Abstract
Literature abounds on issues related to African American mental health. Discrimination, socioeconomic status, and internalized racism impact mental health among African Americans, and the stigma associated with seeking mental health services has been documented. However, there is a dearth of information on improving African American mental health. This chapter provides an overview of mental health issues specific to this population and barriers to effective treatment. Critical Race Theory is the lens that is used to examine African American mental health within the contexts of race, power, and privilege. Effective mental health strategies are grounded in the population being served; therefore, approaches to improve African American mental health consider interactions of individual- and contextual-level factors. To combat historically grounded narrow constructions, strategic improvements center African Americans as the authors of their own experiences. Peer-reviewed scholarly research addressing these issues in an effort to increase awareness of the lived experience of African Americans is needed. Listening to African American voices reveals specific practical strategies for improving African American mental health.
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Edwards, N.N., Thompson, S., Bohecker, L. (2021). Practical Strategic Improvements for African American Mental Health. In: Adekson, M.O. (eds) African Americans and Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77131-7_13
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