My name is Christine, and I am mentally ill. I have depression, bipolar and alcoholism. I am also white (actually I am kind of a pasty beige with age spots freckles but race discussions – unlike the paint aisle at Home Depot – are limited to five colors – black, white, red, yellow or brown.)

Alcoholics and addicts come in all colors but you wouldn’t know it from walking into a 12-Step meeting. You would think that alcoholism and addiction are illnesses that overwhelmingly afflict white people (and pasty beige people with age spots freckles.) But we all know these illnesses are color blind. The truth is that there just are not many 12-step meetings in minority communities.

I do not know why this is and I do not want to ascribe any blame. But I do know that alcoholics/addicts walking into their first 12-step meeting are often at the lowest point of their lives. They feel as though someone has taken a potato peeler to their soul. They are vulnerable and frightened beyond words.

I ask myself, would I have walked into my first meeting – shaking, hung-over and emotionally raw – if it had been in a black or Hispanic neighborhood, in a black or Hispanic church and I was the only white face in the room? Honestly, I don’t know – and I am white and have never been the target of bigotry.

I can only imagine what it would feel like to be the only black or brown face in a room of 10, 25, 50 or 100 white faces. But I have had it explained to me by a dear friend, who – in her words – is the color of her beloved Dunkin’ Donuts coffee with three creams and two Splendas. She has many, many years of sobriety, which means she attended 12-step meetings back in the days when women were uncommon and blacks were a rare oddity.

She has told me stories of racial slurs, back-handed insults, crude sexual advances and flat-out bigotry aimed at her because of her color. But she kept coming back and speaking her mind – a testament to her determination to recover from her addiction. Today she is deeply respected and scares the hell out of a lot of old timers. I like her.

Why does any of this matter? Because many – perhaps most – alcoholics/addicts suffer from a companion mental illness: depression, bipolar, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome etc. This is called dual-diagnosis. Study after study has shown that minority communities are vastly under-served by mental health care programs. According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Offices of Minority Health:

• Poverty level affects mental health status. African Americans living below the poverty level, as compared to those over twice the poverty level, are 4 times more likely to report psychological distress.
• African Americans are 30% more likely to report having serious psychological distress than Non-Hispanic Whites. Non-Hispanic Whites are more than twice as likely to receive antidepressant prescription treatments as are Non-Hispanic Blacks.
• The death rate from suicide for African American men was five times that for African American women, in 2005. However, the suicide rate for African Americans is generally lower than that of the Non-Hispanic White population.
• Older Asian American women have the highest suicide rate of all women over age 65 in the United States.
• Suicide attempts for Hispanic girls, grades 9-12, were 60% higher than for White girls in the same age group, in 2005.
• While the overall death rate from suicide for American Indian/Alaska Natives is comparable to the White population, adolescent American Indian/Alaska Natives have death rates two to five times the rate for whites in the same age groups.

Couple these data with the lack of 12-step meetings in minority neighborhoods and we have a serious problem. I say “WE” because “WE” are all in this together – regardless of race, religion, age or any other excuse we use to segregate ourselves from each other.

12-Step programs are the most successful programs that have ever existed to treat addictions. These programs are free. There are no dues or membership. These are the same 12-Steps that are used in the chi-chi treatment facilities costing upwards of $1,000/day. Every week there are over 300 12-Step meetings in the county where I live. Yet only a handful are in minority churches and community centers.

As I see it, dual-diagnosis is the number one mental health problem in America. People with depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder etc. who do not receive good, responsible, unbiased mental health care will very likely self-medicate with drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling and other addictions. When this happens many become homeless or commit crimes. Others clog our emergency rooms. Some beat their children and partners.

It does not matter how much pigment you have. If we do not provide treatment for every mental illnesses afflicting an alcoholic/addict, it is very likely that he or she will relapse or slip into a depression, mania, hallucinations or even suicide. We all pay the cost.

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    Last reviewed: 11 Oct 2009