Awareness: The Key to Black Mental Health by Dr Naim Akbar

An increasing amount of rhetoric and discussion accompanied by a decrease in effective programs have come to characterize our orientation and attack on economic, social, political, and psychological problems of African people within the confines of the United States of America. Unfortunately, it has become more fashionable to offer extensive Marxian or other such impressive but distant theoretical descriptions of the problems confronting our people than it has been to provide relief from the economic blight still faced by a growing (yes, growing) number of black people. Drug use, Black—on—Black crime, suicide and other symptoms of social - emotional unrest increase despite the resounding cries of "Beautiful Black," how "together" we are, what the "honky" has done, is doing, or will be doing to us. The essential problem is that we have not followed through logically or practically on the awakening of the sixties during which an awareness began to surface of the dynamics of our condition in this country and in other parts of the world.

Black psychologists and professionals in other mental health fields have decried the application of inappropriate norms to the assessment of our problems. With few dissenting votes, we have condemned things such as IQ tests, personality inventories and other measures of psychological characteristics as inappropriate and destructive to our well—being. We have condemned white researchers and mental health workers as unqualified to define and provide solutions for the morass of problems which confront us. At the same time, we have so far failed to come forth with viable alternative solutions, which take into account our increased awareness of our condition in this country along with our true and historically legitimate characteristics as African people.

Let me assume that all of us have heard the basic arguments that have been put forth against the traditional conception of mental health problems. For those who are not aware let me recommend Black Rage by Grier and Cobb, and Dark Ghetto by Kenneth Clark as early attempts to analyze the mental condition of the black people of this country. The error made by these accomplished black scholars is that they redefine the cause and character of the mental health problems confronting our communities within the traditional context of Western psychology including its emphasis on pathology in their assessments. These social Scientists fail to fully accept a proposition implicit in their works - that most of the basic tenets of psychology have grown out of the attempts that Western men have made to understand the mental problems which occur within and as a consequence of their environment. The two premises that render such notions inappropriate to the problems of Blacks are:

(1) We are Africans (i.e., non-Western) in our basic dispositions; and

(2) the quality of our environment (by the mere factor of oppression) is systematically different from the environment which Western writers use as the point of departure for understanding their condition.

John Orley in Culture and Mental Illness, Freud in Civilization and its Discontents , and many other Western theoreticians have espoused the notion that mental illness is the price paid for "social development" or increased "civilization." The assumption here again is that increasing civilization and meaningful social development are directly proportional to the degree to which a people come to resemble the people of the Western world in their interactions, manners and concerns. In fact, though, these writers unwittingly provide a warning to people of the world that a pervasive backdrop of real pathology lies within the constructs of what is revered as Western culture. American racism in its most insidious and sundry forms is only one of many symptoms underlying the insanity, which characterizes the Western world. This fact alone represents the certainty of mental disorder for African people who find themselves in a social setting controlled and maintained directly or implicitly by Western people. This style of black disorder is what I have referred to in an earlier paper as "white psychopathy." "White psychopaths" are black persons whose familial and cultural experiences have so duplicated the modal white experience in this country that they have in fact developed a Western consciousness which disposes then to markedly similar disorders as those experienced by Euro-Americans within their cultures. Most of the neuroses as we know them in America are unknown in cultures with limited contact with European values. Disorders such as female frigidity, sexual perversions, and extreme anxiety are essentially unknown in cultures with drastically different value systems and social organizations.

The treatment implication for Blacks with emotional problems of this nature is two-fold. On the one hand such individuals probably represent a sample of people who have systematically denied their disposition as African people. Secondly, these "patients" have overly identified with the wider cultural milieu to the extent that within their minds they have become Euro-Americans. To assist people suffering from such problems, it is necessary that we understand the nature of the Western mind which makes then vulnerable to such disorders and the characteristics which African people have assimilated leading them to the development of similar disorders. I suggest to you that one of these characteristics is the Western notion of individuality, which denies the interdependence of self and others. The idea that each person should "do your own thing" is an attitudinal construct which moves us away from the necessary control of our behavior by our own communities. There is no doubt that much of the distress experienced by black people today has to do with their passionate attempt "to do their own thing" and their discovery (often too late) that they have no "thing" to do. The priority value for any social group is the "thing" which assures the survival of that group first and secondarily the individual as a member of that group. It is no wonder that a growing group of middle-class black women have lost the innate disposition of sexual responsiveness. Many of these women have defined their "own thing" as the degree to which they can look, act, and feel like Elizabeth Taylor, Racquel Welch or other such models of white aesthetics. It is no wonder that we become depressed to the point of suicide if our growing preoccupation is the extent to which we have out performed our neighbor in a competitive situation which was without meaning or substance to begin with. There is growing evidence that the increase of suicide among black people is directly proportional to the extent to which those people have identified with the Euro-American value system which emphasizes the autonomy of the individual while simultaneously attributing all blame to the individual.

