Psychiatric diagnostic tools may not be valid for African Americans
After spending twelve months in a disadvantaged predominantly Black neighborhood in the Midwest to understand how African Americans perceive depression, Alang suggests that clinicians and researchers should be asking if the instruments they use to diagnose and assess depression are really valid among African Americans. She details her findings in a study called "'Black folk don't get no severe depression': Meanings and expressions of depression in a predominantly black urban neighborhood in Midwestern United States" published in Social Science & Medicine Journal. In the study, Alang suggests that African Americans perceive depression as a weakness inconsistent with notions of strength in the community, rather than as a health condition. The study results have significant implications for the clinical assessment of depression and for the measurement of depression in community surveys. "It is impossible to effectively diagnose and treat depression a...