African American Men's Perception of Psychotherapy at a Mental Illness & Chemical Dependency (MICD) Program: What Factors do they Consider Therapeutic/Helpful

There are limited empirical data that study the factors that enhance or prevent African American men from using psychotherapy. The purpose of this study was to explore the perception that African American men have of psychotherapy and factors that they consider helpful. Using a qualitative design, eight African American men volunteer to participate in the study to explore their perception of psychotherapy. These eight African American men came from a day treatment facility in the Twin Cities area and had a positive perception of psychotherapy as a tool to help them manage their drug and alcohol and mental health problems. The participants in this study contributed lack of knowledge, stigma of being labeled crazy, fear of being misunderstood, misdiagnose and medicated, fear of being considered weak, self-pride and defensiveness as some of the factors that discourage African American men from using psychotherapy.