Mental Health Blog

Racism as trauma: A pediatric mental health perspective

After learning about the alarming rise in suicide rates among Black children and adolescents, Brittainy Erby, MD, set out to understand the impact of racial trauma and how to improve pediatric patient care.


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Helping African-American children with mental health issues

Last week I saw two children, both African American, who were having suicidal thoughts. In neither case did the child or the parents come in asking for mental health support.

One, a 13-year-old girl I’ll call Simone, wrote on her PHQ-9 depression screener that she had attempted suicide. In our interview, she revealed that she had had sex with a man she met online and that she had been cutting herself. Yet the reason she and her parents came in was an ADHD medication check!

Pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) need to realize that African-American families may not seek help for mental health issues. The reasons for the lack of disclosure are rooted in the stigma around mental health in the African-American community. The stigma, in turn, is rooted in the trauma associated with being Black in America.


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Helping AAPI patients cope with racism

Discrimination and hate crimes against people of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) descent have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. You may be wondering how you can help your AAPI patients cope with feelings that arise from experiences of racism.


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How to talk with patients about racism

Once pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) recognize the importance of having conversations about race with their patients and families, the next question is how to begin.


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Your patients need you to talk about race

“The first thing clinicians need to know about racism and discrimination is how important it is to talk about it.” Open, honest, and effective conversations about race and racism are crucial to young people’s mental health.


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Suicide crisis among Black youth

As suicidality among adolescents generally has declined in the past three decades, suicide attempts among Black adolescents have risen, according to a November 2019 article in Pediatrics. A report to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) says that rates of suicide death have risen more for Black youth than for any other racial or ethnic group. A growing concern is that Black youth are less likely to report suicidal thoughts but more likely to attempt suicide; Black males are more likely to suffer injury or death as a result. Suicidality is also increasing among younger children. The reasons for these changes are not clear. However, the risk factors for suicidality and underlying mental health conditions among Black children and youth are myriad.


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Culturally Responsive Mental Health Screening Tools

As you’ve dealt with back-to-school (and back-to-sports) visits, you probably have been challenged by the gap between what’s needed and what’s practical. This visit may be the only time you see this child this year. You know that emotional and mental health is as important as physical health. But you have only so much time for each check-up. Screening tools are a big help…


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“The opportunity to learn information to help me manage psychiatric conditions in my patients in this time where demand clearly outweighs supply of services, is going to be excellent for me as a PCP in my community.”

Akilah Cook, MD
Appleton, WI