BERKSHIRE, England (WOMENSENEWS)—Olivia isn’t white, into “emo” music or shy. This is part of the reason it took her so long to come clean to her parents about the scars on her arm: girls like her didn’t fit the self-harmer stereotype in her head.

“There is also a stereotype that it only affects a few, weak people,” she said during an interview with Teen Voices over a selfharmUK online forum. “But that’s not always true.”

The 17-year-old black Londoner developed depression, which led her to cutting her arms. She stopped cutting in the middle of 2015, after her parents helped her find therapy to treat her depression.

She prefers to keep her identity private by taking the pseudonym of Olivia Pope, the black protagonist of the TV show “Scandal.”

At the same time, she insists that self-harm needs to become a more public conversation.

“We need to address situations like mine, to make people know mental health is incredibly, extremely important and has got to be discussed,” she said.

Discrimination and Depression

In the United Kingdom 3 in 4 girls between the ages of 11 and 21 say that self-harming is their generation’s biggest health issue, according to a 2015 study by GirlGuiding.

Self-harming, which can involve cutting, burning and hitting oneself, is often a sign of depression, anxiety or suicidal intent.

The effects of these mental illnesses can be amplified for those in marginalized communities, where there is a strong connection between race-based discrimination and mental illness.

Ninety three percent of black and ethnic minorities with mental illnesses have experienced discrimination, yet 80 percent feel unable to speak about these experiences, according to Time to Change, a charity based in London.

Part of that may be explained by the scarcity of groups in the U.K. that are addressing the unique mental health needs of black Britons.

African Caribbean Mental Health Services, a 24-year-old charity which purposely located itself in an impoverished section of Manchester, is one of the few. It runs a women’s group and a group aimed at teens. Black & Asian Therapist Network, an online network with nation-wide services, is the U.K.’s biggest independent organization that connects blacks and Asians to culturally sensitive care providers.

A newcomer is Recovr, a site that has announced plans to launch in June and aims to “help young black adults find black therapists and counsellors who relate to their experiences.”

Mental health authorities consistently point out that self-harmers are from all kinds of backgrounds and ethnicities.

However, a 2010 paper published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that black girls are more likely to self-harm than any other group surveyed in the emergency rooms of three big U.K. cities. In Manchester, for instance, rate for self-harm among black women was 10.3 per 1,000 compared to 6.6 per 1,000 for white people as a whole. Authors also found black British girls the least likely to receive assessment or specialist care.

Young black women “may not communicate their distress to clinical staff as much, and be less likely to admit to depression,” writes Dr. Jayne Cooper, the lead author of the report.

In the study, Cooper also found that black and minority ethnic groups “may find themselves disillusioned with the services they receive, and so be reluctant to return to hospital if they self-harm again.”

Cooper’s research was followed by a 2013 MIND report that found that people of color said staff weren’t diverse enough.

It also backs up findings from a 2011 Care Quality Commission study, which found that people from black communities generally have a worse experience of the mental health system than their white counterparts. At the time, Dame Jo Williams, chairperson of the study, called for greater attention to such factors as socio-economic disadvantages and whether patients were being referred from the criminal justice system.

Less Access to Care

Fifty percent of black Britons live in low-income families, according to a 2010 finding by Poverty.org.uk. Common deprivations, such as poor nutrition and fewer chances at a high-quality education, link said-poverty to mental illness.

Cal Strode of the Mental Health Foundation, which is based in London and provides services throughout England, Scotland, Wales and North Ireland, agrees it is harder for black girls and women to navigate the system of mental healthcare. “The result is that women of black ethnic backgrounds do not receive the support and interventions needed, which impacts BME (black and minority ethnic) women’s wellbeing,” she said in an email interview.

The foundation acknowledges that the healthcare system could be improved in this area. “Services are not culturally aware enough and BME communities hesitate to access services due to stigma,” Strode wrote.

Additionally, discrimination—especially the intersections of racism, sexism and colorism—can trigger mental health issues in black teenage girls and women. “On the whole, our research tells us that black women are more exposed to harmful experiences and stressors than non-BME women,” Strode said.

However, Strode says there is still not enough research on why black females are having mental health problems more commonly and receiving less mental healthcare.

That leaves many girls in the situation that Olivia used to find herself: feeling alone and inclined to blame herself. “As a black girl,” she said, “I just felt like I was letting down, I don’t know, MLK or Rosa Parks or my immigrant parents; people who have done everything for me to live a better life and be strong - not to wallow in self-pity!”

http://womensenews.org/2016/05/black-british-girls-most-likely-to-self-harm-least-likely-to-receive-help/

Why Black British women are struggling with mental health

Andrea, 25, had turned up at a police station confused and disoriented. She had one question, and kept repeating it: “Please can you help me look for a job?” I was the “responsible adult” when she was sectioned later that day. The police had come to Andrea’s house to let her mother know, but she was away. I was visiting my mum, when an officer knocked on the door. Having grown up with Andrea, I offered to go to the station.

