In the article “In ‘Blk & Blue,’ N.Y. artist focuses on mental illness in communities of color”here<tells of the story of a young artist whom was inspired by Pablo Picasso’s famous blue period to capsulize the mind of a Black person with a mental illness. Then the article tells of how Black people are less likely to receive proper care for their disorder and are more likely to be incarcerated if they have symptoms of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The art is to paint the picture of:”pervasive bias, from the everyday traumas of casual racism to the effects of systemic inequality, can exacerbate and prolong mental health struggles.” of the Black community.The art is meant to understood by all:”Roberts uses the color blue to create sensitive portraits of everyone from a hungry child to a worn-out family” The is because the artist is aware of:”African Americans are more likely than white Americans to experience psychological distress, but just 1 in 3 who need treatment will seek it. … it also is important to look at the environmental and societal factors that cause those ongoing disparities.

There is clearly a persistent issue with the Black community within theirselves it needs to be normalized that is normal to seek help for the mental health issue. Another clear issue is even when help is found it is not as good quality as it should be. These biases leave us with our high incarceration rates and other issues with the Black community that entirely does not root within us.

In the article “Healing for Mental Illness Can Take More Than Faith
by Erica Ayisi speaks of how the Black race is more likely to actually report the status of their mental health for Depression , PTSD,ADHD,ADD and suicide. In addition poverty,genetics and homelessness and other environmental factors like crime also weighs on their psychological health. The paradox here is although the black community is more likely to report their mental health when in distress they do not get treatment because it is perceived as something only white people do. The reason behind this is because seeking help to them would be selfish and due to the history of the Black race we historically have not been taught or programed or rather it has not been normalized that it is okay to focus on ourselves. The majority of the Black race instead of seeking treatment would try to look towards whatever faith they follow and try to pray away the illness. Although this only causes even more damaged to the already weakened state of the community’s psychological health.

The issue here is although the Black community is aware their mental state is unhealthy they do not get the treatment they need do to how treatment is perceived. The stigma around receiving help for mental illness in the community is hindering their excellence,this is because most mental illnesses are genetic and if the parents with mental illness believe this false perception the child who may have the illness or another will not seek treatment this becomes a stigma that is believed by multiple generations now.

The article from the New York Times “Trump Wants More Asylums – and Some Psychiatrist Agree” By Benedict Carey informs of since the recent events (school neighborhood shootings, other acts of gun violence) Trump being driven to the decision of need more Asylums. With this Asylums spree killings and mass shootings can be prevented. In addition, “ The majority of these murderers appear to be angry, antisocial individuals-with access to guns-whom the mental health system probably could not have spotted in advance.” The real question the author leaves us with is “ What is good health care , really? And what does the quality say about the society attempting to provide it?”

In the Black community the  issue of gun violence is nothing new but to hear that it has became  severe enough to impact more than one ethnic group to require more Asylums in the US is more than alarming. This shows overall how mental health has been ignore and pushed over to the side to the point it is an immediate danger to others lives on a large scale ;not just the person  who is mentally ill. With all the violence which occurs in our Black communities we need to be aware our the mental impact it has on us and those around us..

 

 
<a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/health/mental-illness-asylums.amp.html”>https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/health/mental-illness-asylums.amp.html