Mminorities and Mental Ilnness essays

Mminorities and Mental Ilnness essays The cultures of racial and ethnic minorities influence many aspects of mental illness in the United States, including how patients from a given culture communicate and manifest their symptoms, their style of coping, their family and community support, and their willingness to seek treatment. Cultural and social influences are not the only determinants of mental illness and patterns of service use, but they do play important roles. The condition of mental illness is affecting minorities in greater numbers than whites in the United States. Accessibility to care for minorities with mental illness is very difficult. Minorities are more skeptical to seek the proper care for this disease. Shame, stigmatism, discrimination, and mistrust also keep minorities from seeking treatment when it is needed, along with not having medical insurance. Racism and discrimination is another factor along with the mistrust of the health care system and the bias attitude of the physicians. The U.S g overnment and private health care providers are currently trying to create a more systematic approach for States and local communities to extend health and mental health care to their uninsured residents. In the United States cultural and social factors contribute to the causation of mental illness, yet that contribution varies by disorder. Mental illness is considered the product of a complex interaction among biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors. The role of any of these major factors can be stronger or weaker depending on the specific disorder. Ethnic and racial minorities in the United States face a social and economic environment of inequality that includes greater exposure to racism, discrimination, violence, and poverty. Living in poverty has the most measurable effect on mental illness. Majority of minorities within the lower income bracket, with less education, and basically blue collar occupations are about t...