Psychiatry Chair William Lawson, M.D., Ph.D., addressed a session at APA's 2013 Institute on Psychiatric Services in Philadelphia recently, describing the rocky historical relationship between African Americans and the general & mental health care systems. Lawson recalled the 2001 surgeon general's report on mental health, which concluded that blacks were less likely to get mental health services and more likely to get poorer-quality care than whites. "Blacks are more likely to receive no diagnosis or less-optimistic diagnoses, too" said Lawson. "They are diagnosed schizophrenia at a much higher rate than whites, despite research showing no actual differences in rates of occurance, but they receive mood disorder diagnoses less often."