Most African Americans with bipolar disorder are going undiagnosed and untreated.
Several factors have contributed to African Americans not receiving help for bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. Some of the reasons are:
* A mistrust of health professionals, based in part on historically higher-than-average institutionalization of African Americans with mental illness; and on previous mistreatments, like such tragic events as the Tuskegee syphilis study.
* Cultural barriers between many doctors and their patients.
* Reliance on family and religious community, rather than mental health professionals, during times of emotional distress.
* A tendency to talk about physical problems, rather than discuss mental symptoms, or to mask symptoms with substance abuse or other medical conditions.
* Socioeconomic factors which can limit access to medical and mental health care. About 25 percent of African Americans do not have health insurance.
* Continued misunderstanding and stigma about mental illness.
Signs of bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder often starts in the teen years, but can emerge in later life. It is a potentially life-threatening illness that a person cannot handle alone. Tragically, one of five people with bipolar disorder commits suicide. The signs of bipolar disord !
http://www.nmha.org/index.cfm?objectId=C7D...
* A mistrust of health professionals, based in part on historically higher-than-average institutionalization of African Americans with mental illness; and on previous mistreatments, like such tragic events as the Tuskegee syphilis study.
* Cultural barriers between many doctors and their patients.
* Reliance on family and religious community, rather than mental health professionals, during times of emotional distress.
* A tendency to talk about physical problems, rather than discuss mental symptoms, or to mask symptoms with substance abuse or other medical conditions.
* Socioeconomic factors which can limit access to medical and mental health care. About 25 percent of African Americans do not have health insurance.
* Continued misunderstanding and stigma about mental illness.
Signs of bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder often starts in the teen years, but can emerge in later life. It is a potentially life-threatening illness that a person cannot handle alone. Tragically, one of five people with bipolar disorder commits suicide. The signs of bipolar disord !
http://www.nmha.org/index.cfm?objectId=C7D...
