Mental health treatment still stigmatized by some

Submitted photo Achea Redd, mental health advocate and wife of a former NBA player

Pandemic adds to stressors already taking a toll on Blacks

First in a series

Some suggest that sports is needed for reopening America and a return to normalcy. But to some, this so-called normalcy is a constant mental health battle. May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
Blacks are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population.

Nevertheless, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Minority Health Office, only 7% of Blacks admit that they receive mental health services, 2% take prescription medicine for mental health, or 8% see a doctor for psychological reasons.

ā€œI think it is stigmatized in all communities, but not on the level it is in the African American community,ā€ said mental health advocate Achea Redd.

Many Blacks historically fear being called crazy or talking about their mental health to strangers. ā€œI’m not going to pay somebody and tell them all of my business,ā€ as Redd described the prevailing attitude.
ā€œThat’s my school of thought and a lot of Black people’s school of thought when it comes to therapy.ā€ It can be doubly difficult for Black women.

ā€œBlack women go through this whole thing of colorism—light skin, dark skin, good hair and nappy hair,ā€ she explained. ā€œIt is all of these things that was passed down to us from slavery. I think that Black men…don’t go through the colorism like we do as females.ā€

Several years ago Redd finally learned what had made her be so crazy for so long: ā€œI actually received a diagnosis in 2016, and that was after a breakdown,ā€ she said of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). ā€œIt went from uncontrollable crying all the time to developing a tremor where I was constantly shaking, then to recurrent panic attacks.

ā€œI felt like I was going to have a heart attack, and I was going to die. When I explained to my physician my symptoms, that was when he explained to me that it wasn’t anything physiological,ā€ Redd said.

Achea Redd with her family
Submitted photo

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says GAD is characterized by persistent and excessive worrying and being overly concerned about a number of things, finding it difficult to control such worrying. At least 3% the U.S. population has GAD, and women are twice as likely to get it.

ā€œFor so long I have thought there was something wrong with me. I think [the diagnosis] gave me validation to hear that there is nothing wrong with me. It is just something chemically in my brain that needed to be balanced. That helped me a lot and helped me move forward to my work of being an advocate.ā€

Redd is a mother of two and wife of a former NBA player. She has written two books with a third coming out later this year, and she started a young girls’ support group.

Asked if being a pro athlete’s spouse opened more doors for her in her advocacy, she said, ā€œNo, because we haven’t used that as an angle. I think I completely built this platform and the ability to speak on it mostly because I have been really, really open. I think people appreciate my authenticity.ā€

America’s imposed lockdown because of coronavirus only added another layer to everyone’s mental health and wellness challenges. ā€œAll of this pandemic has definitely impacted my mental health personally,ā€ Redd said.

ā€œWhen this whole coronavirus came on, I was not at a good place. There were a lot of things going on with me… There were days when I let myself just cry and cry because of feeling the emotion of being scared, of being uncertain.ā€