The Data: Why We Must Work Toward Mental Health Solutions

• Only 6.6% of Black Men receive mental health services, which is the lowest compared to women and other ethnic groups’ rates.
• Black Men have the lowest life expectancy of any other group.
• African American adults are 20% more likely to experience mental health issues than the rest of the population.
•  Only 3.7% of members in the American Psychiatric Association and 1.5% of members in the American Psychological Association are Black.
• Hispanics and Latinx individuals only make up 18.3% of the population, and of those about 16% have reported a mental illness within the past year – that’s about 10 million people [which is more than the population of New York City].
• AAPI individuals make up only 6% of the U.S. population, but of those about 15% have reported a mental illness in the past year. That is over 2.9 million people, which is more than there are dentists, lawyers, and postsecondary teachers in the U.S. combined.
• Native and Indigenous communities make up only 1.3% of the United States population and of those, about 19% have reported a mental illness in the past year. That is about 827,000 people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness [that’s more than filling up each baseball stadium on the East Coast…twice!].
• 25% of people with Mixed identities reported having a mental illness.
• People who identify as two or more races (24.9%) are most likely to report any mental illness within the year than any other racial/ethnic group.
• Of those with mental illnesses, the uninsured were the ones least likely to get the treatment they needed.

Sources

USC – Why Mental Health Care is Stigmatized in Black Communities

DISCOVERY MOOD & ANXIETY PROGRAM

Anderson, Norman B. et al. “Stress in America: The Impact of Discrimination.” March 2016. The American Psychological Association. Accessed May 8th, 2021.

BIPOC Mental Health.” 2021. Mental Health America. Accessed May 8th, 2021.

Mental Health Disparities: Diverse Populations.” 2017. Division of Diversity and Health Equity. Accessed May 11th, 2021.

Office of Minority Health. “Mental and Behavioral Health- African Americans.” September 2019. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed May 8th, 2021.

Williams, David R. “Stress and the Mental Health of Populations of Color: Advancing our Understanding of Race-related Stressors.” 2018. PMC US National Library of Medicine.