3rd Annual Conference on the Health of the African Diaspora: Mental Health

Saturday, February, 9, 2008
9:00Am to 6:00PM
NYU Medical Center
550 First Avenue
New York, NY 10016

To Register: http://www.med.nyu.edu/ichr/chad/events/events.html

Conference Fee: $50 General, $20 Students

The 3rd Annual Conference on the Health of the African Diaspora: Mental Health is an interdisciplinary meeting that brings together physicians, social workers, psychologists, public health professionals and policy makers to discuss the status of mental health among peoples of the African Diaspora. The one-day conference will provide an opportunity for a better understanding of mental health issues across the demographic cross-section of peoples of African descent through a comprehensive discourse of the social, medical and demographic framework that shapes mental health policy, diagnosis and treatment. Over 250 participants are expected and confirmed speakers include: Hugh Hendrie, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine; Hugh Butts, MD, Author, Racism & Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; David Henderson, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Jacqueline Mattis, PhD, New York University; Kirby Randolph, PhD, Kansas Medical School; Ernest Marquez, PhD, National Institute of Mental Health; Alfonso Wyatt, MDiv, Fund for the City of New York; Rosemonde Pierre-Louis, Manhattan Borough Deputy President; Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, PhD, CUNY, Bellevue/ NYU Program for Survivors of Torture; and Robert Fullilove, EdD, Columbia University.

Session I. Medical Context of Mental Health in the Black Population:
Genetics, Prevalence, Diagnosis and Treatment Over the last thirty years our understanding of the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders has improved with our increased understanding of brain biology and its connection to various psychiatric disorders. Biomedical advances have led the way to effective medications and psychotherapeutic treatment modalities that are guided by responses to clinical symptomology profiles. Researchers are still trying to understand whether ethnicity affects responses to various treatments of mental health disorders. This session will explore the genetics, manifestation, prevalence and treatment of certain psychiatric disorders in the black population from biological and neuroscience perspectives.

Session II. Social Context of Mental Health in the Black Population:
History, Law and Policy Mental health, although subjectively experienced, is almost always socially framed through processes of professional diagnosis, legal discourse, and political compromise. This panel is devoted to various perspectives on the social context of black mental health, including but not limiting itself to questions of history, access to care, policy and law, stigma, empowerment, and popular, clinical, and personal representations of mental health and illness in the black population.

Session III. Demographic Profiles of Mental Health in the Black Population:
Individual, Community and Family Mental health is invariably experienced and treated on an individual, family and community level. This session will focus on specific mental health challenges and solutions of diverse demographic groups in the black community. Topics will include, the role of spirituality and religion in mental health among blacks, mental health in the prison population, child and adolescent development and psychological issues of refugees and asylum seekers. In addition, this panel will address the best practices of current successful mental health initiatives.

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