Treatment for disorders such as these must rely on expanding the individualistic consciousness. The concept of consciousness is derived from the Latin phrase con scio, which means "with knowledge." The helping person must concentrate on expanding the personal awareness and knowledge of the individual to better appreciate the aspects of the self, which are being denied in their attempt to follow faulty models. Those who are familiar with traditional methods of counseling and psychotherapy will recognize the proposition presented here as similar to the goal of most traditional counseling. This recognition is accurate. Implicit in the notions thus far presented is the idea that to the extent to which we have identified with Western people, we have also come to share much of their condition. Some of the methods, which have proved "effective" in the alleviation of that condition for them may, with appropriate modifications, be used in the alleviation of problems which we have developed because of our assimilationist attempts. An example of this proposition lies in the analogous introduction of venereal disease on the African continent by Europeans. Antibiotics are the treatment of choice for such a condition despite the fact that the origin of these diseases is based on the cohabitation of Africans and Europeans. We might extend the analogy by suggesting that although antibiotics may be effective in alleviating this unfortunate physical malady, Africans might have been protected from this disease had they the knowledge and been able or willing to protect themselves from the kind of contacts which led to the initial development of such conditions.

In other words, I am suggesting that the traditional methods of increasing self-awareness by psychotherapy and counseling must be supplemented by systematic and structural instruction about the nature and acceptance of self. The parroting of European values and behaviors must be replaced by what a close friend and eminent colleague, Dr. Phillip McGee of Stanford University, has called the " restoration of African consciousness." The limitations of this discussion will not permit a full elaboration of this concept but it essentially challenges us to better understand and adopt those communal values and dispositions which underlie the survival of our people who, by all Western notions of physical and mental strength and endurance, should not have survived - but did!

Oppression Disorder

A second general classification of mental health problems of African people includes those disorders that are direct products of a colonialist system of oppression. I recommend the major works of Frantz Fanon (1963, 1967) for an exhaustive description of the dynamics of these ailments. Briefly, these are disorders which represent the self-defeating but adaptive attempts to survive in a society that maintains a system which renders your physical survival (when it occurs in conjunction with your basic African disposition) almost impossible. The pimp who maintains the African disposition of masculine assertiveness and flamboyance may become a sadistic brute and colonialist-like exploiter of his community. He is struggling to actualize these characteristics in a society that has defined the concept of masculinity as inconsistent with blackness and self-confidence as "nigger" arrogance. The junkie searches for an escape from a system that begins with a definition of him or herself as zero and systematically subtracting from them all factors that might increase their self worth. The junkie then attempts to sustain this form of escape through devices of theft, murder and indiscriminate destructiveness. The system then responds by perpetuating, (free of charge) the absence of consciousness called addiction while curtailing the detrimental by—products. Consequently, although the junkie’s awareness of self may be their most valuable asset in group and personal liberation, they are fed a solution like methadone which makes them safe, though asleep.

There is much to be learned by a critical analysis of the work of one of the most effective social change and therapeutic agencies for Blacks in this country , i.e., the Leadership and Organization of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Regardless of the philosophical or ideological differences one might have with the Nation of Islam, we must recognize that Elijah Muhammad has accomplished with his followers what the "sophistication" of all Western technology, psychology and theology has failed to accomplish. The most superficial components of Elijah Muhammad’s teachings for the resolution of mental health problems within this category have to do with knowledge of self and self-help. The Muslim woman who recognizes and receives respect commensurate with the worth of a glorious black woman is incapable of becoming a prostitute. A junkie who has committed himself to the building of a nation based on equality, freedom and justice for himself and his kind (even by such a simple act as selling newspapers on a street corner) has no place for the "sleep" afforded by drug addiction. The alcoholic is unable to flood his body with poison when he or she believes in the essential beauty and worth of that body.

