What is it about?
Research shows that Black Americans tend to avoid seeking psychotherapy. This review article reviews how a variety of factors contribute to this issue. This article also suggests approaches that psychotherapists can use to encourage mental health service use in this population.
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Why is it important?
Because Black clients have negative attitudes toward help-seeking, they are more likely to have poor treatment outcomes. Therefore, it is important for clinicians and mental health practitioners to understand more fully the nature of intentions, attitudes, and perceptions toward psychological help-seeking within the Black community. This understanding is important to ensure that appropriate action is taken to remedy this disinclination. Increasing Black Americans’ willingness to seek psychological help increases the likelihood of Black Americans receiving relevant and needed mental health treatment.
Perspectives
As a member of the Black community, this article is personally relevant because I have friends and family who are suffering with mental health concerns who are not getting the help they need. This has been a longstanding issue in our community and there is very little literature available about it. My co-author and I felt honored and privileged to write this article and we hope it will have a substantial impact in the field of psychotherapy.
Renee Taylor
University of Windsor
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Black American psychological help-seeking intention: An integrated literature review with recommendations for clinical practice., Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, August 2018, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/int0000131.
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