Dr. Sharon Dodd-Kimmey, EbonyJet, May 5, 2009
Recently, the unrequited love/stalker flick “Obsessed” handily beat the schizophrenic/savant/magic Negro movie “The Soloist” in box office sales. By all accounts African American audiences were largely responsible for that difference. That means either Obsessed was a just a more interesting movie than The Soloist and/or that Black folks are just way more comfortable with the image of White psycho woman than a Black psychotic musician. If the latter is true, it would be all too consistent with how African Americans regard the condition of mental illness in everyday life.
Forensically trained medical doctors, such as me, are tasked with assessing and treating a variety of mental health disorders. {snip} One of the most common and exhausting challenges we face, in general and in forensic psychiatry is the issue of non-compliance with treatment or in too many cases, no treatment at all. And as you may have surmised, many of the people in this circumstance are African America.
So why do we delay or not seek the appropriate treatment for mental/emotional anguish, symptoms or discord? {snip} Why are many racial and ethnic minorities less inclined to seek treatment?
The answers are varied and rooted in many social challenges—coping styles, systematic mistrust, financial constraints, accessibility, lack of culturally similar professionals and a troubling lack of culturally- based research.
Yet the most formidable barrier to treatment is the associated stigma. Regardless of culture, no meaningful discussion about mental illness can occur without recognizing the solid truth of this cluster of negative attitudes or beliefs about mental illness. Studies have found that, in general, ethnic minorities place more stigmas on mental illness than our white counterparts. Our attitudes breed fear, shame, avoidance and discrimination against mentally ill individuals. Our lack of knowledge makes it more likely that mentally ill individuals will be stereotyped as dangerous or unintelligent when often the polar opposite is true.
The mentally ill person’s own attitude or belief system is pertinent as well. It matters if others will see their symptoms as real or imagined. {snip}
The meaning a culture attaches to a psychological condition has real consequences on whether a person will seek any treatment or the appropriate treatment. In general, African-Americans take an active approach to facing personal challenges, as opposed to avoiding them, which is more typical of other cultures. We are more inclined to handle our distress “on our own,” or with the assistance of spiritual guidance.
{snip}
Original article
(Posted on May 7, 2009)
Comments
So many things whites define as mental problems seem to be part and parcel of the black psyche: borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, sex addiction, mental retardation, paranoia, etc — it’s no wonder many blacks pooh-pooh the authority and insight of psychologists/psychiatrists.
Thomas Szasz is a good person to read on the topic of mental illness. He is known as the anti-psychiatrist, psychiatrist. Even if one does not agree with him, I think many people would find him challenging.
My theory is that mental illness (as defined by whites) is so common among blacks that they just take it for normal behavior, or at least not excessively deviant.
The black problem, generally, is not so much insanity, but an inability to show compassion, lack of creativity and intelligence, and an emotional make-up that places the vast majority on the level of a grade school child.
Ever see them on T.V. during a debate with another person on a talk show? Invariable they offer unsound logic and repeatedly interrupt when it is the other person’s turn to talk.
“Obsessed” should win an academy award in either the comedy or science fiction category. I am surprised even African-Americans were dumb enough to lap up that movie. I am not surprised to have read it was the concoction of Magic Johnson (yes, the HIV positive ex-basketball star) and one of the writers of Law & Order.
The last two words of this article should be taken literally when blacks are concerned (spritual guidance). By this I mean that blacks view insanity as some form of possession of demons or ghosts. They are very fearful of the idea of the supernatural, very superstitious. All you have to do is act a little crazy around a black person and they’re ready to jump out a window to get away from you. But that’s at the bottom of their fears, and their resistance to getting help. Most white people are’t aware of this, but it is a fact.
Tom Iron…
Tom Iron, when I was a young fool, I once found myself sitting on the roof of a pimpmobile, very high on drugs. The Black pimp was standing far back and yelling at me. I was crazy fearless and he wasn’t going to come anywhere’s near my reach. Later that night, a group of Black thugs quietly robbed the Black guy I was standing next to at the crosswalk, and didn’t say BOO to me. In retrospect, I’m certain that my obvious, drug-induced lunacy protected me.
It really is very difficult for blacks to live in a White society along side people who are a million years more advanced than themselves. I’m sure they view us and our society as being vastly complicated and confusing. If an exotic race of super space aliens came down and plucked us up, whisking us away to live in their world as they do, forcing us to adapt and conform to their strange and confusing culture, I’m sure we would also go insane after the initial fascination wore off.
A lot of Whites seem to be proud of their emotional problems, at least in my age group, the Woody Allen type of man and “I am a victim” drama queen type feminist.