In other words, I am suggesting that the key to treatment of this wide range of disorders (which represent attempts to escape self) lies in the basic acceptance of self and vehicles for the maintenance of self. Giving methadone to an addict with no job or job skills to provide for himself and those he loves is like putting out a fire with gasoline. Let’s be very clear that I am not referring to token programs that seek to rehabilitate by teaching basket-weaving when everyone uses plastic bowls. We are suggesting here that clear-cut procedure for the development of self-reliance must be provided. It is important to recognize the service needs of the communities where we live (and let us keep in mind that there is no end to the flight of whites from sharing of environments with Blacks) and prepare people to fulfill these needs. There are basic necessities from the provision of food and shelter to the manufacture and maintenance of technology that we must learn to depend upon ourselves to obtain. From entertainment to the reeducation of our children, after they have been subjected to a day’s worth of programming from the public schools, can be provided by the systematic training of many people who we have given up on because of their attempted escape by the use of drugs, prostitution, alcohol or other methods of self-destruction. The key here is that people who know themselves will love themselves and, if permitted, take excellent care of themselves.

Organic Disorders

I shall not spend extensive time on these conditions of universal occurrence. These disorders are primarily caused by physiological disorders within the occasional biochemical mutations of nature. We must, however, be ever cognizant of the interaction of the physiological with the psychological and of the psychological with the social. High blood pressure has been shown to have a markedly low rate of occurrence among people who have control over their basic life processes and who effectively manage their diets. As the pressures of urban living increase and the vehicles for alleviation of these pressures (such as the availability of jobs) decrease, the hypertension and many similar disorders show a marked increase. Many of the psychoses and especially "true" schizophrenia are increasingly being demonstrated to have biochemical bases. (I make a distinction here between what is in fact a basic disturbance in organizational and perceptual processes based on a biochemical imbalance and the unique behavioral patterns - such as paranoid adaptation, which I have discussed elsewhere - based on attempts to cope with an untenable and hostile environment). In such instances let us be made aware that most of the chemicals for the alteration of consciousness came out of African Science and spiritual practices, and the use of herbs and other forms of plant life to correct chemical imbalances. The difference between African administration of these drugs and the indiscriminate use of drugs by the Western medicine man is the Western emphasis on behavioral modifications rather than alterations of consciousness. The witch doctor applied his chemicals along with systematic re-education and community involvement as the treatment of choice for disorders of this nature. Family therapy is a recent arrival in the Western package of treatment for mental illnesses. Traditional African healers always engaged the entire milieu of the identified "patient" in the treatment process. Consequently, even in instances where the disorder can be identified within the somatic make-up of the individual, the person’s re-involvement with their social group involves not only their individual treatment but a cooperative re-socialization within the known and identified social group.

One additional example may further substantiate the point being made here. Senile psychosis and depression are described as natural deterioration of the nervous system -a function of the aging process. It is interesting to note that these disorders in Blacks have increased in incidence as our treatment of our aged has come to parallel the Western man’s treatment of his aged. As we remove our old people from the on-going living process by depositing them in tombs for the living (called "old folks homes"), we also initiate the deterioration processes which take on physiological characteristics. With the loss of meaning and activity of the mind, the body succumbs to death.

Even in situations where the available knowledge suggests that the disorder is one of physiological origin, we must be in tune-with the critical variables that bridge that artificial Cartesian dichotomy of mind and body. We must be ready to cross that connecting bridge without an overemphasis on either mind or body.

An underlying dictum throughout this discussion is the importance of sensitive diagnostic differentiation. Essential to understanding and treating mental disorders of African people (and all other people for that matter) is a sensitive ability to differentiate what is a condition of the environment; what is a condition of the individual; and what is the nature of the interaction between the two. This is the first step toward the classification and consequent application of treatment procedures to a particular disorder. The implication here is that the mental health worker must begin with sensitive self-knowledge that frees him from the biases of imposing an irrelevant theoretical conception on a reality that he does not understand.

