We have all wrestled with depression at one point in our lives. For most people, they have a support system readily available to guide them through that challenging time in their lives. They are able to recognize the problem and seek treatment for it. Most importantly, most people's family doesn't cast you away for being depressed or anxious.

But in the African American community, that's the opposite.

In the black community, mental illness is often frowned upon. Black children who have a mental condition often go years without proper treatment. Parents see mental illness in a harsher light than having a physical disease, but why? In the black community, those with a disorder are labeled as "crazy" and treatment is never sought after.

Living with a mental condition untreated can be fatal. According to the NCBI , African American individuals are half as likely to seek treatment for their mental conditions compared to their white counterparts. Between 1993 and 2012, over 654 elementary school aged children died by suicide. The rate of suicide among all other races of children decreased during that time, however, the rate of suicide for black children has doubled from 30 in 1993-1997 to 59 deaths from 2008-2012. While suicide rates for African Americans is the lowest in the nation, those statistics are slowly rising.

For those who suffer silently, there is nowhere to escape. Out of a group of students who reported being bullied in school, 38.4% were black. Most school bullying cases also go unpunished by school administrations. In 2015, 14.5 out of 1000 abused children were African American.

Most African Americans do not seek help until it is too late. The number of people in inpatient mental health service centers is twice that of whites for blacks.

The lack of parental empathy for mental illness in the black community stems from slavery and Jim Crow laws. During slavery, if a child was depressed or exhibited suicidal tendencies (which was not as rare as one would think), they would immediately be sold for less than cattle. Slaves not sold would be viciously whipped and scolded for their actions, including by their parents who were afraid their child would be sent away. So, to avoid this, many parents ignored the signs of depression and children didn't tell their parents how they felt. During Jim Crow Laws, many mental facilities were for whites only. Those for "colored" individuals were rampant with disease, lacked food, and had mediocre staff. Many people would rather hide their symptoms than experience that.

There needs to be a change in the way the black community handles mental disorders. There needs to be more support in the home and more empathy. On a macro level, society needs to destigmatize the word "crazy" and erase the negative connotations that are associated with mental conditions, including being "weak." On a micro level, we need to stop blaming victims of domestic violence, abuse, and rape for the actions that occurred to them. Not a single person should have to suffer in silence anymore.