title: The use of psychiatric medications to treat depressive disorders in African American women.
abstract: Review of the current literature confirms that African American women as a group are underdiagnosed and undertreated for psychiatric disorders. Hence, much effort is targeted towards awareness, screening, and improving access to health care for this population. However, once an African American woman is diagnosed with a major mental health disorder, determining the optimal course of treatment is a process that must be approached carefully because of gender and racial/ethnic differences in response and metabolism of psychiatric medications. African American women fall into both of these understudied categories. Given the small numbers of African American women represented in the clinical trials on which clinical practice is based, one must consider the limitations of current knowledge regarding psychoactive medications in this population. Culturally based attitudes or resistance to pharmacotherapy can complicate the use of psychoactive medicines, often a first-line approach in primary care clinics. Communication with patients is key, as well as openness to patient concerns and tolerance of these medications.
authors.affiliation: Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20060, USA. alljackson@howard.edu
authors.forename: Allesa P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001364:Awareness; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs