Black American anxiety at all-time high, experts say

While violent police encounters involving Black people dominate headlines, the news is having a detrimental impact on the mental well-being of Black Americans, some experts say.

In the weeks following the graphic video of George Floyd pinned under the knee of a now former Minneapolis police officer, U.S. Census Bureau data found that anxiety among Black Americans had increased by 26% and depression increased by 22%.

And while Floyd's death has emerged as a pivotal moment amid a national reckoning on race, the issue extends far beyond one summer and one man. Before Floyd, there was Tanisha Anderson, a unarmed Black woman seeking mental health assistance killed by police in Cleveland in 2014, Shereese Francis, a Black woman who was suffocated during a police encounter in 2012, and countless others.

The surging coronavirus pandemic and subsequent social unrest from police violence have resulted in a toxic daily environment that can have a deleterious effect on Black Americans' mental health, experts say.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/black-american-anxiety-at-all-time-high-experts-say/ar-BB18JYGw?li=BBnba9O&ocid=DELLDHP