Substance Use Disorders in Underserved Ethnic and Racial Groups: Using Diversity to Help Individuals Thrive - Paperback

by Christina A. Downey (Editor), Edward C. Chang (Editor)

This book examines substance use disorders among individuals and communities of color and offers assessment, treatment, and prevention strategies for supporting and empowering individuals within their cultural contexts.

It explores the unique histories and substance use trends within Black/African American, Latino/Latina/Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native communities. This includes the role of intergenerational trauma and the enduring impacts of colonialism, slavery, and systemic oppression, as well modern injustices and inequities in mental health and medical treatment, criminal justice, and other institutions.

Expert contributors draw upon their extensive experiences working in these communities to establish evidence-based recommendations for culturally competent care. They explore common challenges with assessment and treatment, including the limitations of established models that fail to properly account for cultural factors. They offer culturally bound solutions that enable mental health professionals to better help individuals and communities while respecting their unique intersectional identities and values.

Author Biography

Christina A. Downey, PhD, is assistant vice-chancellor for academic affairs and student success and associate professor of psychology at Indiana University Kokomo. She has published articles on various topics in journals like Eating Behaviors, Psychology & Health, the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, and The Journal of Effective Teaching and has published several chapters on positive psychology. She also serves on the editorial board of Cognitive Therapy and Research. Dr. Downey was coeditor of the Handbook of Race and Development in Mental Health, Positive Psychology in Racial and Ethnic Groups, and Treating Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Ethnic and Racial Groups.

Edward C. Chang, PhD, is a professor of psychology and social work and a faculty associate in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He served as a program evaluator for the Michigan Department of Community Health-Social Determinants of Health, working with the Asian Center of Southeast Michigan. Dr. Chang also serves as an associate editor of Cognitive Therapy and Research. He has published nearly 200 empirical and scholarly works focusing on optimism and pessimism, perfectionism, loneliness, social problem solving, and cultural influences on behavior, including the coedited book Motivation and Morality: A Multidisciplinary Approach.