American colleges, universities, and medical schools have developed elaborate structures for the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness and associated problems in living. The history of psychological training is not value free, but rather is imbedded in the general history of the culture, and reflective of its problematic issues. Whatever theoretical perspective mental health practitioners are trained in, whatever internship experiences are designed to complement the instructional program, the rates of success in identifying and resolving difficulties vary with the ethnicity of their clients. Success is shown disproportionately for a limited population-the clients of European American background. In each of the mental health fields examined in this volume, available data indicate underutilization, high non-return rates, client dissatisfaction, and generally poorer outcomes when mental health professionals turn their attention to the problems of people of color. Assuming a benign interest on the part of the practitioners, and assuming that the client would prefer health, the explanation for such unsatisfactory outcomes must lie in the training deficits of mental health professionals