“I’m really tired,” she told me, when I saw her. “You’re not the only one,” I thought. I am on Prozac and antipsychotics; one of my closest friends takes a high dose of Venlafaxine. Two girls I grew up with have been sectioned, one on multiple occasions. A further five are on antidepressants and my sister regularly has panic attacks. Another old friend, I’ve heard, has schizophrenia. Aside from mental health problems, we all have one thing in common: we are all black women in our 20s and 30s, and we can all testify to being “tired”.

According to the Mental Health Bulletin, nearly 5,000 “black” or “black British” people per 100,000 accessed mental health services in 2014-2015; 12.7% of those in contact with mental health and learning disability services spent at least one night in hospital that year. That’s more than double the percentage in the white population.

Do black women face an increased risk in terms of their mental health? “The simple answer is “yes’”, says Marcel Vige, head of equality improvement at Mind. “The figures around black men are high, but they are also very high for black women too.” I started a WhatsApp group called “HELP!” and added all the black women I know. I wanted to find out what was driving us insane. Situational circumstances can often trigger depression in people of any background, but are there cultural and social issues that can induce poor mental health in black women in particular? I wanted the group to help me understand what was going on.

I was immediately inundated with messages: “Why do I have to change who I am so that people don’t find me intimidating or aggressive?” wrote Michelle, a 27-year-old teacher. “It’s tiring to have to always conform to get ahead.”

“I can’t embrace who I am, fully,” typed Grace, a 24-year-old PA. “I need to make sure people are always comfortable with me.”

“I have to prove that I can do the same thing as a white person,” messaged Naomi, who is 31 and works as a marketing executive in the city. “Often what I say will be ignored, then someone who is not black will say it and all of a sudden it makes sense!”

Zoe, a 27-year-old pharmacist, wrote: “I am treated like I’m odd just for being myself and doing the things I like to do. I’m always viewed through the eyes of people’s narrow-minded expectations.” And Maya, a 25-year-old events manager told us: “I would say, being treated like I should be grateful for everything – because I am black and a female, the lowest of the stack. Therefore anything positive I have achieved is not based on my academic or physical ability – but through help and compassion shown to me. I’m expected to be forever grateful; and, in return, be willing to be a slave to the man. White or black.” Each of these women are educated to degree level or more. Each have confessed to “playing a part” in order to get a job and be accepted while there. As a result, they feel they deliberately diminish what they perceive to be their “black self” in order to progress. “For black women, I think it’s about showing a proxy-self,” says clinical psychologist Anu Sayal-Bennett from the British Psychological Society. Playing a role is fun if you’re an actor, I suppose, but constantly bending to how others feel you should be must affect your psyche.

One of the girls in the “HELP!” group told a story of how she’d had a heated argument with a colleague; both of them had raised their voices but because she was gesticulating, her colleague told her to “stop being aggressive.” She explains how, “I had forgotten who and where I was. I was deeply disappointed that I got tagged with one of the most popular terms associated with black women and I have not argued a point since.”

The fact that black women face struggles with perception every day can often mean that the constant fight seems normal. It became clear that these women were resigned to their fate. As a black woman you are scary, inadequate, ugly or hyper-sexualised – and you just have to accept it.

“I don’t talk to people who say they have mental health issues,” says Dr Victoria Showunmi, a lecturer at the UCL Institute of Education. “I talk to black women in particular and, after speaking to them in a discussion group, say, they will then acknowledge the fact they have been suffering from issues related to bad mental health.”  She speculates that these might be “the need to be strong, resilient, [and] fear of being called an angry black woman.”

Research from the Mental Health Foundation suggests that African-Caribbean people living in the UK are more likely to be diagnosed with severe mental illness than any other ethnicity in the UK. This may be because they are reluctant to engage with services, so are much more unwell by the time they do. Mental illness is a stigma within the black community and, because of a lack of participation with mental health authorities, experts admit there is a huge gap in statistics for this growing problem.  

“Little is known about black women and mental health as these individuals have been largely absent from research,” says Josefien Breedvelt, research manager at The Mental Health Foundation. “The majority of the research has looked at ethnic minorities as a whole, rather than providing a focus on the challenges faced by black women.”

I asked my mum what she thought when I first told her I had been diagnosed with depression. She said the family were all united in their sympathy for me, but wondered what I had to complain about. “I didn’t understand,” she said. “To us, you were brought up with more than your parents and other children left in Ghana. To us you have everything – what do you have to be sad about?” Their tone has since changed – I’m fortunate to have a loving family who researched depression and did everything they could to understand me.

