For the 37 Percent, Stigma Trumps Acceptance

In November, 2012, a fourteen-year-old Utah boy named David Q. Phan committed suicide by shooting himself on a pedestrian bridge near his junior high school.  It was reported that he had been the victim of bullying.

In June, 2013, the New York Times published a story about three students who committed suicide at East Hampton High School during the past three years.  All three students were Hispanic.

Sam Harris, who is half-Native American and half-African American, has written a first-person account of his own experience with mental illness that has been published on SAMHSA’s “Promote Acceptance” web site.  In his account, he reports that he lived for years with symptoms of mental illness without seeking help in part because he believed that he would be stigmatized by “going to the white man” for help.

And in a case which has attracted recent national attention in the aftermath of the Zimmerman verdict, 32-year-old Marissa Alexander – an African American and a past victim of domestic abuse – received a 20 year sentence in Florida after she fired a bullet in the direction of her estranged husband during a domestic altercation.

These diverse individuals all have had something in common. 

They all have lived in America.  They all have been among the 37 percent of Americans who are considered minorities.  And they all are or were among the 6 percent of Americans who have had a mental illness – such as PTSD, depression, or psychosis – which is considered to be serious. 

They –and others like them – are the reason that July was designated National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.

Because while all forms of serious mental illness touch all races and ethnicities, all ages, and all socioeconomic groups, they do not touch them equally. 

For example: 

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Native Americans between the ages of 10 and 34.
• Hispanics living below the poverty level are three times more likely to report experiencing psychological distress than are Hispanics living above 200 percent of the poverty level.
• Up to 70 percent of Southeast Asian refugees receiving mental health care have been reported to have PTSD, and Asian American women have the highest suicide rate of women over the age of 65.
• African Americans are 20 percent more likely to report having serious psychological distress than are white Americans.

These are some of the realities Americans deal with every day, and they have been a special focus of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health.

Serious mental illness is a threat to both life and liberty.

According to the Office of Minority Health, Black students are 30 percent more likely than white students to attempt suicide during high school. Hispanic students are 60 percent more likely than white students to attempt suicide. Asian American students are 70 percent more likely.  And Native Americans are an astounding 140 percent more likely to attempt suicide.

And SAMHSA has noted that over 26 percent of people who are chronically homeless have serious mental illnesses.  SAMHSA also notes that our sheltered population is disproportionately minority (only 42 percent of those sheltered are white) – and in some of our largest cities people of color comprise nearly the entire chronically homeless population.

Our jails and prisons have also become our de facto mental health facilities in recent times.  And, according to 2012 data from the Center for American Progress, 60 percent of our prisoners are people of color.  Male prisoners are 2.5 times more likely to have serious mental illness than are people in the general population.  Female prisoners are five times more likely!

We can learn a great deal by understanding the realities of mental illnesses among minorities in America.

We can learn, as a matter of fact, that mental illness often seeks its victims from among those who least able to defend themselves.

We can observe, as a matter of perspective, that the stigma associated with mental illness is harder to overcome when it is coupled with de facto discrimination.

And we can remind ourselves, as a matter of public policy, that the experiences of white males in our society are clearly not representative of the experiences of everyone in our society.

This all hits especially close to home for me.  My son is among the 37 percent, the 6 percent, those who have had suicidal ideation, those who have been imprisoned, and those who have been homeless. 

Paul Gionfriddo via email: gionfriddopaul@gmail.com.  Twitter: @pgionfriddo.  Facebook: www.facebook.com/paul.gionfriddo.  LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/paulgionfriddo/