1) The skepticism that is seen by African-Americans regarding medical and mental health care has deep roots within the history of the nation. In the days of slavery, African-Americans had to do everything that their white 'owners' said, or they were deemed to be crazy, and rebellion of any kind was not accepted. There were so many years of harmful behaviors and stereotypes that were given to the African-American community for so long that that community eventually became very distrustful of anyone that was Caucasian, and most doctors were Caucasian. Not that long ago, many mental health professionals even believed that using the same treatments for different races was like using the same veterinary practices for different animal species, so it was not surprising that African-Americans were suspicious and mistrustful of these individuals.

             2) Early medical doctors conceptualized that African-Americans had smaller brains than Caucasians, and therefore they were not capable of the higher functions of understanding and intellect that Caucasians have. When an African-American did not fall into the expected role, or fought back, doctors stated that these individuals had mental illness and that they were dangerous to others. There was even discussion that AIDS had been developed by the government in an effort to strongly reduce the African-American population. .

             3) In the book Black Rage, the authors argued that African-Americans suffered from a 'cultural paranoia' based on discrimination and slavery, and that these same individuals also suffered from a 'cultural depression' that was based on the misery and grief that they had been exposed to for so many years. The depression that they were dealing with, therefore, came from African-Americans feeling as though they were foreigners or outsiders in their own country. This information and belief was built on the work of psychologists and psychiatrists of the past that also argued that African-Americans were suffering entirely too much from what had been done to them throughout history.