This study aimed to examine mental health diagnoses, symptoms, and risk factors between Black adolescents who were currently receiving mental health treatment and those out of treatment. The research team focused on these areas based on feedback from an established community advisory board comprised of adolescents who mirror the study population. While quality mental health treatments have lasting and significant effects on adolescents (Weisz et al., 2017), access to and use of mental health treatments is not equitable among all adolescents. Black adolescents, between the ages of 12–18 years old, have been characterized as a particularly disadvantaged group given misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis of certain mental health disorders, and underdiagnosis of others, and limited access to mental health treatment (Liang et al., 2016; Rose, Joe, & Lindsey, 2010). This study examines mental health symptoms among Black adolescents who were currently in mental health treatment and those who were not in treatment. Most racial/ethnic minority groups overall have similar — or in some cases, fewer — mental disorders than whites.
Concerns about the mental health system’s ability to engage and retain youth with serious mental illness in treatment have prompted calls for age-relevant and culturally appropriate services (Edlund et al. 2002; Manteuffel et al. 2008; Pottick et al. 2008). Community-based programs also have the potential to address the mental health needs of marginalized youth, especially when they are culturally competent and community-driven. These young people often face compounded barriers that hinder access to mental health services, leading to unmet needs and disproportionate suffering.
- Adolescents who experience mental health symptoms that are more likely to be internalized such as depressive symptoms, or hidden, like substance abuse, may fly under the radar is not identified for treatment engagement (Bailey et al., 2019; Oser et al., 2016).
- Although the actual causes of racial disparities in diagnosis are inconclusive at this point, potential misdiagnosis of youth problems is problematic because it could mean that their mental health needs are unmet or that they are receiving inappropriate care.
- “In our report, we found over 95% of British Indians called for healthcare professionals to embody curiosity, compassion, and cultural nuance.
- For example, some programs incorporate traditional healing practices alongside Western therapeutic approaches.
- And yet only a portion of those reporting mental illness also report receiving treatment.
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One of the most promising new care models is the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), which aims to treat the whole person and is designed to address behavioral health care needs within the primary care setting. For this reason, collaborative models of care were developed, including the embedded psychiatric consultation model (5). PCPs themselves identified multiple barriers to mental health referrals, including patient’s resistance, stigma, and inadequate insurance coverage.
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Pakistani SAFE Project Latinx mental health resources and Black Caribbean children displayed more, while Black African children displayed fewer, externalizing problems than white children (Zilanawala et al., 2015). They found that Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Black Caribbean children experienced significantly more internalizing problems than white children. Another study assessed mental health scores among 7-year-olds, also using data from the MCS.
Perhaps indicative of this, we did not find any interventions that sought to change these normative environments beyond community/school level. The background for each paper was the marginalisation and stigmatisation of young LGBTQ+ lives, the impact this had on their mental health, the dearth of appropriate mental health support and the need for research to support the development of effective mental health provision. This is where we are stuck, we have much less research about the ways of addressing LGBTQ+ youth mental health and promoting wellbeing, across all research paradigms. These have also been crucial to the developments of research on LGBTQ+ youth mental health. Our framework suggests that those who provide support must understand individual lives, must connect with youth, must collaborate facilitating the young person’s autonomy and encourage agency. We understand LGBTQ+ youth mental health as arising from intersectional and complex factors.
It is suggested that the level of stigmatization of symptoms or syndromes may dictate how mental health problems are expressed (Krueger, Chentsova-Dutton, Markon, Goldberg, & Ormel, 2003). Some parents perceive ADHD behaviors as part of normal development and thus do not believe they warrant treatment (Maniadaki, Sonuga-Barke, Kakouros, & Karaba, 2006). The help-seeking literature may also provide some insight into what parents consider to be severe or pathological enough to warrant treatment. Caribbean Latina mothers of young children with disruptive behavior disorders interpreted hyperactive and restless behavior, but not children’s fears, as indications of anxiety (Arcia, Castillo, & Fernandez, 2004).
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