Major
Neuroscience
Anticipated Graduation Year
2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Though there is an active mental health crisis among college students, there is low utilization of psychotherapy among minoritized racial and ethnic groups. This independent research examines peer-reviewed literature to help explain four possible reasons for the low utilization of psychotherapy within marginalized groups: discrimination, stigma, feelings of alienation, and lack of representation. These four reasons all have a direct impact on college students’ academics, success during and after college, and overall wellbeing. Thus, it is crucial to explore the reasoning behind the low utilization of mental health resources and possible changes that are necessary to fix this. Peer-reviewed literature was summarized for each of the four potential reasonings behind low utilization rates. Furthermore, literature was synthesized to examine further implications and possible solutions that should be further researched.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Colleen Conley and Maya Hareli
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Racial and Ethnic Representation in Clinical Psychotherapy Research
Though there is an active mental health crisis among college students, there is low utilization of psychotherapy among minoritized racial and ethnic groups. This independent research examines peer-reviewed literature to help explain four possible reasons for the low utilization of psychotherapy within marginalized groups: discrimination, stigma, feelings of alienation, and lack of representation. These four reasons all have a direct impact on college students’ academics, success during and after college, and overall wellbeing. Thus, it is crucial to explore the reasoning behind the low utilization of mental health resources and possible changes that are necessary to fix this. Peer-reviewed literature was summarized for each of the four potential reasonings behind low utilization rates. Furthermore, literature was synthesized to examine further implications and possible solutions that should be further researched.