Treatment Seeking for Anxiety and Depression Among Black Adults: A Multilevel and Empirically Informed Psycho-Sociocultural Model
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-2022
Abstract
Black adults with anxiety and/or depressive disorders underutilize outpatient psychotherapy and pharmacological treatment compared to White adults. Notably, anxiety and depressive disorders tend to be chronic and Black individuals with these disorders experience greater functional impairment than White individuals. Documented racial disparities in mental health treatment initiation indicate a need for research that addresses culture-specific barriers to treatment. This review paper critically evaluates existing theoretical models of treatment seeking among Black adults to inform a novel integrated, culturally contextualized model. This model extends previous ones by incorporating factors relevant to treatment seeking among Black adults (e.g., racial identity, perceived discrimination, medical mistrust) and critically examines how these factors intersect with key factors at three levels of influence of the treatment seeking process: the individual level, the community level, and the societal level. We posit interactions among factors at the three levels of influence and how these may impact treatment seeking decisions among Black adults. This model informs suggestions for enhancing interventions designed to support outpatient service use among Black adults.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Behavior therapy
First Page
1077
Last Page
1091
Recommended Citation
Dean, K. E., Long, A. C., Trinh, N., McClendon, J., & Buckner, J. D. (2022). Treatment Seeking for Anxiety and Depression Among Black Adults: A Multilevel and Empirically Informed Psycho-Sociocultural Model. Behavior therapy, 53 (6), 1077-1091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2022.04.005