and
overcoming the stigma is real. But this is an awareness campaign we are
launching to understand how to reach our community, how to make service
delivery culturally sensitive, to take into consideration the historic stigma
our community has faced with mental health issues, and neuroscience. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">So, that is part of our relationship with the Kappa
Foundation, a fraternity that is well respected, and we go to the grassroots
and find ways to be more effective,” Penn noted. “Through education,
through door-to-door outreach and having culturally competent delivery
providers, we know we’re going to have more of an impact than what has been
historically done.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">According to Penn, often there is a lack of
understanding of how to work with the Black community. The Global Life
Chances Initiative hopes to provide a blueprint for upliftment though outreach
to the community and addressing a serious condition. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Given “the stigma
that is associated with mental health issues, I personally want to see our
organization and the Kappa Foundation be the institutions that lead this
movement to make it easy for families, for individuals, for people of color, so
that it is easy to come in and get help when I need it, to seek treatment when
I need it. I don’t need to mask and hide the symptoms; I can come in. The same
way you feel comfortable calling the doctor when you have a headache, people
with mental health issues can find it easy to come in and ask for help,” he
said.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“When you say ‘I am not quite right,’ I can give you a
reason why I am not quite right,” Dr. Scott noted of this planned
research. “It does give you another tool, and if we put it out there
right, people begin to get a better understanding in regards to why we are the
way we are. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">For example, why do so many African-Americans have high
blood pressure? It gives some foundations as to why the community has
such plights,” she said. “If you look at the brain and things of that
nature, they want to blame the victim, and the idea that if we give you a pill
and some job training, you’ll be OK.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Meanwhile, the undertaking has serious implications in
the public policy realm, with the potential to change the status quo. According
to Dr. Linda James Myers, Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and
African-American Studies at The Ohio State University and Director of The
Ohio State University Black Studies Extension Center in Columbus, Ohio, the
neuroscience of poverty provides a social context for what is affecting
the Black community. She argues that Western science, for instance, is
not holistic, and fails to make the necessary connections between one’s
environment and physical and mental well-being.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“A more African-centered perspective assumes that what
happens in my physical environment will affect my behavior and my chemistry,
and that constant stress will affect every aspect of my physiology, including
the brain,” Dr. Myers told Atlanta Black Star. She added that this more
holistic and integrated African-centered perspective is nothing new.
Further, a holistic world view and a cultural frame of reference that was
previously missing will allow us to counter the notion that poverty is the
result of Black people making bad decisions.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Dr. Linda James Myers, Professor of Psychology,
Psychiatry and African American Studies at The Ohio State University and
Director of The Ohio State University Black Studies Extension Center in
Columbus, Ohio says “One of the big things that we want to concentrate on in
the first phase is to educate the decision makers that make policy, allocate
funding, educate them on this work that we are undertaking,” Penn said “What
is different about this partnership that does not exist anywhere else in the
country is that you have a unique partnership, with an integrated strategic
approach on how to lay out a plan of dealing with the history of trauma that
African-Americans have dealt with for decades. We have a strategy to begin to
ask the questions and explore the research on how to better serve our
community,” he noted.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“We know the issues exist, and there has been a system
of a continued way of treating the problem, continuing to fund a certain model,
but we’re looking at how do you, with scientific data, change the direction
that we find many of our young people, many of our adults, living in poverty?
How do we change the infection and change the cycle? </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">We don’t want to lead by emotion, but we want our
emotion to be inspired by research. It will benefit not only our community
but all communities,” Penn added, as the program will be emulated nationwide. “White
folks won’t believe it unless it is researched,” Dr. Scott suggested, offering
that the program has the potential to upend policies such as the welfare
system, which is based on the premise of a work ethic. People in
welfare-to-work programs are set up to fail, she noted, and people are punished
as if it is a reflection on them. What happens, for example, when it is
discovered they cannot perform certain work functions because of trauma.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“If there is long-term impact of trauma on the brain,
that debunks the whole argument,” she concluded. “It is really going to
challenge the status quo, and looking at all these acts and the welfare system,
you can make an impact because what they’re doing is not working, and there is
going to be a lot of fallout, because people don’t like change,” Scott
said. “You don’t hear them talk about research and African-Americans with
regard to this theory. This might be on purpose, because we would have another
tool to say we want our 40 acres and a mule.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Once the word spreads about this new initiative, Dr.
