Opinion
Coming Out of the Closet on Mental Health
C
ongressman Jesse Jackson,
Jr. (D-Ill) has been away
from Congress on medical
leave for so long that his col-
leagues have been clamoring to
know what’s wrong, and NBC’s
Andrea Mitchell reported that the
congressman was receiving treat-
ment for addiction. The truth,
according the Rep. Jackson’s staff,
is that the congressman is being
treated in a residential facility for
exhaustion and mood disorders.
Why not say that in the first
place?
Because divulging one’s mental
health status is often the kiss of
death in politics and public life. It
may be okay in Hollywood to
speak of exhaustion, mood
swings, and other mental health
issues. In that world, treatment is
often followed by a late night talk
show interview and a career
revival. In contrast, any politician
who has come out of the closet
about his or her mental health gets
anything but a hard time.
Senator Thomas Eagleton (D-
MO), who had been elected to
local, state, and national office for
more than a decade, briefly joined
the McGovern presidential ticket
in 1972. When his medical
records were leaked, Eagleton was
pushed from the Democratic tick-
et, because he had long-standing
mental health problems.
B ENNETT
C OLLEGE
Julianne
Malveaux
Eagleton checked into hospitals
three times for physical and nerv-
ous exhaustion, was known to
have suffered from depression,
and reportedly received electro-
convulsive therapy twice. While
his mental health history was not
part of the public record, his hos-
pitalizations led to speculation that
he had a drinking problem. Still,
he was so effective as a campaign-
er and politician that he unseated
an incumbent Democrat in his race
for the United States Senate.
When
George
McGovern
learned that Eagleton had taken
the anti-psychotic drug Thorazine,
and his doctors had spoken of his
“manic depression,” McGovern
initially supported Eagleton.
However,
when
McGovern
learned that Eagleton’s depression
could return, he asked Eagleton to
withdraw from the ticket and he
complied.
Even though 77 percent of the
American people said Eagleton’s
medical record would not affect
their vote, Republican opposition
was geared up to attack McGovern
because of Eagleton’s mental
health status, and the press
showed their ignorance by rather
cavalierly referring to Eagleton’s
“shock therapy.” Since men are
far less likely to seek treatment for
mental health issues than women
are, Eagleton showed amazing
self-awareness to seek help. He
perhaps did not reveal more, and
sooner, because he understood the
public perceptions, and thus the
ment be a matter of record. Come-
dians and others joke that when
someone appears to behave errati-
cally (or in some cases, extremely
mindfully), they must be “off their
meds.” The stigma remains, and it
is stronger in the African Ameri-
can community than the majority
community.
Tell an African American friend
or colleague about feeling down
for more than a week or so (two
weeks of down moods is one sign
of depression), and he or she will
Any politician who has come out of
the closet about his or her mental
health gets anything but a hard time
negative consequences of being
open about mental health.
Fast-forward 40 years to Con-
gressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. Many
would argue that we’ve come
along way on mental health
awareness, but some would argue
the point. Many health plans do
not even bother to cover mental
health, and if they do, it is covered
for a limited number of sessions.
Having mental health problems is
still enough of a stigma for some
professionals to pay for mental
health out of their pocket rather
than have their mental health treat-
tell you to pray on it. “God will
help you through it,” they will
say. But the Lord helps those who
help themselves, and sometimes
the help needed won’t be found on
your knees. Or, the response to
manic episodes is “Child, you so
crazy,” as if that is a badge of
honor, not a sign that help is need-
ed. Every indicator we have of
mental health utilization suggests
that African Americans are less
likely to seek help than their
White counterparts, and while
some of it may have to do with
cost, some of it has to do with stig-
ma.
As widely as post-partum
depression is known and dis-
cussed, African American women
are only half as likely to seek help
as White women. Study after
study reports the underutilization
of mental health services among
African Americans.