And yet probably 99 percent of blacks suffer from at least one mental disorder found in the DSM-IV; most notably, paranoia.
“blacks view insanity as some form of possession of demons or ghosts. They are very fearful of the idea of the supernatural, very superstitious. All you have to do is act a little crazy around a black person and they’re ready to jump out a window to get away from you. But that’s at the bottom of their fears, and their resistance to getting help. Most white people are’t aware of this, but it is a fact.” (Posted by Tom Iron at 8:06 PM on May 7)
Thanks for the tip—it could be very helpful.
About 30 years ago I visited an acquaintance who lived in a black neighborhood in Oakland, Ca. and he had put strange heads and skulls, all kinds of weird stuff outside his cottage apt.—he smiled and said it kept the robbers out.
I didn’t understand it at the time, and have never really made sense of it until your post.
I guess I figured that the idea of my acquaintance was that his neighbors might think him nuts enough to shoot them if they came anywhere near. ??
Note to Dr. Sharon Dodd-Kimmey: “Obsessed” involved Black man on White female sex; this is much more interesting to Black audiences than a mentally deranged musician.
The fact is that many psycho-pharmacological drugs compounded for Caucasians have different affects on Africans. This also applies to psycho-theraputic techniques (especially the Freudian), which are at best useless for African mental problems. Perhaps, these are more potent reasons than yours for Blacks to avoid psychiatrists.
“Ever see them on T.V. during a debate with another person on a talk show? Invariable they offer unsound logic and repeatedly interrupt when it is the other person’s turn to talk.”
Posted by ice at 6:24 PM on May 7
Apparently this poster is well experienced in dealing with blacks. I deal with black people everyday and have done so nearly all my life. It is my opinion that most blacks are completely bereft of manners, civility, and social graces.
Um from what I gathered from the previews running non stop on the idiot box, Obsessed is a movie about a beautiful blond woman driven into a sex crazed frenzy over a dark skinned black professional type but gets put in her place by the sassy black wife character played by Beyonce.
It plays into like every black fantasy at once. But yeah it is popular with blacks because they are uncomfortable with mental illness or whatever.
Ice:
Sounds like many White people to me.
“Studies have found that, in general, ethnic minorities place more stigmas on mental illness than our white counterparts.”
The mental health profession is a form of social engineering designed to fill the void left when whites abandoned religion and the church.
In the old religious days, if you cheated on your wife and went to confession, the Catholic priest would give you a penance and maybe some good advice and an admonishment to save your marriage. Nowadays, if you cheat on your wife, you go to a therapist who asks you how your wife is not meeting your sexual needs and what is missing in your home life and how you should leave your unhappy and unsatisfying marriage.
White soak this stuff up like a badge and make sure they have some dysfunctions to take pills for and brag to their friends about. The more unnatural the environment, the more people you will see with coping issues. Animals do bizarre repetitive behaviors in zoos, too. Humans are no different.
Does the expression CAN’T SEE THE TREE’S FOR THE FOREST have any meaning here?
I don’t know the medical name for it but most blacks I have met seem to be affected by it, “The fear of accepting responsibility for themselves rather than blaming others for their short comings”
So the NOI black muslims aren’t suffering from any mental problems by thinking all whites are devils who were created in a labratory by an evil scientist named Yakub? Okay….
For further examples of the black psyche, go look at the new stuff on www.zasucks.com disgusting what’s going on down there. And to think that SA USED to be a 1st world country in every respect, we will be joining them shortly.
“Ever see them on T.V. during a debate with another person on a talk show? Invariable they offer unsound logic and repeatedly interrupt when it is the other person’s turn to talk.”
Every single such meeting that I held (on the job) degenerated into chaos and shouting and broke up with nothing accomplished. It’s an exercise in futility.
Um, from what I gathered from the previews running non-stop on the idiot box, Obsessed is a movie about a beautiful blond woman driven into a sex-crazed frenzy over a dark skinned black professional type, but she gets put in her place by the sassy black wife character played by Beyonce.
It plays into like every black fantasy at once. But yeah it is popular with blacks …
It feeds the black male fantasy that all white women are letching after them (for black men); and the stereotype of the slutty white tramp who’s always trying to steal their men (for black women). She invades their home, deceives the gullible babysitter [also white]and abducts their perfect child. Of course, this trashy white blond tramp who makes havoc out of their idyllic homelife, eventually gets what she deserves (death: the chandelier falls on her) and the perfect black family are back together in their mansion again, alone.
Yes, it plays into every black fantasy at once with amazing crudeness. Evidently, whites are not bothering with the film, so it’s great success at the box office must be entirely due to blacks who apparently love it.
