Adolescent Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Curr Opin Pediatr. 2022 Aug 1;34(4):313-319. doi: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000001139. Epub 2022 Jul 5.
Depression among Black youth has been under-identified, misdiagnosed and undertreated leaving many Black youth to suffer with this potentially debilitating condition. Thus, it is crucial to evaluate how to appropriately identify and treat depression in Black adolescents. This review outlines the risk factors for the development of depression in Black adolescents, the barriers they face when attempting to access mental healthcare and culturally sensitive actions steps a primary care provider can take to help increase the appropriate diagnosis and ultimate treatment of depression in Black adolescents.
Depression can present differently in Black adolescents, which leads to its under identification or misdiagnosis. Moreover, in recent years, the rate of suicide among Black adolescents has been disproportionately rising faster compared to other race/ethnic groups. There have been multiple barriers identified that can be attributed to these findings such as provider mistrust, cultural stigma against seeking help for mental illness, lack of education in the Black community about how depression presents, and lack of financial resources to access mental healthcare.
By understanding the unique experiences and inequities faced by Black youth, a culturally responsive assessment can be performed as the crucial initial step in the diagnostic assessment of their depression.
黑人青年中的抑郁症一直未得到充分识别、误诊和治疗不足，导致许多黑人青年遭受这种潜在的致残疾病的折磨。因此，评估如何正确识别和治疗黑人青少年的抑郁症至关重要。本综述概述了黑人青少年抑郁症发展的风险因素、他们在寻求精神保健方面面临的障碍，以及初级保健提供者可以采取的文化敏感的行动步骤，以帮助增加黑人青少年抑郁症的适当诊断和最终治疗。
抑郁症在黑人青少年中的表现可能不同，这导致其识别不足或误诊。此外，近年来，与其他种族/族裔群体相比，黑人青少年的自杀率不成比例地迅速上升。已经确定了多种障碍，这些障碍可归因于以下发现：提供者不信任、对寻求精神疾病帮助的文化污名、黑人社区对抑郁症表现的教育不足，以及获得精神保健的财政资源不足。
通过了解黑人青年所面临的独特经历和不平等，可进行文化响应评估，作为其抑郁症诊断评估的关键初始步骤。
