Doreen Okeh

Period 2

Transcribed Interview #2

DO: Hello? Good evening. Dr. It's very nice to meet you. How are you?

CV: I'm good.

That’s great!. My name is DO Okeh, thank you so much for agreeing to have this interview with
me. I very much appreciate it.

CV:
Welcome, long lady

DO:So to begin, I just have a couple questions. And my topic primarily is the perception and
mental health other than the African American community, and I put that you'd be the perfect
candidate to interview and just to get some insight off of.

CV:
Okay, cool.

DO: So my first question is if you can please elaborate on the major differences in treating black
individuals in comparison to any other racial group?

CV: I think a big thing is the issue of trauma. And so if you look at American society, how
different things have been treated. By no means are blacks the only racial group that has been
persecuted or mistreated. But you don't see other ethnicity dealing with multiple unarmed man
being shot by police, and you don't have other people who come from this
legacy, slavery and Jim Crow, and all of those awful things have mental health implications for
sure. Both in terms of what's happening now, and in terms of what happened in the past. And so I
think there are a lot of components that have to do with race or trauma that has to do with
structural racism, that barely is the same.

DO: Interesting. So how important do you believe cultural competency is in caring for a patient
with a diverse background?

CV: When it comes to mental health, so in other medicine, it does matter that you like your
doctor somewhat. I mean, maybe not radiology so much, or maybe not even surgery. But when it
comes to, you know, how personal mental health is, a stable relationship is of supreme
importance. And you can't have a good therapeutic mindset, if you don't have an appreciation for
that person and their experiences, and an appreciation for the fact that it may be things about
their experience that you don't know, unless you have the cultural humility to try to understand
this.

DO: Interesting. So in sort of a different direction, to what extent do you believe that African
Americans may hesitate to seek professional assistance due to familial influences and the weight
of importance to an individual?

CV: So family, I think, can be a huge part of it, for sure. And in a society where people are
expecting for you to fail or to fall short based on the color of your skin, it may be perceived as
vulnerability, and perceived as weakness, or a deficit, right? Because you're already dealing with
the heavy mentality of ‘I have to prove myself more than other people have to prove their self’.
And it ends up being something that not only affect you at an individual level, but like at a
family level. So you're worried about proving yourself, but you're also worried about what it says
about your family, or that sort of thing. I remember when I was training in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, we had a big case and field population. But it was interesting, they actually
preferred providers who were not Creole, because they were more afraid of getting out amongst
their family or their friends since they had a Haitian Creole provider. So you know, this can go
different ways. But yeah, certainly, you know, Eurocentric American culture is less family
oriented than other cultures around the world.

DO: And there was a second part to your story, the first is about family, what was the second
part?

CV: Influence in the weight of importance to an individual? Yeah, so I think that people have to
be able to recognize it and conceptualize it as a mental health issue in the first place. And not as
like a spiritual issue or a strength issue or a character issue. Because if you think that your
depression is because you're not brave enough, then going to a psychiatrist doesn't make any
sense, right. And so that, that's step one.

DO: You mentioned religion earlier. And it is true that over 80% of black individuals are
religious or believe in a type of higher power. So what efforts do you believe can be done to
reduce the gap between religious leaders and mental health professionals in deciding the proper
care for a patient?

CV: Yeah, so I think that it is actually in the right direction. I’m seeing much more church
programming around mental health problems. And granted, I do live in Atlanta, which has a lot
of black professionals. And it's interesting, because it's just like southern progressive city, I'm
definitely seeing a lot of churches, openly talking about mental health, talking about depression,
encouraging people to therapists, encouraging people to do things. I do think that the things are
getting better.

DO: Interesting. So, I have another question. Why do you believe discussion about mental illness
is more limited in the black community than any other non ethnic, racial demographic? And do
you believe that these limitations are self implied?

CV: *inaudible*

DO:Excuse me, Doctor, I can't really hear you as clearly.

CV: Is that better?

DO: Oh, yes. Thank you.

CV: Yeah, as I was saying, I'm actually in multiple marginalized groups or multiple minority
groups. So for instance, the Morehouse School of Medicine, we have a lot of residents who are
either Indian or black like that. But most of our residents are black. And it's been really
interesting. You know, there are a lot of Indian, Indian characters. And it's been really
interesting, some of the comments within them about how stigmatized it is, within their own
community, even though they have all the people who are actually psychiatrists Indian just like
they are. Because it's hard to know what people don't talk about, right? If you're only dealing
with some sort of marginalization and arcane racism, you don't want the stigma of something
else on top of that, yeah. Right, because you already have sort of one market get to, and then you
also don't want to be in a position where you are marginalized from your minority group.

DO: Very true. You mentioned stigma earlier. So to what extent do you believe mental illness
discussion can be limited because of unspoken social stigma?

CV: Oh, tremendously. So I think this stigma is getting better. I think we're moving in the right
direction, I really do. I think it is evident, proven by the recent and gradual transformation of
discussions, as you said before, 10 or 15 years ago, it wasn't as widely or comfortably discuss,
but in current day, you can kind of see the progression, which mental health and its discussion
has, has progressed towards.

DO: I agree. I think the progression truly is there. And finally, I have one more question. The
African American community is in the midst of many demanding issues, such as the continuous
battle against police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Do you believe that these
issues take away from the needed attention and discussion about mental health within the black
community?

CV: Honestly, and this is part of my bias, but I really believe that mental health is in all those
things.
So I think a discussion about Black Lives Matter is a discussion about trauma and PTSD, and
fear and anxiety and combating activity and learned helplessness. All those things are in need of
discussion. So I don't think it takes away from and I think in some ways that the movement have
caused people to be more aware of the trauma that they experience, and have gotten people to
talk about. And so because of, like the broad applicability that mental health has, I think that
these things can be starters into discussion around,you know, health issues, and all discussion
around

DO: I totally, completely agree. Thank you so much, Dr. Vincent for your time and cutting out a
piece of your day to speak with me. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day!

CV: Thank you, Doreen. You as well.

Reflection- I conducted an interview over the phone with licensed psychologist. Her name is Dr.
Crystal Vinson and she is a licensed psychiatrist at Lorio Psych Group in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr.
Vinson provides information about the familial impact of mental illness treatment, and how
certain individuals will be discouraged to seek treatment because of its negative reflection upon
the family. Dr. Vinson explains how Eurocentric American culture is less family oriented than
other cultures around the world, but African Americans remain the most centered around such
values. Dr. Vinson concludes by mentioning additional attention needed regarding individuals
who have suffered through trauma, and how their unaddressed issues may translate to future
health issues.