Mental Health is an incredibly important yet rarely-emphasized piece of the holistic healthcare puzzle. However, according to the World Health Organization, mental health ranks only second behind cardiovascular disease in its impact on disability within the United States. Any sort of mental health disorder can be crippling for day-to-day life, especially for those within religious and cultural minorities who already deal with barriers to healthcare.
The most visible barriers to healthcare for minorities are the cost of care, societal stigma, and the disjointed organization of available services. However, specifically within religious minorities, additional barriers include clinicians’ lack of awareness, bias, or inability to speak the patient’s language—which all result in an additional barrier stemming from the patient’s fear and mistrust of treatment. More generally, health disparities also originate from minorities’ modern and historical experiences with racism and discrimination, which affect their mental health and contribute to a lower economic, social, and political standard.
Specifically for Muslim Americans, there has been a growing rate of psychiatric problems including, but not limited to; major depression, anxiety, mood disorders, PTSD, and OCD. “According to the Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services in Chicago, 43% of Muslim Americans suffer from adjustment disorder, 15% suffer for anxiety disorder, 9% suffer from mood disorder, and 10% suffer from PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” In addition to mental health issues, emotional and behavioral health are also important indicators of future mental health status for young Muslim Americans. “16% of Muslim American children are diagnosed with ADHD, 13% with anxiety disorder, 15% with mood disorders and 2% with eating disorders.” According to the same study, there has been an exponential increase in the amount of reported mental health problems within the Muslim community since September 11th. This is a direct result of the victimization, trauma and cultural conflicts that have stemmed from illogical fear among white Americans (or Americans belonging to other minority groups.)
Source: Basit, A., & Hamid, M. (2010). Mental health issues of the Muslim Americans. Journal of the Islamic medical association of North America, 42, 106-108. Retrieved from http://jima.imana.org/article/view/5507/42_3-5