Black mental health in the USA: Nothing for us without us

Establishing mental wellness in the Black community is necessary to achieve optimal health and liberation. For Black Americans, who are affected by systems of oppression, the path to mental well-being requires acknowledging and confronting systemic racism in the US political, social, and health care systems. This Lancet Psychiatry Series reviews the racist historical roots of US mental health care, including its intertwining with mass incarceration and drug enforcement laws , as well as biased classification systems and epidemiological datasets; the ways by which Black American communities have survived and thrived in the face of oppression to maintain their mental health; and how community-based participatory research can be used to improve the mental well-being of Black Americans.