February is Black History Month, so it seems like an apt time to call attention to the myths and stigmas that have been attached to race and addiction, historically and into the present day. At Safe Harbor Recovery Center, in Portsmouth, Virginia, we think it is important to address substance misuse with accurate information, cultural competence, and compassion.
Adversity Unique to the Black Community
Everyone experiences challenges in life. There are certain struggles, however, that African-American people are statistically more likely to encounter than people in some other groups. These hardships can increase the risk of an individual developing mental health and substance use disorders:
- Historical dehumanization and oppression
- Modern racism
- Low income
- Violence
- Discrimination when seeking medical and mental health services contributes to low confidence in clinicians.
- Lack of health insurance or other financial barriers to access
- Perception of mental health conditions as a sign of weakness, making it less likely that a person who is black will seek out treatment, despite:
- More African-American than white adults reporting persistent emotional distress
- Around 7 million black people experience symptoms of mental illness each year (this is similar to numbers of white adults, but more likely to result from trauma and violence)
- Higher rates of suicide attempts among black adolescents
Mental health disorders that are left untreated often contribute to substance use disorders, as people seek out ways to self-medicate their symptoms.
Myths About Addiction in the Black Community
Racism and misinformation have fueled stigma and myths around substance use in the black community. Though there are stereotypes of African American people using crack cocaine, the drug that black people most often misuse is alcohol, followed by marijuana. This is also true for other ethnic groups.
It is also important to recognize that the prevalence of substance use disorder is especially high for African Americans. The rates across races were as follows:
- Asian: 4.3 percent
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders: 7.3 percent
- Hispanic/Latino: 7.5 percent
- Black/African American: 7.6 percent
- White: 8.2 percent
- Mixed race: 10.8 percent
- Indigenous: 12.2 percent
Factors Contributing to Myths and Stigma
So, if black people aren’t more likely to struggle with addiction and they don’t necessarily use harder drugs than other people, where did these ideas come from?
- Drug policies in the United States have been largely rooted in racism and inequity, leading to disproportionate legal system involvement for black people with substance use disorder, versus white people with SUD. This includes greater rates of targeting, arrests, convictions, and incarcerations.
- High degrees of family separation due to incarceration, leading to more trauma and other adverse outcomes within the black community
- A more compassionate and effective response to overdoses related to drugs more commonly abused by white people, including meth and opioids
- Barriers to receiving treatment for mental illness and addiction, some of which were mentioned above, making it harder for people of color to recover.
More Effective Approaches To Treating People of Color
As the population of the United States becomes more diverse, it is important for agencies providing substance use and mental health treatment to take steps to ensure that they are providing the most effective care possible for each patient. This includes:
- Antiracism: Actively working to counter the harm that has been and continues to be caused by historical and modern racism. This includes changing policies, practices, and assumptions that marginalize people of color.
- Cultural competence: Team members must build their awareness of their own cultural perspectives and different world views so that they do not cause harm to patients as a result of their own lack of knowledge or assumptions. This makes them better able to engage with a wide range of people and offer effective help.
- Employing a diverse workforce: Having team members, on the front lines and in leadership roles, who are from a broad range of racial and ethnic groups, enriches an agency’s scope of knowledge and cultural competence. It also signals to clients and their families, that the company values, understands, and respects diversity. It may be easier for a person of color to build rapport with someone who looks like them and has experienced their culture or similarities to it.
- Recognizing the strengths of individuals and their cultures: The African American community has a wide range of protective factors that can build the resilience of its members, such as strong values, using music as a means of creative expression, strong family connections, and long-standing community and religious networks.
At Safe Harbor Recovery Center, we offer trauma-informed, individualized care for patients needing residential, partial hospitalization, or intensive outpatient programming for substance use and mental health disorders. Our experienced clinical staff use evidence-based treatments to support our clients in entering and maintaining recovery.