Women are far more likely to be
diagnosed with mood disorders
than men are, which puts another
burden on men. Indeed, African
American men with mood disor-
ders are more likely to rely on
informal support systems, or to
forego treatment than they are to
seek help. Thus, a 2011 study
from the School of Social Work at
Michigan State University con-
cludes that there is an unmet need
for mental health services among
African American men.
It is as unfortunate that Con-
gressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. has
been hospitalized for mood disor-
ders as it would be if he were hos-
pitalized for another illness. The
fact that he has shared his mental
health status may allow Ameri-
cans, regardless of race or ethnici-
ty, to come out of the closet about
mental health.
Julianne Malveaux is a Wash-
ington, D.C.-based economist and
writer. She is President Emerita of
Bennett College for Women in
Prostatitis Check: It’s Time for Men to Talk About It
I
t started in my legs. A couple
of days later I started feeling a
bit weird all evening, as if I
were coming down with the flu. I
was achy all over. That evolved
into weakness and a fever. It cer-
tainly seemed as if I had some sort
of virus. I was wrong, however. I
had
developed
something
called prostatitis. Have not heard
of it? It is the inflammation of a
man’s prostate gland.
While there has been important
attention to prostate cancer and the
enlargement of the prostate, there
is very little attention to prostati-
tis, despite the fact that about half
of all men over the age of 50 get
it. The causes seem to vary from a
bacterial infection to trauma to
unknown causes. What I will tell
you is that it makes you feel
absolutely miserable.
It is not just that there is little
attention to prostatitis but that men
seem reluctant to discuss it. Too
many Black men want to ignore
T RANS
A FRICA
Bill
Fletcher Jr.
the fact that they even have a
prostate. Many of our brothers
refuse to have an annual prostate
exam – which involves a doctor
inserting a finger into your rectum
to determine whether the prostate
is normal – either out of ignorance
or homophobia. In fact, I had one
brother once tell me that he was
afraid that he would become gay if
he had a prostate test! So, as a
result both prostate and colon can-
cers end up becoming silent killers
in our communities because no
one wants to discuss them.
Prostatitis is not cancer. Yet the
pain and frustration associated
with it are not publicly dis-
cussed. There are various treat-
ments, including antibiotics, but in
some cases doctors will recom-
mend changes in diet, exercise,
and some other life-style alter-
ations. Prostatitis can return under
certain conditions, meaning that it
can become a chronic condition
about which every man should be
aware. Every man also needs to
take steps, such as making sure to
get exercise and keeping yourself
hydrated. But it is also important,
if the symptoms emerge, to get to
a doctor and not pretend that you
are Iron Man and impervious to all
pain.
Getting ill in the way that I have
experienced it has been a wake-up
call on a number of different lev-
els. It has reminded me that I am
aging and that while, overall, I
take care of myself and feel well, I
am no longer 25. It has also
reminded me that there are steps
with which I must concern myself
to protect my health. Not living in
denial is one of the most impor-
tant.
On top of all of this, however,
this experience has reminded me
relative of mine, out of profound
discomfort in discussing their
body, died of a completely curable
cancer that happened to be in their
private areas, because they simply
did not want to discuss the matter.
Time to wake up and smell…the
Prostatitis is not cancer. Yet the pain
and frustration associated with it are
not publicly discussed
that in this society we really do not
like discussing our bodies. Yes, we
like looking at bodies, but we real-
ly do not like coming to grips with
the complexities of our bod-
ies. We become shameful or turn
serious matters into jokes. In some
cases the embarrassment associat-
ed for many people with discus-
sions of our bodies leads us to
become silent altogether. You
think that I am exaggerating? A
green tea!
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior
Scholar with the Institute for Poli-
cy Studies, the immediate past
president of TransAfrica Forum,
the co-author of Solidarity Divid-
ed and the author of the forthcom-
ing “They’re Bankrupting Us –
and Twenty Other Myths about
Unions.”
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July 18, 2012
The Seattle Skanner Page 5