Scott believes, it is going to be phenomenal. However, she provides a
warning: “We have to be very, very careful to make sure they don’t use this
against us. We have to advocate, because if they think we have a brain
dysfunction they will write us off. It is important to make sure advocacy
groups are on the case, because it is not our fault.”</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“One of the advantages with this initiative is trying
to get the powers that be to see that what is different about what young Black
people are experiencing in poverty today from what young Black people
experienced back in the day with chattel enslavement and sharecropping is the
role of the community, despite the poverty,” said Dr. Myers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“Now we have urban
renewal, our community has been fractured and displaced, our people were placed
in public housing which is not good for our community as it produces anger
and frustrationand now without the community to support and without the
educational system you have complete disenfranchisement. You have
dislocation and generalized depression. Instead of asking what is wrong with
these young people, we should ask: What is happening and how can we change it?”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“The fact that we see the physiological change because
now we have the technology to monitor it has principal benefits and also great
costs. The benefits mean that Western researchers must concede that these
children are in a demeaning, disenfranchising environment that affects their
brain. Maybe that means we not only need early literacy but to be more holistic
in what children are experiencing. That awareness is coming is a good
thing. Unfortunately, it has taken a long time to come to that realization,”
Dr. Myers offered. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“The downside is, ‘Oh my God, these Black children are
deficient.’ They are open to being stigmatized, and the Black community is
going to be further disenfranchised. We have to make sure that the people
engaged in the research will not go that route,” she added, noting the evidence
that the condition is not irreversible. “The evidence is the 250 years Black
people spent in enslavement. I can’t think of a more hostile
environment. Then you see Black people emerging out of chattel slavery
making all the contributions to the industrial and technological revolution,”
she added.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Meanwhile, Jordan reflected on the importance of having
Black organizations step up to tackle this issue in the Black community, rather
than rely on white society. “No longer can we depend on them to solve our
problems. We have the expertise, the talent, the facilities and the
ideas. We live this. We are the ones who have been here 400 years, and we are
going to get it solved.”</span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129708966298581208.post-17162752311579954902016-04-20T05:36:00.001-07:002016-04-20T05:47:08.254-07:00Broken Heart Syndrome and Older Black Women <i><b>by Kenny Anderson</b></i><br />
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<i>“Long before the term Broken Heart Syndrome was coined my mother suffered from it! She watched her three year old son hit by a car and killed and many years later she found her oldest son in the bed dead. My mother was grief stricken most of her life; she suffered silently and often had crying spells. I believe the impact of the Broken Heart Syndrome along with the daily stress of racism over the years was the major cause of my Black mother’s death”</i> <b>– Kenny Anderson, Founder of Black Hearts Matter</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Broken Heart Syndrome also known as stress-induced 'cardiomyopathy’ or ‘takotsubo cardiomyopathy’, is a condition triggered by an onset of emotional distress. The symptoms of broken heart syndrome are very similar to those of a heart attack, and they can include angina (chest pain), shortness of breath, low blood pressure, and temporary heart failure.<br /><br />The John Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute describes stress-induced cardiomyopathy as a condition in which intense emotional or physical stress can cause rapid and severe heart muscle weakness (cardiomyopathy). This condition can occur following a variety of emotional stressors such as grief (e.g., death of a loved one), fear, extreme anger, and surprise. It can also occur following numerous physical stressors to the body such as stroke, seizure, difficulty breathing (such as a flare of asthma or emphysema), or significant bleeding.<br /><br />Broken Heart Syndrome is more prevalent in postmenopausal women; these women often have a history of emotional or physical stress. Older Black women are at a much greater risk of Broken Heart Syndrome due to a greater accumulation of emotional distress over the years thus being more vulnerable to heart failure. The higher incidences of Broken Heart syndrome among Black women makes them more vulnerable to heart disease and a contributing factor of Black women having the highest heart disease rates in America.<br /><br />Older Black women have experienced a lot of deaths over the years particular the premature deaths of the Black men in their lives (fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, friends, etc.). Generally older Black women have never had grief counseling and suffer more emotional sadness (depression) from prolonged unresolved ‘compounded grief’.<br /><br />The most harmful aspect of heartbreak is that it is incredibly stressful, and when we are stressed, our bodies produce an excess of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. In small doses these hormones raise the heart rate, which is not such a bad thing, but high levels can overwhelm the heart and in some cases actually result in heart failure.<br /><br />Studies show that emotional distress does indeed affect the physical body in a number of different ways. First of all, emotional pain causes blood to flow to regions of the brain that are also responsible for producing physical pain. This is why many people may feel what psychologists call ‘somatosensory representations’ of pain after a hurtful experience such as rejection. Secondly, heartbreak can interfere with your immune system, which in turn can cause inflammation and a weakening of defenses against illness and infection.<br /><br /><b>Frequently Asked Questions:<br /><br />1. What is “Broken Heart Syndrome?” </b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Broken Heart Syndrome, also referred to as 'stress cardiomyopathy', is a condition in which intense emotional or physical stress can cause rapid and severe heart muscle weakness (cardiomyopathy). This condition can occur following a variety of emotional stressors such as grief (e.g. death of a loved one), fear, extreme anger, and surprise. It can also occur following numerous physical stressors to the body such as stroke, seizure, difficulty breathing (such as a flare of asthma or emphysema), or significant bleeding. <br /><br /><b>2. What are the symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Patients with stress cardiomyopathy can have similar symptoms to patients with a heart attack including chest pain, shortness of breath, congestive heart failure, and low blood pressure. Typically these symptoms begin just minutes to hours after the person has been exposed to a severe, and usually unexpected, stress.