Conclusion

This discussion formed on three basic assumptions about the mental problems of African people within the U.S.A.:

(1) the basic dispositions of African people differ from the basic dispositions and values of Europeans;

(2) the condition of oppression accounts for a wide range of mental disorders among African people; and

(3) deliberate attempts hamper knowledge of self (i.e., of group and environment) are the dynamic basis of mental problems among African people. Based on these assumptions, from a sensitive understanding and diagnosis of mental disorders, the treatment of choice becomes an initial effort to increase the individual’s knowledge of himself and his kind. An understanding of the system of oppression (awareness) is the hallmark of making systematic attempts to alleviate the condition of oppression and in turn, the behavioral consequences thereof.

The most insidious device working against effective correction of mental disorders is the naivete of the mental health practitioner. Again let me refer to traditional African society where the healers were widely informed members of the tribe, not only in terms of the secrets of healing but in self- understanding and knowledge of the philosophical underpinnings of the tribal organization. This is a training that was passed down from father-to-son or mother-to-daughter, implying a need for lifelong skill and personal development. The ineptness of most contemporary mental health workers is a greater cause of ineffective treatment than any other single force.
Dr Naim Akbar
http://www.africawithin.com/akbar/awareness.htm

Black History (Elevation)

Urban League 2007

African-American men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white males while earning 74% as much per year. Unemployment for black men was 9.5 percent, as compared to 4 percent for white men.

Black men are nearly seven times more likely to be incarcerated, with average jail sentences about ten months longer than those of their white counterparts.

Black males between 15 and 34 are nine times more likely than whites to be killed by firearms.

Black males are nearly eight times more likely than whites to suffer from AIDS.

After attending elementary school, blacks “begin to fall behind on standardized tests.” (President Bush’s heralded No Child Left Behind). The Urban League reported that in fourth grade blacks perform at a level of 87 percent of whites. By the time they reach twelfth grade, their scores are at 74 percent of whites.

By high school blacks are more likely to drop out—15 percent, as compared with 12 percent for whites.

Fast forward to 2010 and Black folk are still drowning in uncle sam's urine...

Black History Month

Black history month is ending and nothing has changed except the passing of time. What has plagued the community is still keeping folks on life support. Here is some knowledge for the soul.

Ron Brown American Tragedy

Negro Appreciation Month

Nothing has changed and the community is still waiting for a messiah. Not sure the solution except I believe things might have been different if the US was taken to the UN as Minister Shabazz intended. Maybe if the Black Panther Party & other political were able to unify... Religion is the community crutch and it seems people are to paralyzed or misguided to act. They want to pray on it. Until folks in the community get off their knees nothing positive will occur.

Negro Appreciation Month

Well it is another year and nothing has changed...

Young black men were more than six times as likely as young white men to have served time in prison. I had to break up the information provided byTHE TENNESSEAN.

November unemployment data, the latest figures available for Tennessee and the nation, show about 18 percent of black men in the U.S. and 28 percent in Tennessee are unemployed, compared with about 9 percent of all workers in the U.S. and 10 percent

According to the Tennesean Census data shows that 71 percent of black graduate students are women.

65% of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. (Guess the people leading the pack)

This Negro Appreciation Month plan to hit it again and try to wake the 85%

On the flip side I would like Egypt returned to Africa... Currently there are pretenders sitting on the throne. How do I know... Muslims do not dig up their dead, better yet they do not allow foreigners to dig up their people.

MLK Day

Long live the King!!!!! He was perpetual motion and unfortunately that momentum has stalled. If King were alive our came back, he would be PISSED
In eighties not one leader storm the Capital when it was found out the template of death for the Black community came in the guise Iran Contra.
Now Obama is being used to lull the flock to sleep. Poverty, incarceration, AIDS, high infant mortality rate, high unemployment is just a brief glimpse of the ills among Blacks. Change from the community first. Obama can only do so much and due to the office that he holds mobility is stagnant for the community.
I bet MLK would vomit at the fact that people went from doing to worshipping false prophets. Tupac was a performer nothing more.

