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Our goal is to provide an open public forum for those of you who strive to obtain the knowledge needed to understand, care for and address the mental health issues of children who have an African American and a Caucasian parent.
Our hope is that professionals and those families who are affected will also utilize this site to guide, support and aid us in our quest for understanding and respecting this population and the issues we should know exist for them.
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Sincerely,
Angela, Bailey, Doug, Echo, and Tish
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Are Mental Health Issues for Biracial Children Different than Any Other Children's Mental Health Issues? Why or Why Not?
6 comments:
I believe that Mental Health issues in Biracial children are no different than mental health issues in an African American or Caucasian child. Generally, the medical profession treat most if not all mental health issues the same regardless of the racial make-up of the child. If we have three children of a different racial background who have the same mental health issue, technically speaking they will have the same effects or symptoms. The only difference I see is the environment of the child and how the caregiver respond or don't respond to dealing with the mental health issue.
NO.
I agree with the above. Children are children and if they are suffering from any type of mental health issue, I believe they will be treated the same way as other children would. I don't think that because they are bi-racial, they would be suffering from a different type of problem than any other child would just because of the color of the skin.
The mental health issues of black children are different from those of white children taken generally. Most black children have self esteem and identity issues stemming from years of being inundated with negative images that tell them they are inferior, less attractive, and more prone to crime and violence. These issues are not adequately dealt with for the average child of color. These issues are then agravated when you take that young child and tell them that on top of everything else, they arent black. They are biracial and have to be the torchbearers for a brand new race. It is not as if we will go back into history and rewrite it so that Bob Marley, W.E.B. Dubois, and Malcolm X are 'biracial."
I believe the mental health issues are different for biracial children than other children. For example, issues normal for adolescents, tend to be magnified in children of dual heritage. When single heritage adolescents deal with rejection, it’s typically peer related. However, dual heritage adolescents deal not only with normal peer related issues but also can have feelings of not belonging to either majority and minority communities which gives way to feelings of rejection and confusion.
I do believe that mental health issues for bi-racial children are different simply because that child's background has more than one ethnic group involved, which can in turn influence their mental health issues.
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