<br /><br /><b>3. Is stress cardiomyopathy dangerous?</b><br />Stress cardiomyopathy can definitely be life threatening in some cases. Because the syndrome involves severe heart muscle weakness, patients can have congestive heart failure, low blood pressure, shock, and potentially life-threatening heart rhythm abnormalities. The good news is that this condition improves very quickly, so if patients are under the care of physicians familiar with this syndrome, even the most critically ill tend to make a quick and complete recovery.<br /><br /><b>4. How does sudden stress lead to heart muscle weakness?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">First, it is important to understand what “stress” is. “Stress” refers to the body’s response to things it perceives as abnormal. These abnormalities can be physical such as high body temperature, dehydration, or low blood sugar, or can be emotional, such as receiving news that a loved one has passed away. When these abnormalities occur, the body produces various hormones and proteins such as adrenaline and noradrenaline which are meant to help cope with the stress. For example, if a person is suddenly threatened and fears physical harm, the body produces large amounts of adrenaline to help that person either defend himself/herself or run faster to escape the danger. With stress cardiomyopathy, we believe that the heart muscle is overwhelmed by a massive amount of adrenaline that is suddenly produced in response to stress. The precise way in which adrenaline affects the heart is unknown. It may cause narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood, causing a temporary decrease in blood flow to the heart. Alternatively, the adrenaline may bind to the heart cells directly causing large amounts of calcium to enter the cells which renders them temporarily dysfunctional. Whichever the mechanism, it appears that the effects of adrenaline on the heart in this syndrome are temporary and completely reversible. As will be discussed further in question 5, one of the main features of this syndrome is that the heart is only weakened for a brief period of time and there tends to be no permanent or long-term damage.<br /><br /><b>5. How does stress cardiomyopathy differ from a heart attack?</b>Stress cardiomyopathy can easily be mistaken for heart attack. Patients with this syndrome can have many of the same symptoms that heart attack patients have including chest pain, shortness of breath, congestive heart failure, and low blood pressure. With a closer look, however, there are some major differences between the two conditions. First, most heart attacks occur due to blockages and blood clots forming in the coronary arteries, the arteries that supply the heart with blood. If these clots cut off the blood supply to the heart for a long enough period of time, heart muscle cells can die, leaving the heart with permanent and irreversible damage. This is completely different from what is seen with stress cardiomyopathy. First, most of the patients with stress cardiomyopathy that both we and others have seen appear to have fairly normal coronary arteries and do not have severe blockages or clots. Secondly, the heart cells of patients with stress cardiomyopathy are “stunned” by the adrenaline and other stress hormones but not killed as they are in heart attack. Fortunately, this stunning gets better very quickly, often within just a few days. So even though a person with stress cardiomyopathy can have severe heart muscle weakness at the time of admission to the hospital, the heart completely recovers within a couple of weeks in most cases and there is no permanent damage.<br /> <br /><b>6. I am under a great deal of stress every day. Is it possible that I have been walking around with stress cardiomyopathy and did not even know it?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">While there is no debate that chronic stress can have effects on human health, stress cardiomyopathy appears to be a condition that comes on suddenly and unexpectedly and resolves quite quickly. If you are a person who frequently has symptoms of chest pain or shortness of breath when under significant stress, you should be evaluated by your doctor. He or she may want to perform some basic tests to make sure you are in god health. It is unlikely, however, if your symptoms have been going on for a while that you have stress cardiomyopathy.<br /><br /><b>7. Who is at risk for getting stress cardiomyopathy? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Because stress cardiomyopathy is a relatively newly appreciated syndrome, we are only beginning to understand why it happens and who is most likely to get it. Most of the patients we have seen with it do not have a previous history of heart disease. It is quite clear from the available medical literature so far, however, that stress cardiomyopathy affects primarily women. In addition, it tends to occur most frequently in middle aged or elderly women (average age about 60). While it can also occur in young women and even in men, the vast majority of the patients we have seen with this are post-menopausal women. The exact reason for this is unknown, and further research will be necessary to help explain this observation.<br /><br /><b>8. Once a person has had stress cardiomyopathy, will they get it again the next time they are under severe stress. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">From what we have seen so far, the answer to this question appears to be no. While it is possible that the syndrome could recur, this is not what we have observed at our hospital. In the five years that we have been following patients with stress cardiomyopathy, none have experienced the syndrome a second time. Further, several of our patients went on to have other stressful events in their lives and none developed the syndrome again.<br /><br /><b>9. If I have had stress cardiomyopathy, what is my long-term prognosis? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Because the heart muscle is not permanently damaged with this syndrome, patients typically make a rapid and complete recovery. From our experience and from what has been published by other groups, the long-term prognosis for patients with stress cardiomyopathy appears to be excellent</span><span style="color: #666666; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "rokkitt" , serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 30px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0