SIAKON MEDIA

Last time, we discussed depression in the black community, with Gary Coleman acting as our poster boy for what not to do when you are suffering from depression. In keeping with our theme, I now discuss the many reasons black folks don't get diagnosed and certainly do not get treated.

Acclaimed author and expert Dr. Alvin Poussaint believes there is too big of a stigma associated with depression in the black community. Poussaint states that more than 60 percent of black individuals don't see depression as a mental illness, while the Black Caucus Foundation has further cited that 63 percent of African Americans view depression as a "personal weakness." The result is that we do not seek help.

Terrie Williams is a high-powered publicist who has represented some of the most famous black celebrities in the world, including Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson. She is also the author of 'Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting,' in which she not only chronicles her own ongoing battle with depression, but also, through her Stay Strong Foundation, travels the world encouraging black folks to recognize and talk about how mental illness has affected their lives.

Williams believes that the issue is not just about the stigma of admitting to a mental health problem or depression (better known as the "I'm not crazy; I don't need no psychiatrist" syndrome), but that it goes even deeper. She refers to the "mask" as the major culprit of self-denial for depression:

"The mask is what we feel that we need to get through our everyday lives. It's the mask that says that I'm fine, that I am confident, that I'm accomplished. You may need the mask to maintain the competitive edge, but at the end of the day, you feel awful and you still feel the pain of your untreated depression."

Watch her discuss the mask here:

Williams points out in her many speeches and workshops that when we do not get help for our emotional issues, especially depression, "We engage in behaviors that are harmful to ourselves or others, such as crime, violence, promiscuous sex, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, workaholism, shopaholism and gambling in order to cope, and it's killing us."

As if the stigma of getting psychotherapy wasn't bad enough, the fear associated with psychiatric medications is even worse. Black Americans have traditionally mistrusted the medical establishment since the discovery of the criminal behavior of scientists during the Tuskegee Experiment, cited as "arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U.S. history."

With the Tuskegee study, scientists withheld penicillin and information from black Southern men afflicted with syphilis. Victims included patients who died of syphilis, partners who were infected by the disease and children who were born with congenital syphilis.

In addition to this mistrust many of us have with the medical community, there is also the reality that only 2.3 percent of all psychiatrists in the United States are African American. Therefore, this becomes a psychological and cultural block to getting access to psychiatric treatment and medication.

It should also be pointed out that the same dismal numbers among psychologists, where only 1.8 percent of them are black, also keeps some black patients from seeking culturally sensitive and culturally competent psychotherapy services.

Internist and psychiatric medication specialist Dr. Virgie Bright Ellington states:

"It's a shame that black people with depression are so fearful of and distrustful of psychiatric medications, especially when we are so fortunate to live in a time when scientists have figured out the underlying cause of major depression. Essentially many clinical depressions are caused by low levels of serotonin and norepinephrine neurotransmitters, which are special proteins in the brain.

"The miracle of science has discovered medications called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs) that help raise these levels of chemicals in the brain. The most important aspect of the SSRIs is that they get at the underlying biological problem of depression, instead of covering up the problem with sedatives. But many people, not just blacks, believe that they will be addicted to the medications or may have to take them forever, which is often not true."

Watch Ellington talk depression medication here: