Stats of African American Men and Mental Illness

It can be difficult to acknowledge initially that you are suffering from mental illness in the Black community, due to cultural beliefs. African Americans are among the most religious of any racial or ethnic group in the United States, with 87% of citizens being formally affiliated with a religious group. Ideas such as religious coping, pastoral guidance, and prayer are seen as the most preferred coping mechanism. Often, mental health issues in the African American community are formed from the psychological stress of systemic racism.

African American patients have also been misdiagnosed at higher rates than white patients, causing a distrust in the medical realm. This is one reason why African American patients won't seek treatment. Another reason is that seeking mental health care is very often seen as a sign of weakness. Although African Americans were more likely than Caucasians to believe that mental health professionals could help with mental illness, they were even more likely to believe that the mental health problems would just go away on their own, eventually preventing use of mental health services.