African American patients don’t like to acknowledge it,
but we have some major mental illnesses that often go unrecognized
by family members until it is too late. Our community just experienced
a major mental health catastrophe that probably could have been
avoided if someone had paid attention to the family member.
Stress appeared to be the apparent cause of the mental health
break that caused a young mother to kill her three children
and hide the bodies under the sink. We need to report abnormal
behavior when our gut feeling tells us that one of our loved
ones is acting strangely. I encourage you to take a bold step
and alert the health department or mental health officials so
that we can possibly prevent such outrageous behaviors. It will
not be easy, but abnormal mental behavior in our loved ones
must be reported. As a rule people do not just “snap”
without warning. The symptoms of significant mental illnesses
are often very apparent, but we ignore them. We think if the
person gets a little rest, the problem will go away. No! The
person must get professional help.
This is the second anniversary of hurricane Katrina. African
Americans and others from that community continue to suffer
tremendously. As you can imagine, mental issues such as anxiety,
depression, and post-traumatic stress pose major health problems
for the victims of Katrina. Suicide is also on the rise among
those victims.
Violence is another issue that African Americans continue to
deal with daily. Our schools must partner with parents, police
officers, mental health professionals, and students to talk
about the risk factors of early violent behavior that signal
problems for the future. Risk factors do exist and parents,
students, and teachers should know them.
Knowledge is power and right now we as a community are powerless
when it comes to Mental Health issues.
I am Dr. Thaddeus John Bell--- Closing the Gap in Health Care.
Bell Update Volume 2, Chapter 34
Copyright August 2007