Derek Charles is the Executive Vice President of an assets management group. Derek’s life is seemingly perfect. He leads an immaculate home life, in which he is happily married. His wife, Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles) shares in his apparent lack of flaw. at the top of the box office [!!!]
“Sounds like many White people to me.”
Yes, I can understand why you would think so. That deduction is the average conclusion reached by blacks, because of their inability to reason and logic in a coherent fashion, and the state of denial is related to their child-like minds.
Projecting one’s shortcomings on others is a way the black subconscious mind has of acting as a firewall of sorts. The alternative would be to admit to a serious flaw, which blacks cannot do, because it is beyond their conscious understanding, and much of their normal arrogant view of themselves is based on thinking of themselves as exceptional in every way. The truth would be too crushing for them to retain their sanity.
Again, this would be typical of children.
Many people here are (justifiably) suspicious of the excesses of the mental health industry. Drugging adolescent boys with amphetamines comes to mind.
“Apparently this poster is well experienced in dealing with blacks. I deal with black people everyday and have done so nearly all my life. It is my opinion that most blacks are completely bereft of manners, civility, and social graces.”
Posted by White, Jewish, and Proud at 10:21 PM on May 7
Me too, for almost 40 years. The day I retired was the happiest day of my life. I actually cringe when I hear a black woman blathering and babbling. I hope never to hear or see another black person in my life. I can’t even stand to see them on TV.
Am I prejudiced? No. I am post judiced. After 40 years of an increasingly black workplace, I am overjoyed to get out of the chaos, disorganization and hatred.
My blood pressure is 20 points lower, I am no longer depressed, I feel as though I have been released from some sort of concentration camp.
You have all my sympathy. I know what you are going through.
Obsessed was made for Blacks and the Soloist was made for
This story reminds of the Amren story a few weeks back on Lesbians in S.A. being raped as ‘a cure’, with the black male perps saying that they thought homosexuality was a white invention.
It was also my Black stepfathers opinion that all prescribed medicines were a scam, while at the same time he had every vitamin known to man along with various superstitious trinkets.
And here is a trailer for Hollywoods ‘take’ on illegal immigration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQbszHzuQ0&feature=channel_page
What you have to realize is a lot of behaviour Whites recognize as mental illness is normal for blacks. Thus their natural uncomfortableness with any issues of mental health. I work with a lot of blacks (I yearn for my retiremnet) and many of them SERIOUSLY believe in Voodoo, ghosts, ‘the evil eye’, etc.
“…About 30 years ago I visited an acquaintance who lived in a black neighborhood in Oakland, Ca. and he had put strange heads and skulls, all kinds of weird stuff outside his cottage apt.—he smiled and said it kept the robbers out…”
Great Story M. Dumpty!
It also explains why the Section 8 Hispanics who unfortunately pass through my neighborhood cross the street before they reach my house.
I decided to keep up some of my Halloween decorations all year in the yard because I liked them so much and so incorporated them into the landscaping—there are fake human skulls peeking out from under bushes, large, ugly human- and animal-like gargoyles sitting amid the flower beds, evil looking trolls and gnomes guard the front door and a few black cats thrown in for good measure.
After reading your story, I will not only never remove them, I will add even more to the collection—maybe a few arm and leg bones strewn around, some shrunken heads and a gravestone or two to complete the scene and keep unwanted, superstitious NAMs away from my yard.
A few barks and growls from my large pit bull/police dog also work wonders.
Bon out of Taxifornia
Thomas Szasz is a good person to read on the topic of mental illness. He is known as the anti-psychiatrist, psychiatrist. Even if one does not agree with him, I think many people would find him challenging.
Posted by Gaurav Ahuja at 6:12 PM on May 7
Szasz is very perceptive in that mental health and control (state and or quasi-state) are linked. Someone who marches to the beat of a different drummer may be labeled insane by the mental health “industry”. People with alternative views may be labeled “crazy” (is it not too far fetched to see Obama’s experts break out the straight jacket and institutionalize Jared Taylor and AMREN supporters in the near future?).
With Obama appointing a new Health Ombudsman/Czar/Whatever we all have to worry about state control and rationing of health resources.
The late Albert Ellis is a Psychologist whose ideas are very helpful on an individual basis and for society as a whole. Please check out REBT.org if you or someone you know needs help. His philosophy (although I’m sure he was a liberal and I read one time him enumerating racism as an irrational though, he also wrote that OJ Simpson supporters were irrationally supporting him just because of his race) would do blacks some good-that is we may not like what happened in the past but the past is done, focus on today, what happened in the past does not have to influence you today.