From the messages I received on WhatsApp, guilt was a common theme. “There is a consciousness that follows you around,” said Grace. “If you feel blue or sad, you have to remind yourself that a family member somewhere else might be going hungry.” From experience, if you don’t remember, your family will be sure to remind you. Where everyday survival is the necessity, mental health will not necessarily be a priority. But that guilt is often deeply ingrained.

Between episodes in hospital, one of Andrea’s main worries was that I would tell her mother that she was unwell. Even through the confusion that she felt, she was very clear that she didn’t want her mother to know what was going on. Andrea is still sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The last time I went to see her, the majority of women in the unit were black.

Shymm3xx:
missy89, depressedgurl, kaziblake

My other handle has been banned by spambot. And I'm waiting for the mod to unlock the article about the mental health problems of black women in the US. I can't find the one for Nigeria, but I believe it's worse.

Once you look at the two article, you'd see that most black women need to seek help. The funniest thing is that, it's so problematic these days that black girls from as young as age 11 already have mental health issues. And these are the girls that will grow up and end up dating and marrying black guys, hence they're so problematic.

The biggest elephant in the room in all of this is: self-hate.

So, what can be done to solve this scourge cos most black men are now leaving the problematic black women for white women?

Missy89:

Lol

According to the US department of health,
The death rate from suicide for African American men was four times that for African American women 3 years ago.

And i read somewhere that over the last 30 years there have been 20 studies showing that people of Caribbean and African origin have an increased risk of being treated for serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and mania. The increased rate is of epidemic proportions in Britain.

Maybe black women are leaving them because they are weak,suicidal and schizophrenic.

Hector M. Gonzalez, Ph.D., and colleagues at Wayne State University, Detroit, found that overall, only about half of Americans diagnosed with major depression in a given year receive treatment for it. But only one-fifth receive treatment consistent with current practice guidelines. African-Americans had some of the lowest rates of use of depression care.

Because blacks, particularly black women, experience higher rates of depression than their white female or black male counterparts, but receive lower rates of treatment for depression — specifically adequate treatment — they remain one of the most undertreated groups for depression in the United States. Several major reasons account for high rates of depression and low rates of treatment for depression among African-American women.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nia-hamm/depression-african-american-women_b_5836320.html

Shymm3xx:


Lol. Always post references when you're making a claim.



Drop the sex war. You're a woman and you will most likely have daughters...and this is epidemic.

What solutions can you proffer?

Missy89:


The fun thing about stats is that you can cherrypick the one that fits your narrative.

http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=24

[s]You are the one waging the war by painting majority of black women with the same brush.


There is no need for solutions. If you like white women, good for you. Complaining about black women when you are with a white woman means you are not happy where you are. I dont criticize black men when i am with someone from a different race. Not worth it.[/s]

pweeryambre:
There's no solution to the problems of the black girl unless the world, including her own kind stops making her feel inferior in any way they can, then she will begin to feel more relaxed and have some confidence, even in the way she trains her off spring...
I mean:
Why is it OK that an ordinary white girl's decision to remain unmarried is respected.
While a black girls decision to remain unmarried is disrespected and Is believed have been born out of frustration
Why is Kanye West and Kim Kardashian union well celebrated today? They were an interracial couple and a white woman is involved.
While Robert Pattinson and his engagement union to his black girlfriend FKAtwigs is seen as an abomination.? They are still an interracial couple but, there were lots of hate comments all over the place by mostly white folks at the poor black girl when there engagement was announced in 2015. Some even outrightly called her a monkey. This alone is enough to negatively affect the psyche of any black girl living in a white man's world. It is quite depressing.
Meanwhile Pattinson white ex girlfriend K. Steward cheated on him hence their Separation and she went on to become a lesbian currently, proving that her feelings for him might not have been true all the while, and is also suspected to be involved in hard drugs.
If a black girl did this she would be called a "Hoe" but watch how the media reports white girls story, they tend to add some kind of humor to it in such away you would almost think it OK for them to be the way they were. These instances are the ones we know because they are celebrities.
There are Lots of white Lindsay Lohan girls that keep going in and out of rehab, self harm, fight with boyfriends and are much suicidal too, but the media will have it reported more in bad taste on their black counterpart just like OP is doing now (trying to make a mockery out of sick black girls under the guise of seeking solution)In order to keep up white supremacy.
Even the way the media presents Rob Kardashian and blac chyna, you just have to hate the black girl.
There are lots of good, clean headed feminine black girls with no health or mental issues all over the place. If only the discrimination and disrespect will stop, then maybe people would start seeing the things they always want to see in them.
Ps: I do not care if I had made sense or not to anyone.

