Young African-American Males Face Mental Health Crisis; Experts Call For New Treatment Strategies and Better Acce...(suestypically experienced during adolesc...),Health

Moreover, the paper notes that:

-- Racism can affect mental health by reducing socioeconomic status, diminishing access to desirable resources and contributing to poor living conditions.

-- When positive adult male role models are absent, many black youths turn to their peers for help in forming a male identity, an adaptation that often means absorbing negative influences.

-- Urban stress is an important factor in the psychological development of young black males because many live in deprived and dangerous neighborhoods where they are exposed to violence.

-- Significant problems are also encountered by black males who grow up in predominantly white, middle-class communities where they feel distanced from the white youths and also from blacks from poorer communities.

Citing these problems, the paper makes a plea for better access to mental health treatment for young black males, noting that they currently often confront a "confusing maze" when trying to get help.

The paper notes that when young black youths do find treatment, depression is often overlooked because their symptoms often differ from white youths'. For cultural and social reasons, black youths often express suicidal feelings through somatic complaints rather than sadness or depression.

Moreover, the paper calls for more "bicultural" training for young black males. Such training would better prepare them to follow proper behavior in school and the workplace, while also working with young black males to get them ready to deal with the discrimination they are likely to face. Also cited is the need for a significant increase in the number of black therapists available to w
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