Dr. Tonya Armstrong, “Promoting African American Mental Health: Individual and Community Transformation”
“Promoting African American Mental Health: Individual and Community Transformation”
Written February 7, 2022 by Tonya D. Armstrong, Ph.D., M.T.S.
Owner, CEO, and Licensed Psychologist, The Armstrong Center for Hope
Associate Minister, Union Baptist Church, Durham, NC
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—[God’s] good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:1,2, NIV).
Transformation is not only a psychological goal; it’s a Scriptural imperative. Nevertheless, there are several aspects of the experiences of many African American Christians that present barriers to such transformation. Stigma surrounding mental health treatment is a universal phenomenon, yet is especially strong in African American Christian communities. As a people whose dignity is often questioned and dismissed, it is even more difficult for African Americans to acknowledge weakness. We may take on identities of Superwoman or John Brown, and society often reinforces these skewed identities. In many of our communities, we’ve been told by our elders, neighbors, and church families that we should not be airing our dirty laundry in public. Many of our forebears have gone to their graves bearing secrets from childhood, perhaps due to motives of fear or protection. Above all else, African Americans want to avoid being seen as “crazy,” because in our communities, “crazy” people are more often than not relegated to low-quality treatment in institutional settings where our humanity is even further diminished.
Our mistrust in the medical establishment serves as another impediment to the pursuit of treatment for mental health challenges. However, it is important to affirm that the mistrust has been well-earned. Not just secular members of our community, but devoted brothers and sisters in Christ are painfully aware of and have been directly or indirectly affected by medical racism, such as during the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a nontherapeutic experiment in which 600 Black men with syphilis were recruited without their consent to be observed for the natural progression of the disease. The study continued from 1932 to 1972 and denied treatment for study participants, even after penicillin was discovered as an effective treatment for syphilis in the mid-1940s, and continues to influence African-American mistrust in the medical establishment (Jones, 1981). Perhaps they were affected by the statewide eugenics program that contributed to forced sterilizations of nearly 7600 women and men in North Carolina between 1929 and 1976 (Fowler, 2020). Or medical experimentation performed on enslaved women without anesthesia dating back to the 19th century, or several instances of bioterrorism that have involved communities of color without their knowledge or consent (Washington, 2005).
Having served predominantly African American populations for 21 years as the Minister of Congregational Care and Counseling at Union Baptist Church in Durham and as the Owner and CEO of The Armstrong Center for Hope for the last 11 years, I have witnessed the universal struggles of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, disordered eating, trauma, disruptive behaviors, and so many other clinical symptoms and syndromes. Moreover, I have experienced with along with many of my African American clients the all-too-common exacerbations of systemic oppression leading to disenfranchisement in such areas as housing, unemployment, voting rights, education, health disparities, and community violence. Surely our faith allows us to have hope in the Good News of the Gospel, and to show resilience as we encounter inequities in nearly every sphere of daily functioning.
As a people, we stand to benefit greatly from the healing balm of culturally humble psychotherapy and other services that effectively address and (re-)integrate body, mind, soul, and spirit (Armstrong et al., 2021). Notwithstanding the stigma, desire to emphasize strength, healthy cultural mistrust, and structural barriers, African Americans Christians who make it to treatment find opportunities to be transformed in Christ, to disrupt so-called generational curses, to share the stories of their trauma in a confidential and sacred space, to learn coping strategies for the things they cannot change, and to perhaps shift their perspectives of what was previously considered unchangeable into action through agency, advocacy, and self-efficacy.
Our opening verse from Romans applies to any individual undergoing mental health treatment, for in my estimation, therapy is ultimately about transformation into the image of God, the God of love and justice. However, transformation does not occur in a vacuum. Transformation requires community, and specifically for Christians, the body of Christ. It requires respect for both the individual’s broader cultural context and the particularities of the individual’s historical narrative, rather than a blurring or erasure of those narratives. More importantly, transformation of the individual requires the action of those who identify as a part of shared community, be it via race, faith, or other areas of affinity. Transformation is facilitated when truth-telling, validation, and advocacy are incorporated, theologically and practically, into ways of life of the individuals, families, and institutions of that community. Even more than we need additional mental health professionals, our community needs ordinary people of uncommon kindness and extraordinary courage to act consistently from neighborly to globally systemic levels.
References
Armstrong, T. D., Pinson, V. M., Avent-Alston, L.'d., & Buckner, D. N. (2021, September 9). Increasing mental health service utilization in Black populations during COVID-19: Clarifying clinician responsibility. Practice Innovations. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000155
Fowler, H. (2020, August 18). ‘Act of genocide.’ Eugenics program tried to ‘breed out’ Black people in NC, report says. News & Observer. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article244411987.html
Jones, J. H. (1981). Bad blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. New York: Free Press.
Washington, H. A. (2006). Medical apartheid: The dark history of medical experimentation on Black Americans from colonial times to the present. New York: Anchor Books.
___________________________
Tonya D. Armstrong, Ph.D., M.T.S., a native of Durham, North Carolina, is a Licensed Psychologist and the owner and CEO of The Armstrong Center for Hope (www.armstrongcfh.com), a private group practice of multi-disciplinary mental health professionals cultivating psychological and spiritual wellness for all ages at their Durham and Raleigh locations. For 21 years, Dr. Armstrong also served as the Minister of Congregational Care and Counseling at Union Baptist Church (www.myubc.org) in Durham.Dr. Armstrong received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and music at Yale University, her Doctor of Philosophy degree in clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Master of Theological Studies degree from Duke University Divinity School (magna cum laude). During 2018-2019, Dr. Armstrong served as the President of the North Carolina Psychological Association, making her the first African American female to lead the organization.
Ever a lover of gospel music, “Dr. T” Tonya Armstrong released in 2009 her debut gospel album, Choose Hope, which is available on iTunes and Amazon. She is also the author of the book/CD set, Blossoming Hope: The Black Christian Woman’s Guide to Mental Health and Wellness and Blossoming Hope Companion: Soothing Songs and Spoken Word Recordings, available on Amazon, Kindle, Google Play, and Apple Music. Dr. Armstrong is a wife of 29 years and mother of a 18-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son.
__________________________
