[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 639 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 639

 Supporting the goals and ideals of ``Minority Mental Health Awareness 
 Month'' and recognizing the disproportionate impacts of mental health 
   conditions and struggles on minority populations and communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2023

    Ms. Crockett (for herself, Mr. Carson, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. 
 McClellan, Mrs. Napolitano, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Supporting the goals and ideals of ``Minority Mental Health Awareness 
 Month'' and recognizing the disproportionate impacts of mental health 
   conditions and struggles on minority populations and communities.

Whereas more than 1 in 5 adults in the United States live with a mental health 
        condition;
Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the United 
        States;
Whereas stigma surrounding mental health conditions plays a significant role for 
        people with mental health conditions to go untreated;
Whereas minority persons are more likely to experience symptoms of diagnosable 
        mental health conditions than nonminorities, with Native and Indigenous 
        American adults reporting the highest rate of mental health conditions 
        of any single race-identifying group;
Whereas mental health conditions may first present themselves through 
        experiencing and noticing systematic racial inequities and racial 
        trauma;
Whereas Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders faced almost a 150-percent surge 
        in anti-Asian discrimination and xenophobic hate-related incidents 
        during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to exacerbated experiences of 
        stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation;
Whereas studies show that experiencing racial discrimination has led to a direct 
        link to mental health issues as this causes sustained levels of stress, 
        which lead to adverse physical, emotional, and mental health outcomes, 
        including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and heart 
        disease;
Whereas Black adults are more likely to report frequent and consistent emotional 
        distress symptoms yet do not receive the help they need;
Whereas minority adults who live below the Federal poverty line are twice as 
        likely to experience and report psychological distress compared to 
        adults who live two times above the poverty line;
Whereas minority mental health providers make up less than one-fifth of the 
        profession, leading to a severe lack of access to representational 
        mental health professionals and culturally informed treatment options;
Whereas, in 2021, less than 13 percent of Latinx adults ages 18 to 44 who 
        experienced mental health conditions received treatment, in contrast to 
        over one-third of nonminorities;
Whereas language barriers result in the inaccessibility and reluctancy to seek 
        health care and misdiagnoses and miscommunication between patient and 
        physician, which decrease the quality of care and cause adverse and 
        ineffective health outcomes;
Whereas disparities in insurance coverage for culturally specific mental health 
        conditions exist and have led to a reluctancy to seek health care among 
        minority communities;
Whereas Native and Indigenous persons face significant barriers to mental health 
        care services, clinics, and resources due to experiencing 
        disproportional health insurance coverage;
Whereas nearly half of pregnant persons who experienced depression were not 
        treated;
Whereas over half of pregnant minority mothers do not receive treatment or 
        resources for prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions;
Whereas pregnant persons who remain untreated for mental health conditions 
        related to anxiety, depression, and mood disorders face higher risks of 
        experiencing adverse pregnancy and birthing outcomes;
Whereas minority mothers experience postpartum depression at a rate that is 
        double that of nonminority mothers;
Whereas economic loss due to lack of productivity caused by untreated mental 
        health conditions is roughly $100,000,000,000 per year;
Whereas nearly three-fourths of minority children are less likely to receive a 
        diagnosis of ADHD/ADD compared to nonminority youth;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in reported symptoms of 
        anxiety, depression, and suicide death rates in minority communities as 
        compared to nonminorities;
Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of death among Asian/Pacific 
        Islander American youth;
Whereas the percentage of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian and Pacific 
        Islanders who reported having any mental illness in 2021 was 16 percent 
        and 18 percent, respectively;
Whereas only 25 percent of Asian Americans received mental health services 
        compared to non-Hispanic Whites;
Whereas roughly 8 percent of Asian Americans and over 15 percent of Native 
        Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders reported have a substance use disorder, 
        with 7 percent of Asian Americans reporting illicit drug use with 
        reported unmet treatment needs;
Whereas suicide rates among Black girls and boys have significantly increased 
        over the last several years;
Whereas minority youth are more likely to enter the criminal justice system with 
        untreated mental health conditions;
Whereas people of color make up the majority of essential workers in areas of 
        food and agriculture and industrial, commercial, and residential 
        facilities and services, and their mental health worsened with the 
        increased risk of contracting COVID-19;
Whereas minority populations disproportionately face racial inequality in mental 
        health research requiring an increased need to ensure that diversified 
        data are reflective of current mental health experiences;
Whereas increased awareness and prioritizing prevention and treatment of mental 
        health conditions disproportionately impacting people of color are 
        needed to reduce the racial and ethnic disparity in minority mental 
        health conditions rates as compared to nonminorities;
Whereas the Biden-Harris administration has pioneered several mental health care 
        initiatives, including implementation of the newly established mental 
        health crisis service hotline ``988'' and significant investments in the 
        National Health Service Corps, the Behavioral Health Workforce Education 
        and Training Program, and the Minority Fellowship Program, to address 
        the unprecedented mental health crisis; and
Whereas Congress recognized July as the ``Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority 
        Mental Health Awareness Month'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the mental health disparity in our country 
        facing Black, Indigenous, and people of color in the United 
        States;
            (2) endeavors to increase mental health care access that 
        incorporates racial, cultural, and social differences these 
        communities experience;
            (3) continues working with, where proper, the appropriate 
        executive agencies to address the ongoing mental health crisis 
        across the United States, its territories, and federally 
        recognized Tribes; and
            (4) seeks to provide as many resources and funds as 
        possible to mental health care services across the United 
        States, its territories, and federally recognized Tribes.
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