Cultural factors influencing mental health help-seeking attitudes among Black English-Speaking Caribbean immigrants in the United States and Britain.

This review examines factors related to professional mental health help-seeking among Black English-speaking Caribbean immigrants in the United States and Britain. Findings emphasize that attention to cultural context is essential to understanding the ways these populations conceptualize mental illness, and is also key in the development of effective and culturally responsive mental health services. Various groups of Black English-speaking Caribbean immigrants seek out informal help, and utilize spiritual beliefs and ritual practices as social supports and systems of meaning in times of psychological distress, which may affect their utilization of formal mental health systems. Additionally, culturally specific notions of stigma around the concept of “mental illness” are likely to deter help-seeking, or render various forms of treatment ineffective and threatening. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]