Black Men and Mental Health in America

In an effort to be transparent and truthful in our reporting, we are going to tell you the truth about Black mental health in America.

The truth is this: Black men are suffering from mental illnesses at a higher rate than any other group in America. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that "20% of Black men will experience a depressive episode at some point in their lives," but only 12% of white men will experience such an episode. When it comes to anxiety disorders, 15% of Black men suffer from them, compared to 10% of white men. Suicide is also more common among Black men than white men; 7 out of every 100,000 Black males die by suicide, whereas only 4 out of every 100,000 white males do so.

The reasons for this discrepancy are multi-faceted. One contributing factor may be financial—according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' September 2018 report on black unemployment as compared to white unemployment in July 2018, the national average was 5.5% for African Americans but 2.5% for Caucasians (this disparity has been true since 2013).

Black men, we need to talk about why!

Because we've been taught from a young age that emotions aren't cool, man. That anything other than "happy" or "brave" is weakness, and that being weak is bad. That being uncomfortable means something is wrong with you, or worse: You're doing something wrong.

Tip:

Emotions are just feelings, and feelings are just energy moving around inside of us—and energy can't be bad unless you decide for it to be bad! When you start thinking of emotions as pure energy instead of judgments on who you are as a person, it becomes easier to understand them and therefore easier to manage them too (not matter what they are).

We need to talk about mental health, and the fact that you don't always get the help you need.

The stigma around mental illness is strong in black culture, and it keeps us from getting the help we need. So let's start here: no matter how bad you feel right now, there is someone out there who has felt worse than this at some point in their lives. And they got through it! They still have feelings and emotions and dreams of their own! And they did it because they knew they couldn't do it alone—they had to ask for help from others who cared about them as much as they cared about themselves.

You can do this too! And we are here with open arms if you decide to take the next step and reach out for support with your mental health issues! - BMC