Jonathan Lassiter, Ph.D, improves Black mental health

Licensed clinical psychologist Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, Ph.D., was his own first subject in studying how White supremacy had shaped the field of psychology, and specifically the demoralizing personal experiences of marginalization and oppression. The professor, prolific writer, and author discussed the need to address mental health disparities in the Black communities, emphasizing the intersectionality of race and LGBTQ identity and the importance of understanding the cultural context. Lassiter said his affinity towards the field of psychology emanated from his turbulent upbringing in the Deep South. He is the grandson of a sharecropper and the son of an entrepreneur father who was raised in a very racially oppressive, Southern community. One of the things Lassiter discerned early in life by his father was “emotional suppression,” which often exacerbates mental anguish and hastens physical deterioration. “[I was] going through a lot of my own trials and tribulations from having sickle cell anemia, to coming to terms with my sexual orientation as a same-gender loving man, and emotions were a big part of that process,” Lassiter told rolling out. “And so given the juxtaposition of the message to suppress the emotions, but also having this sort of emotional turmoil within myself, I wanted...