Knowledge

My problem with religion is that people worship without knowing why or the reason behind the rituals. In order to liberate the minds of the lost we need to spread the truth.

new years eve resolution

I have nothing new to add to my list of improvements. I am still trying to resurrect the dead or save the dying... Many sistahs & brothers are in the dark and not aware of it.
2010 is another year and battle that has no end in sight.

Cell Phones Beware When In Use

ECHELON is a satellite-based system that can electronic signal. It intercepts the signal, then an enormous computer network implements software that uses keyword recognition and voice recognition to pick out words of note. Phone calls made on land lines, faxes, and emails are all susceptible to ECHELON’s surveillance power. Countries then exchange the information obtained.
If you use your cell phone you are being watched....

Zeitgeist

It has been a while since I transverse the hallways of this mangled corridor. Up until recently nothings has fired my pistons until now. Many moons ago I looked toward the East were a black cube hovers and lost my mind.. Ten years of insanity to be exact.. Now I realized after shaking the putrid shackles of ignorance that "if I do not believe in myself then God is an atheist"
I am no longer in symbiosis with the Black Cube or any other means that keep people in utter blindness.
What am I getting is obvious to most... Others just read between the lines.. Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, or Ausare has return..

MLK_ OBAMA_False SECURITY

Today is MLK day and I am still wondering the purpose for shutting schools down. Majority of kids will not participate in any festivities except PS3,Wii,XBOX/ some other form of mind numbing activity. The following are statistics
from National Urban League:http://www.mkf.org/documents/2007_NUL_SOBAEXCSUMMARY.pdf

The educational status of blacks has improved slightly in 2007 to 79 percent of whites, up
from 78 percent in 2006. This sub-index, which is weighted to make up 25 percent of the full
Equality Index, is calculated across five major categories: quality, attainment, scores,
enrollment as well as student status and risk factors.

Earlier in life, black children excel until the middle-grades and high-school years when their
achievement falls off significantly. More than two-thirds of young black children are enrolled in
early childhood education programs such as Head Start, compared to slightly more than 64
percent of white children. They have also improved in the areas of school readiness –
scoring at 94 percent of that of whites, up from 81 percent in 2006. They have even
surpassed or nearly matched white children in terms of some home literacy activities; 81
percent were taught words or numbers three times a week, compared to 76 percent of
whites, and 54 percent were read a story once a week, compared to 56 percent of whites.

Obama's good fortune in education comes from a mother that is a seasoned travel or,meaning she actually saw the world and understood it's complexities. Obama experience this as weal. Also the school Obama attended was no light weight either.It is a top private school (Punahou School) in Hawaii. Meaning Barry is not a byproduct of public education. In 1979, the year Obama graduated, tuition for high school students at Punahou was $1,990, a sizable expense compared with Hawaii's median family income of $22,750 that year. In other words public school system has been on the decline and the majority of black children are not fortunate enough to have the dividends to pay for a first rate education or have sanity in their life.

Martin Luther King enter Morehouse College at 15 and the rest is history.

Education is the KEY...

Instead of shutting schools down Black folk lets keep the schools open and make it mandatory on this day that we (along with our kids) spend a full day in a educational seminar that focuses on community & parental improvement. Heck lets make it a week.

There is no mountain top yet and Obama's victory should not be taken lightly... Statistically speaking for everyone Obama there is 20 that will fall through the cracks.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/17/poussaint.mlk.obama/index.html?iref=topnews

Food For Thought

Genesis 32:30 (New International Version)

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, [a] saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

Peniel = Penial/Third Eye

Moses was the architecht behind the Tanakh/Old Testament and an Egypytian

Does this mean that we have been seeking the supreme being in the wrong f?
fashion.

Ka life-force component of soul (Egyptian)
Ba one part of the ancient Egyptian concept of the soul
Combine the two and you have something Islamic

I just had some thoughts, leave feed back

Update From My Store

make custom gifts at Zazzle

OBAMA

I am tired of the racist remarks thrown at Obama. Lets be realistic Mr./Mrs. Redneck, ya'll lost to a Black man... A bonified African and there is nothing you can do about it. I am glad for Barry and sad because they waited til things fell completely apart before turning the reigns of power over to someone of color. I believe he will get it because the White House is near the hood and if the decide to pull a 2k..... Toussaint L Overture shall rise from the dead.
So scream at the top of your lungs those hateful remarks because it is in vain... Remember this acronym HNIC and that is Obama.