That movie “obsession” was a joke. Totally divorced from reality. Anyone think for one second that exact same movie would have been made but with the races reversed? Hardly! But it does play into the black male delusional fantasy that they are “irresistable” to White women. Nuts. I have no doubt that hordes of black males will watch that movie and buy right into it.
That movie “obsession” was a joke. Totally divorced from reality. I have no doubt that hordes of black males will watch that movie and buy right into it.
Judging from the quality of her English, Dr. Sharon Dodd-Kimmey, is a product of affirmative action. Aside from that, it seems as if she is admitting that black Americans (or “African Americans” as she puts it) have their own culture!! One ramification of such a stance is that it is possible that disparities in income, crime and illness can be attributed to “African American culture” rather than white racism. But this very simple leap of logic, while obvious to many of us, is probably beyond the abilities of most Ebony Jet readers. Of course I could be wrong and any Ebony Jet readers out there are free to respond to me via email. I love a good debate and I don’t fear being wrong.
It’s funny that black comedians another other black racists rip on us for being “lame” and “weak”, yet they are the ones always complaining that they are being held back by ‘the man’. So us whites are a weak race, yet we are also holding them back? Sounds like a paradox to me.
“…any Ebony Jet readers out there are free to respond to me via email. I love a good debate and I don’t fear being wrong.” (Posted by jewamongyou at 7:22 PM on May 10)
If you’re going to debate Ebony Jet readers, I don’t think you need to “fear being wrong”!
Even among intelligent blacks, only rarely have I found ones whose mental processes are logical by white standards.
“Even among intelligent blacks, only rarely have I found ones whose mental processes are logical by white standards.”
Excellent point and one which I agree with wholeheartedly. In fact I don’t think I’d want to credit black logic with anybody’s standards.
Even the ones that are supposed to be a cut above the rest reveal an inability to offer reasonable points, indicating a lack of thinking depth beyond a childish level.
And that includes Obama. Remember, he said that since a few flu cases got into the US closing the border would be like closing the barn door after the horsaes have left?
Absolute nonsense and typical black inability to logic. Failing to close the border ANYTIME means allowing more illness to enter and the number of cases and their geographical spread will cause the virus to multiply faster and more widely, when closing the border to new cases surely would allow us to limit the spread and severity.
This is a very telling indication of the man’s lack of intelligence. Some might try to excuse his illogic by saying he’s “talking down” to the citizenry expecting them to believe closing the border is useless, because he wants it open, but, even if that were the reason, isn’t he just as stupid for expecting people to believe such nonsense?
We have a black in charge who might be above average for blacks, but as white professionals go, he’s a moron.
Sorry, but that’s an accurate observation. The man is scary. He grins during times of great peril as if he’s a child that is unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
This government keeps spiraling further downward, and we are slowly becoming dysfunctional.
Secession now! Let his dopey white followers stay with him. Millions of us want out of this growing black controlled, giant Detroit and Zimbabwe in the making.
Blacks just don’t THINK the way other races do. They are WIRED differently. I’m not just talking about being on the left side of the bell curve here (and SOME blacks are above-average in intelligence too) but just the way blacks ABSORB information, the way their minds function, the way their thought processes work. They just don’t have a lot of deductive reasoning capacities like other races do. I personally believe this explains much of the cause for so much black failure, pathology and backwardness all around the world.
The trailer for Obsession was shown every 20 minutes for days on TV. How in the world did Beyonce ever let a stylist put that awful medusa fright wig on her head.
Beyonce is not a natural beauty. It is very, very obvious that she works hard to make the best of what she’s got. Normally the results are great.
But that wig!!!! The color was a horrible shade of I guess one would call it maroon. It looked like the covering of some 1930’s couch. And those horrible curls and the length overwhelmed her small face. Her face is her best feature. She should have hairstyles that allow her pretty face to be seen, not covered with medusa curls.
Furthermore, it was a throwback to the worst of the 80’s big hair horrors.
Ever see them on T.V. during a debate with another person on a talk show? Invariable they offer unsound logic and repeatedly interrupt when it is the other person’s turn to talk.
Yeah, I’ve seen it, on the Tyra Banks show. Tyra was outclassed and out debated by a white woman lawyer about racial differences between blacks and whites. So what does Tyra do? She starts interrupting and resorting to ad hoc attacks on this lawyer. It was a beautiful thing to see this full of yourself so called super model of her own TV talk show outmatched. Nice.
Ice:
Sounds like many White people to me.
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Wow, the gravitas of that ‘response’!
Incredible…
