Minority mental health issues were the focus of a special roundtable discussion whose participants included three APA/AstraZeneca resident fellows and an APA/CMHS resident fellow at a meeting of the Chicago branch of the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill in May.

Local mental health consumers and their family members, psychiatrists, and NAMI mental health experts joined the minority fellows in discussing the mental health needs of minorities, special challenges and barriers facing ethnic minorities with mental illness, and whether patients are receiving medications that enhance their quality of life.

APA has two minority resident programs, the APA/AstraZeneca Fellowship, funded by AstraZeneca, and the APA/CMHS Fellowship, funded by the federal Center for Mental Health Services. The fellowships provide educational enrichment to psychiatry trainees and stimulates their interest in providing quality and effective services to minorities and the underserved.

Patrice Harris, M.D., a former APA minority fellow who is now in private practice in Atlanta, led the discussions, along with Chicago experts Walter Pedemonte, M.D., and Michael Reinstein, M.D.

"One of the biggest issues we heard about was the importance of the doctor-patient relationship," said moderator Victoria Barnes, M.D., a third-year resident at the New England Medical Center in Boston. "We also heard that training and education for physicians in cultural competence is very important. Another issue that came up is the importance of access to the new, atypical antipsychotic medications. These new medications are more effective than ever before and have fewer side effects. With the help of these new antipsychotics, we have much higher hopes for patients and can expect many of them to recover to the point of holding a job, having relationships, and really living their lives."

The other APA/AstraZeneca minority participants were Evaristo Akerele, M.D., of Columbia University and Richard Lee, M.D., of Mount Sinai Medical Center, and the APA/CMHS minority participant was Varanise Booker, M.D., of the University of Louisville.

This activity was sponsored by AstraZeneca.