BRAVO McCAIN

At a Minnesota, a woman told McCain: "I don't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's an Arab."

McCain shook his head and said, "No ma'am, no ma'am. He's a decent family man...[a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That's what this campaign is all about."

With that display I applaud you, NOT support you... It does not excuse the disrespectful tactics you have used to derail Obama's campaign. We know that the Republican party is not entirely to blame (hands still dirty though) Watch the videos and judge for yourself. Remember ignorance is the fear of actual truth.

MUSIC-NYOIL

I love music regardless what it is because music is a beautiful expression of the soul... Lately that expression has turned ugly... I ran across NYOIL a 5 trying to resurrect the 85 while trying to cut the heads of of the 10...
The music videos that I have posted is not intended for children under the age of 13 due to the content.. I will leave that up to you as a responsible pearson. They music videos are powerful and highly recommended for detox.

NYOIL INTERVIEW


NYOIL: Y'all Should Get Lynched

NYOIL: Y'all Should Get Lynched pt2

Why 666

Before time as you know it was logged, beings existed in and out of this dimension. Worlds existed, planets were inhabited by intelligent, and not so intelligent beings, who all lived in their own times zones, based on their locations in this vast boundless Universes. Each place is in itself the place or origin of time, as in the word then, which becomes past and present simultaneously. These were agreeable and disagreeable beings. This was a system that was very similar to that presently on Earth, called the chain of existence that existed. Where as, stars burnt out, planets died, and beings had to seek residence in other star systems. Often times we re-developed new survival tactics, eating habits, and even genetic alterations and manipulations to make it possible for us to exist in environments unsuited for our biological existence. We often times had to alter environments, create climates and seasons. Often times, the survival of one being, meant the extinction of another.
(The Sacred Records of Neter: Aaferti Atum - Re)

I have already posted on this before but if I must do it again then I will.. My name means "man of victory" and 666 is obvious so just add 1 & 1.. I do not believe in the number or whatever interpretations someone can come up whether it is Nero or some unknown entity in the future. The symbolism is the important part for the mission of my blog.
I am tired of seeing people not think.... I am tired of seeing people bow down before technology without question.
My online store www.cafepress.com/kalonji & www.zazle.com/kalonj which promotes a positive message repeatedly gets the middle finger... "Nah man to much money" or that it goes against their beliefs. What amazes me is that they are wearing the latest fashion ie $100+ athletic attire or some other over priced lounge wear. They also complain that they can not afford it because thier child's phone bill is to high or that they just got them the latest PSIII gamne.
666 is what I am trying to get people to see.. To many choose to lay in the bosom of Lazarus.. I am trying to to awaken the masses.

Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu

Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu is the renaissance man of education.. These questions that he propose strikes at the core of my grey matter......


1. Why do African Americans only spend three percent of their income with African American businesses?

2. Why is there a 200 point differential on the SAT between (Asians-Whites) - Africans and Hispanics?

3. Why is the divorce rate 66 percent among African Americans?

4. How can we reduce the number of African American males incarcerated?

5. Do some mothers raise their daughters and love their sons?

6. What are your views about reparations?

7. How can we reduce the incidence of AIDS in our community?

8. How should Black women handle the male shortage?

9. How can we increase the number of men to raise their children?

10. How can we increase trust and unity in the Black community with crime rampant?

11. What can we learn from immigrants like Asians and Arabs?

12. How can we reduce heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other illnesses in the Black community?

13. Why is the NBA 86 percent African American but less than 2 percent of the doctors, dentists, engineers, and accountants?

14. How much time do you volunteer and money do you contribute to the Black community?

Lil Wayne

Everyone that does not know anything about Rap or the culture of Hip Hop has knighted Weezy as the Messiah of this particular genre.. I do not know the man personally but anyone that does a song called lollipop and kisses a grown man on the mouth I question their motive. True hip hop is the man in the videos below.... Killah Priest. We need to strip away the ideological belief that a man that knows a few licks on the guitar is our modern day renaissance man. True artist move like a ninja or don.