Winner of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Health Title It's no secret that African-Americans top the list of groups afflicted by hypertension, stroke, diabetes, heart disease, renal failure, and cancer. What the statistics do not show is the pain, misery, and despair that these conditions create, not only for the individual, but also for family and friends. As an African-American doctor, Dr. Richard Walker has studied these conditions among his patients for many years. Now, for the first time, Dr. Walker believes that research has found a commonsense way to prevent, reduce, and possibly eliminate these killers, turning the tide of African-American health. Dr. Walker begins by looking at the black community's lifestyle, which has radically changed over the centuries, shifting people from hours spent under a blazing sun to a life of minimum sunlight exposure. From there, it is clear that the missing puzzle piece of African-American health is a chronic lack of Vitamin D3. Most important, Dr. Walker explains how this crucial factor can be added to a daily routine along with components such as nutritional supplements, diet, and exercise. He then focuses on each major illness affecting the black community and explores what it is, what its symptoms are, and how the reader can avoid or treat the problem. A concise yet critical guide, African-American Healthy offers an important first step towards achieving a healthier, longer life for millions of people.

Provides an overview of the primary health concerns facing African Americans, explains who is at greatest risk of illness, and offers advice on achieving a healthier lifestyle and navigating the health-care system.

With a focus on how to improve the effectiveness and cultural competence of clinical services and research, this authoritative volume synthesizes current knowledge on both the physical and psychological health of African Americans today. In chapters that follow a consistent format for easy reference, leading scholars from a broad range of disciplines review risk and protective factors for specific health conditions and identify what works, what doesn't work, and what might work (i.e., practices requiring further research) in clinical practice with African Americans. Historical, sociocultural, and economic factors that affect the quality and utilization of health care services in African American communities are examined in depth. Evidence-based ways to draw on individual, family, and community strengths in prevention and treatment are highlighted throughout. Winner--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award

African Americans today continue to suffer disproportionately from heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems. In Caring for Equality David McBride chronicles the struggle by African Americans and their white allies to improve poor black health conditions as well as inadequate medical care—caused by slavery, racism, and discrimination—since the arrival of African slaves in America. Black American health progress resulted from the steady influence of what David McBride calls the health equality ideal: the principle that health of black Americans could and should be equal to that of whites and other Americans. Including a timeline, selected primary sources, and an extensive bibliographic essay, McBride’s book provides a superb starting point for students and readers who want to explore in greater depth this important and understudied topic in African American history.

This is the first book to offer a comprehensive perspective on health and sickness among African Americans. It shows how living in a highly racialized society affects health through multiple social contexts, including neighborhoods, personal and family relationships, and the medical system.

Written by a team of experts that includes doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and chemists, this handbook focuses on the diseases that pose the greatest threat to African American women today. Topics include African American women and heart disease, sickle cell, breast cancer, diabetes, HIV and AIDS, as well as mental illness. Social issues that affect health are also examined, including poverty, homelessness, stress, racism, sexism, and treatment disparities. Two thirds of the chapters are all-new with fresh topics and information, and the remaining chapters have been completely updated.

Today seven million African American women are living in their prime, experiencing the joys and challenges of middle age. Now, at last, here is the book that addresses ourtotalhealth needs—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Written by a distinguished physician and a clinical psychologist,Prime Timeis the first complete guide that empowers us to take charge of our lives and attain the well-being we deserve. In many ways, it’s true that we are better off today than our foremothers were: We earn more money, command more respect. Yet in spite of these advances, we still experience more chronic health problems, endure more stress, and live shorter lives than women of other races. That’s whyPrime Timeis both urgent and essential. This groundbreaking book not only lays out a detailed, practical plan for overall healing and for maintaining wellness, it also addresses the underlying attitudes and assumptions that lead so many of us to neglect ourselves and undermine our own health.Prime Timewill help you • Reframe priorities to put yourself and your own health needs first • Interpret the latest medical findings on the Big Four killers and how they affect black women in middle age • Profile your current health with worksheets, quizzes, and assessment tools • Renew sex at midlife by eliminating restricting myths and taboos and finding new paths to pleasure • Reduce anger and “attitude” that block you from attaining good health • Identify the nontraditional signs of depression and anxiety common to African American women Comprehensive, straight-talking, and grounded in science and spiritual truth,Prime Timeis at once a guide to total health in middle age and a celebration of the strength, wisdom, and beauty of African American women in their second half of life.

This book enumerates the unique challenges, barriers, needs, and trauma of being an African American in the United States, and at the same time highlights what needs to be done to improve and foster the mental health healing of this population. This includes practical applications and strategic solutions that work, such as the family togetherness and ardent spiritual beliefs that form the basis for resilient and vibrant mental health among African Americans. This contributed volume features the authorship of counseling professionals, most of whom are African American themselves. Because of their own personal experiences, they are able to emphasize cogent helping strategies for this population, to show how to move forward with encouragement. The book also highlights ways to promote life that is mentally healthy and holistic for African Americans. Topics covered within the chapters include: Mental Health Challenges Unique to African American Children and Adolescents Diagnosis Issues with African Americans Culture of Family Togetherness, Emotional Resilience, and Spiritual Lifestyles Inherent in African Americans from the Time of Slavery Until Now The Trauma of Being an African American in the 21st Century Training, Recruiting, and Retaining African American Mental Health Professionals African Americans and Mental Health: Practical and Strategic Solutions to Barriers, Needs, and Challenges is an essential resource for helping professionals who work with this population, including psychiatrists, counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals. The book also should be of interest to researchers, instructors, and students in Counseling, Social Work, and Psychology.

An unapologetic exploration of the Black mental health crisis—and a comprehensive road map to getting the care you deserve in an unequal system. We can’t deny it any longer: there is a Black mental health crisis in our world today. Black people die at disproportionately high rates due to chronic illness, suffer from poverty, under-education, and the effects of racism. This book is an exploration of Black mental health in today’s world, the forces that have undermined mental health progress for African Americans, and what needs to happen for African Americans to heal psychological distress, find community, and undo years of stigma and marginalization in order to access effective mental health care. In The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health, psychologist and African American mental health expert Rheeda Walker offers important information on the mental health crisis in the Black community, how to combat stigma, spot potential mental illness, how to practice emotional wellness, and how to get the best care possible in system steeped in racial bias. This breakthrough book will help you: Recognize mental and emotional health problems Understand the myriad ways in which these problems impact overall health and quality of life and relationships Develop psychological tools to neutralize ongoing stressors and live more fully Navigate a mental health care system that is unequal It’s past time to take Black mental health seriously. Whether you suffer yourself, have a loved one who needs help, or are a mental health professional working with the Black community, this book is an essential and much-needed resource.