The average black person considers mental illness a weakness and so avoids acknowledging the problem and seeking help. Also, many Asian cultures keep mental health issues within the family, as seeking external help may bring shame and soil their reputation. These issues are also prevalent among the Hispanic community, which prioritizes self-reliance and stoicism.
But the result is that people of color hide their mental health challenges, which only worsen as they’re left unaddressed. Minority populations are more likely than Whites to suffer chronic mental health disorders with worse symptoms.
If you’re a person of color reading this, you probably already know these rings true. Even when it is foreign to your cultural beliefs, going for therapy may be what you need at this point in your life, to solve the deep emotional turmoil you’ve been battling for long.
Below are specific ways therapy can benefit Communities of color.
4 Benefits of Therapy to People of Color:
Breaking the stigma
One of the foremost ways therapy can benefit people of color is that it helps break the barrier and stigma surrounding mental health.
As more people of color begin to openly go for therapy and there are more providers of color, many more will be encouraged to go. It’s like breaking the ice. There will be less shame as more people begin to accept therapy.
It opens the way for culturally competent care
You see, every minority community has unique psychological issues stemming from their culture, family values, and daily experience as a POC living in the US. These issues don’t usually come up when dealing with mental health within the White population, so hardly anyone takes note. A gap is therefore created, hindering the quality of care a POC may receive from a regular therapist.
When more people of color get involved in therapy, it fuels the need to create culturally competent care to address the subtle nuances within their communities.
It honors their unique identities
Minority populations in the United States all have their unique identities and experiences. Therapy for communities of color is designed to create a safe space where each person can expose their vulnerability without being judged. And this feeling of safety is supported by platforms like Loop Health that allow clients to be matched with a therapist of their own cultural background.
It’s all about acknowledging that these people have some unique needs and tailoring the therapeutic experience for them according to their values.
Validation through emotional connection
Phrases like “You have to be tough,” and “Other people have it harder than you,” are poor coping mechanisms that have made many people feel bad for having negative emotions.
But while most people of color would rather mask their deep emotional struggles with a stoic facade, therapy helps to validate those feelings. It affirms that those feelings and thoughts are neither shameful nor a sign of weakness but are worthy of attention. Therapy validates that other people have such emotions too, and you’re not the worst person in the world for feeling that way.
We all need attention—as humans, we crave to connect with others, to share our problems openly, to be understood. This social connection can be key to battling depression and other mental health challenges.
Therapy creates a space where you can feel understood, where you can release the emotions you have bottled in, where you can truly begin to heal through catharsis.
How to find a therapist of color near you
We understand the mental health disparity within communities of color and we created Loop Health to bridge that gap. Loop Health is an online platform that matches clients with licensed mental health practitioners of their own ethnic backgrounds. Find a therapist of color by visiting Loop Health today.