Shym3xx:


However, you can't negate the self-hate instilled in young black girls by their mums, from a young age. It isn't uncommon to see parents who see their dark skinned daughters as less desirable than the light skinned ones. Ditto hair texture. I've read cases of girls complaining about issues like that.

So, what are mums doing to stop this?

pweeryambre:

The black mum doesn't have to do anything. Like I said, the world should stop Disrespecting and Discriminating the black girl first, (as it is a form of abuse) so that it's resultant effect of her self hating will stop reflecting on her children.

interloper:
Personally I do worry about the black girl child all over the world especially those in a not so homogenous societies where race, sexism and skin color is always a reminder they are not good enough or will never be the best or just don't measure up enough !

The defacto symbol or race for all things good and "Camelot" thanks to the media and somewhat indirect global narrative has to white skinned and fair!

I have often wondered the quiet "wink and nod" that has always accorded the Lindsey Lohan's of this world without so much of a noisy condemnation of her gaffes but I sincerely doubt if she were black? if at all she will get away with all this misadventures.

In trying to seek a solution to this issue which I pretty much doubt will be a one linear be all end all thingy, I will humbly proffer more time and bonding session should be encourage by adults both male and female within the black communities with the black girl child to help articulate her strenght, intelligence and behavior.

As rightly mentioned by an earlier poster, it's certainly hard for the black men to break the myriad of Employment ceilings, a few get lucky but most don't especially in the western world and it does have a domino effect on the black men. Once economically stifled it's very hard for him to play his role as a father, uncle, son, nephew etc and be there as a man for his wife, daughter, niece etc........a very painful cycle in a very cold world we live in.

I hope to God soon rather than later, Africa countries economies will be high up in the pyramid on many fronts then we can begin to create opportunities not in the West but in Africa rather for all the black melanin skinned people who in their heart of hearts are tired bottling up this racism and discrimination over the years within!

Bottling all this up can make any fragile heart go mental especially a young heart.......we are only human afterall. So what ever good we can do within our immediate community? we should do, whatever word of encouragement we can share? pls share, whatever mentorship we can provide? let's keep it up, whatever role model we can exemplify? pls embolden yourself more and may the good Lord help to bring the best out of our race or black melanin skinned people as a whole.

Shym3xx:
Kaziblake

You're missing on this thread, after getting emotional on the last one.

Come join the sequel and tell us how you really feel.

kaziblake:
Just leave me alone

Shym3xx:


Lol, can't leave you alone, the game needs you.

This is "Birth of a Nation" - Nat Turner needs ya arse on the frontline.

Bring that big batty here, black woman.

I wanna read ya opinion.

kaziblake:
so you can ridicule us more right?
You need contribution and opinions...ask those white hoes.

Shym3xx:


Lol, I don't ridicule black women - I spread love to them the Brooklyn way.

Stop it, I seldom mess with white chics, that's a thread based on the current temperament of the UK and complaints from black chics, to act as a tool for proper conversation. I already had that conversation on a next Black British board last month with black chics and it was fun. That's the reason why I decided to bring it here. However, most people on here just tend to be a tad backward with medieval mentality, hence it went South. They always have nothing to contribute to any conversation, apart from being utter aggressive and acting like they know you with illiterate advice no one asked for. This forum can be very difficult and it represents how backward and effed up Nigeria is.

I wanna read ya opinion.

kaziblake:
You need my opinion after insulting me?i don't have any...

Shym3xx:


Lol, I didn't insult you. I just caressed ya big batty like an original black man is meant to do. If I don't, who would the right way?

Finna twerk that thang fi mi, nah?

kaziblake:
I will rather twerk for a black nigeria man who appreciate us than twerk for you who demean us all the time.
Those white girls could twerk for ya with their flat ass

Shym3xx:


Saying the bitter truth doesn't mean "demeaning", unless you're the type that likes burying ya head in the sand.

Don't underestimate white chics, some of them have humongous natural batty these days, like the one I mess with sometimes at the gym. But you're right - when it comes to twerking, it's a struggle for them. Hence I need that ole humongous black batty like yours to twerk pon de Mutombo fi mi, girlie. Wahh ya say, my Queen?

I love me some black chocolate women like my coco pops. That's the reason why I stopped messing with cheerios.

kaziblake:
You are not serious oya come lemme twerk for you

Shym3xx:


Lol, now, that's my girl. Come drop that thang pon de black man.

Work, work, work, work, work, work/
He sey mi have tuh
Work, work, work, work, work, work/
He see mi do mi/
Dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt

kaziblake:
www.nairaland.com/attachments/4118734_jotwerking_jpega27073f1c54d3eeb0ae4ce08cc680798

Shymm3xx:


Again: what solutions can you proffer to this problem plaguing black women/girls?