African Americans patients account for just 5% of clinical trial participants in the United States and hardly ANY clinical research studies were done that included African Americans. Depression presents very different in African Americans and uniquely different in African American women. I'm constantly reminding Dr Song of this fact ... she's got a doctorate degree but that doesn't mean she knows shit about the African American plight or any psych data because there hardly is any.
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Everything you learn in schools especially anything medical or psychological ... only focuses on white centered data and I find it hard to believe that most people don't even know that. 5% 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 ...
She says things like ... "She's not depressed and doesn't present as depressed but she has a lot of anger and self reports being angry at herself."
And I said ... is this woman Black? And she was like how did you know?
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Here's what you write as the diagnosis:
𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 "𝘽𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙄𝙣 𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖" 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙚
More info:
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/december/depression-Black-women.html
https://wordinblack.com/2023/01/heres-why-depression-in-black-women-might-be-overlooked-by-doctors/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/088394179290036I
Contrary to what you may think: People are not the same. People don't have the same realities. AT ALL.
Dr Song is insanely good at what she does ... epic in fact ... but she's limited by the information, education, and research that she has available that has all been done by WHITE MEN on WHITE PEOPLE ...
African American psychology and mental health is very different from other groups and cultures ... I'm not saying it doesn't share some commonality with other oppressed cultures ... what I'm saying is almost every member of the #GlobalMajority is going to be different from the white centered minority when it comes to mental health and even presenting symptoms. You have to be AWARE of those differences and you wouldn't be unless you studied it and no one has until recently.
The Black Women's Health Imperative is the first nonprofit organization created by Black women to help protect and advance the health and wellness of Black women and
girls.
https://bwhi.org/2017/07/31/depression-black-women-know-youre-depressed/
Superwoman Schema, Stigma, Spirituality, and Culturally Sensitive Providers: Factors Influencing African American Women’s Use of Mental Health Services
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7544187/
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To Be Female, Anxious and Black
https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/be-female-anxious-and-black
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12 Books on Behavioral Health Written By Black People
https://blackmentalhealth.com/12-books-on-behavioral-health-written-by-black-people/
The GP I had before was an Indian woman ... kind of racist ... but she called me paranoid when I talked about being wary going out into the world ... and this was while Donald Duck was in office and you could see how deeply frightening things were becoming. She was like you're being paranoid ... and that was one of the final straws as far as me leaving and finding a new doctor. She was a horrible doctor for other reasons but her flippant ignorance solidified it.
@thewebrecluse Different situation, and I'm looking just for medical understanding not cultural, which fortunately hasn't been relevant.
My doctors have been Indian, Chinese, Black, white, Iranian, Arab, Vietnamese, Korean, Slovakian. All American.
A young Black eye surgeon gave me pause - because he looked like he was still in high school. But 6 older doctors were shadowing him, learning from him in the university clinic, called him professor. So okay.😁
@walterbays are you asking something or? Telling me something ... ? I can't tell 😆
@thewebrecluse Just a random observation you triggered. I think you live somewhere most everyone is white and you stand out as the minority.
Where I live everyone is the minority. Most of them are used to it and enjoy the new experiences and flavors available. Some sadly do not. We had during pandemic some anti vaxers "observing" the mask laws by going to the store wearing KKK hoods.😥
@walterbays It's pretty diverse where I live. Most of the people in this area are either Indian or Black. I don't stand out at all. But when it comes to doctors, most of them are horrendously racist which you couldn't possibly notice as a white male.
@thewebrecluse Glad you live in a good place. I hope you can find a great doctor, and that your insurance lets you keep them a long time.
@walterbays I already did a while ago. I have a suite of epic doctors all female and my primary is Black. It took 50 years for that to happen.
@thewebrecluse Wonderful!
I had a great primary for many years (male, Chinese) but then when I got a real problem insurance began denying care and I had to switch. I think I found another great doctor (female, white, Arab?)
@walterbays I would say that it's rare for men to have problems with doctors. Men will stay with one doctor for most of their lives because they get centered attention regardless of the gender or the color of the doctor. That's not the case for women or women of color. Any white male experience is not going to represent the reality for members of the #GlobalMajority. But I'm glad you have a great doctor 👍🏾
@thewebrecluse I wouldn't agree that men rarely have problems with doctors based on what I've seen with friends and family. But judging from my wife and my sister, I must agree men have better experience. Often symptoms a woman reports are disregarded which would be taken seriously if a man were complaining of them.
@thewebrecluse Yes I've seen news articles on those studies. That's understandable.
I could also understand why white doctors unawarely harboring racist prejudice might give worse care to Black patients. But I cannot fathom why Latino, Korean, Arab, or Black doctors would do so. Have there been any studies of cross race bias?
@walterbays Remember that in a lot of cultures, including other members of the Global Majority ... Black is still the lowest of the low. Many cultures (including Black culture) colorism (the preference of white or lighter skin) runs rampant which is an offshoot effect of white supremacy thriving in all cultures. Dark skin is bad, less desirable, etc. It's general racism that causes medical professionals of other races to mistreat Black patients.
@thewebrecluse I think in India discrimination and assignment of lowest dalit caste is worst against darkest skin people of the South, with highest status to light skin associated with ancient Mughal conquerors.
Japanese perceive and discriminate against dozens of ethnic groups we cannot perceive.
Remember the old Star Trek episode of the war between the half white and half black people? Both were offended when Kirk said you both look the same.
@walterbays Yep it goes DEEP and everyone suffers from the same effects of white supremacy and colonialism. No matter what country you go to. It's really messed up.
@walterbays I wasn't speaking from my opinion ... I was talking about studies of males and doctors and medicine. Statistically men are LESS likely to even go to the doctor and don't usually address problems until they present and are more reluctant. Statistically men stay with the same doctor because they rarely see them and/or they get better treatment by default. There's a handful of studies on it, easy to find if you look.