Black Mental Health

The experiences of both black patients and the black mental health professionals who serve them are analyzed against the backdrop of the cultural, societal, and professional forces that have shaped their place in this specialized health care arena.

Novel in its approach and unique in its scope, Black Mental Health: Patients, Providers, and Systems examines the role of African Americans within American psychiatric health care from distinct but interconnected perspectives. The experiences of both black patients and the black mental health professionals who serve them are analyzed against the backdrop of the cultural, societal, and professional forces that have shaped their place in this specialized health care arena.

The volume opens with the singular, first-person accounts of five senior black psychiatrists -- including Dr. Altha J. Stewart, president of the American Psychiatric Association -- who describe their individual journeys to the top of their field, not shying away from discussing the racism and discrimination that have challenged their paths to leadership.

The book's second part focuses on the complexities of and opportunities for delivering mental health care to various subsets of the African American population, including children, women, elderly patients, and LGBTQ individuals. System design strategies, biological therapies, and church-based mental health promotion initiatives are all considered as methods for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in access to effective treatment.

Part III examines the training of black mental health professionals and their representation in psychiatry, particularly in the face of discrimination and implicit bias. A chapter on historically black colleges and universities discusses the importance of their role in the delivery of psychiatric services and research development for African Americans. The fourth part builds on this discussion, addressing research that is relevant to the care of the black population.

A concluding chapter highlights the key themes that emerged from each of the previous four parts, providing a holistic view of the place of black patients and providers in American psychiatry.

With its blend of scholarship, clinical insight, and training analysis, Black Mental Health is compulsory reading both for trainees -- as care delivery to minority groups is of ever greater importance -- and practicing clinicians, who will glean useful information from the chapters on research advances and treatment modalities. Additionally, policy makers, educators, and historians, among others, will gain a better understanding of the challenges and necessity of developing integrated approaches to the care of nondominant groups.

Introduction: Framing the TextPart I. ReflectionsChapter 1. The Welcome Table in the WorkplaceChapter 2. Call to Public ServiceChapter 3. Long Journey to the Top of the Psychiatric LadderChapter 4. Bridging the Gap: Challenges for Mental Health Policy, Research, and PracticeChapter 5. Black Psychiatrists of 1969 Survey the Scene, Then and NowPart II. Patient CareChapter 6. Black Americans and Public System Design Strategies Promoting Health EquityChapter 7. African Americans and the Criminal Justice SystemChapter 8. Black International Medical Graduates and the Care of Black PatientsChapter 9. Providing High-Quality Psychiatric Care for Black Children and YouthChapter 10. Black Women and Mental Health: Psychosocial Realities and Clinical ConsiderationsChapter 11. Young Minority Fathers: Harbingers of Promise for Their ChildrenChapter 12. Black Elders of the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 13. Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Identities and Mental HealthChapter 14. Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in African American PopulationsChapter 15. Psychotherapy With African Americans and People of African DescentChapter 16. Biological Therapies and Black PatientsChapter 17. The Black Church and Mental HealthPart III. Training of Black Mental Health Care ProvidersChapter 18. Psychiatric Training and Black Mental HealthChapter 19. A Seat at the Psychiatric Table: Increasing the Workforce Presence of BlacksChapter 20. Addressing the Mental Health Needs of African American Youth in the New Millennium: Intersections and Visions for the FutureChapter 21. Training in the Effects of Implicit Racial Bias on Black HealthChapter 22. Historically Black Colleges and Universities and African American Psychiatry: Past, Present, and FuturePart IV. Psychiatric Research and BlacksChapter 23. The Importance of "Bent Nail" Research for African American PopulationsChapter 24. Racism and Mental Health: Pathways, Evidence, and Needed ResearchChapter 25. Toward a Liberation Psychiatry: Contributions From the Psychology of PlaceChapter 26. The "New" Epidemic: Trauma Among Urban Adolescents Living in PovertyChapter 27. Addiction, Drug Policy, and Black Clinical InnovationsChapter 28. Conclusion: Toward a Revised Vision of Black Mental Health