Race-Based Trauma Is Real and Mental Health Professionals Are Wholly Unprepared to Treat It

“Black people don’t go to therapy.” It’s an oft-quoted belief that, for various reasons, has been hard to shake within the black community — pushed away by some as a sign of weakness. For Monica T. Williams, a clinical psychologist at the University of Connecticut and director of the Laboratory for Culture and Mental Health Disparities, it’s an uphill battle she’s well familiar with.

Penning an article for Psychology Today, she revealed “African Americans share the same mental health issues as the rest of the population, with arguably even greater stressors due to racism, prejudice, and economic disparities. Meanwhile, many wonder why African Americans shy away from psychotherapy as a potential solution to challenges such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, marriage problems, and parenting issues. As a black psychologist, it is troublesome that so many African Americans are reluctant to make use of psychology’s solutions to emotional hurdles.

“Something I found in my own studies is that even among African Americans who suffered greatly from mental disorders, many held negative attitudes about people who obtain mental health care,” Williams added. “No matter how impaired they were, they didn’t want to be one of ‘those people.’”

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