An Exploration Into Black Males’ Lived Experience of Psychological Distress in the U.K: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

UK Black males are disproportionately represented in psychiatric services and significantly under-represented in therapeutic services, despite concerning suicide statistics. Existing literature is dominated by quantitative, US studies focusing on African-American adolescents. Of the limited qualitative studies, focus predominantly surrounds experiences of healthcare and barriers/reluctance to help-seeking. Focus on blockers and individual adverseness highlights a gap in literature and calls for more understanding pertaining to qualitative, idiosyncratic experiences regarding the intersection of gender, race and well-being. This study aims to explore UK Black males' lived experience of psychological distress, to gain better understanding of their awareness and perceptions of psychological distress and how they address it. A one-to-one semi-structured interview was conducted with eight Black UK males, aged 26-38, followed by an exploratory artistic expression, where six men used a medium of their choice to further encapsulate what psychological distress means to them. Interviews and artistic expression were analyses using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and interpretations made through the researcher’s critical realist epistemological framework. This saw the emergence of four superordinate-themes, ‘Conceptualisation and Construction of Psychological Distress’, ‘Through His Eyes’, ‘The degradation of the Black Form’ and ‘Black MANnerism’. Of the experiential artistic expression, one superordinate-theme emerged, ‘Aspects of Self’. Findings highlighted that psychological distress experienced by UK Black males derive and are maintained by historical, social and cultural factors pertaining to masculinity, race and oppression. Concluding the study, Counselling Psychology, clinical and wider implications are discussed and suggestions for future research suggested.