In today's mental health Monday,
we are talking about the black community,
particularly the history of systemic
racism here in the US and the
mental health system and how it
harms black communities everywhere.
Here to explain a little bit more as
licensed therapist Doctor Cheryl Ziegler.
Dr. Ziegler, thanks so much for
coming in and talk about this.
I'm happy to be here.
Now, this is a complex issue
that we were just talking about
because it goes back centuries.
It does. It's really it.
It takes your breath almost away
when you see how this unfolded.
But really what happened in.
1840 there they decided they were gonna
ask about mental health for the first time.
So these US Marshals went around
and they were looking to ask
questions specifically for freed
and then unfried African Americans,
so slaves and then people who were free.
And somehow what they concluded was
that the African Americans who had been
freed were insane and feeble minded.
They called them idiots.
And so they're this was used
for propaganda that African
Americans shouldn't be freed.
Because if they were freed,
then they would be just become insane and
they weren't able to make rational choices.
And this has lasted for well over a century.
This kind of thinking, were you
mind blown? Like when you were
researching this, were you
just thinking, this is wild?
Yes. And while you're getting
trained to be a psychologist,
you learn about institutionalization,
which was a result of this.
You learn about that history.
But for me personally,
I hadn't learned.
About African Americans,
about immigrants and how that
specifically affected them.
So yes, even for me it sort
of took my breath away.
Well, and what breaks my heart
about this is too is, you know,
there are so many people who
to this day fighting systemic
racism at different levels.
Does this persist anywhere
that we're seeing today?
I mean is this something that
unfortunately this mindset that
like to us seems shocking,
does that persist in certain circles?
I mean, I can just speak from from
my world in terms of mental health.
There really was a thought not that
long ago where there was a belief
that maybe African Americans just
didn't have the genetics to have
high intellectual capabilities.
So that did persist for a very long time,
that notion of idiots.
And so that's something that's persisted.
And I think, you know,
even when we look at the NFL,
we look at the Super Bowl and what a big
deal it was to have two black quarterbacks,
right? Right.
The thought was, you know,
maybe African Americans aren't
bright enough to be a quarterback.
That was part of that systemic racism.
Even there was you know they're they're
better suited for maybe different roles.
So whether you're looking at sports,
whether you're looking at intellect,
classroom,
educational systems,
absolutely this has had lasting impacts.
This is such a bittersweet thing
because we need to know about this.
This is how we're going to correct,
you know any wrongdoing from the past
is we have to know that it exists.
But it breaks your heart to know like
like you mentioned the Super Bowl.
On one hand we wanted to celebrate that
there were two black quarterbacks.
On the other hand,
we thought how sad 2023 and we're still.
Celebrating things like
this. Absolutely. And I think,
you know, in terms of mental health,
how that impact is still absolutely
today is African Americans are
four times more likely to be
diagnosed with schizophrenia.
They are less likely to be
diagnosed with mood disorders.
They have disproportionate, you know,
representation in juvenile systems and
in penitentiaries and prison systems.
They have less access to mental health.
They're more likely,
just like the segment before,
they're more likely to also
discontinue treatment earlier because.
Maybe they don't feel that
that's culturally sensitive.
There aren't people that look like them
that are treating them to understand them.
So we have still huge problems.
So we have 5% or even less of
psychologists who are African American.
We have a long way to go to get
the right treatment to these people
who have for over a century,
well over a century,
not received the healthcare
that they really deserve
and just really quickly because we
are out of time. But are we seeing
that work happening now to go?
Went back and tried to correct this.
I think, in some small ways, you know,
I think having these kinds of
conversations are really important.
But in general, in health,
in the healthcare world,
I think the tide is turning
where we're just starting to pay
attention to what we need to do,
but we have a long way to go.
All right. Well, Doctor Ziegler,
thanks for bringing this to our forefront.
We appreciate it. Thanks for having me.