STEVEN REGESER L ´ OPEZ REFLECTIONS ON THE SURGEON GENERAL’S REPORT ON MENTAL HEALTH, CULTURE, RACE, AND ETHNICITY ABSTRACT. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the Supplement to the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health, with an eye toward informing future efforts to pre- vent and treat mental illness among racial and ethnic minorities. I first briefly discuss the historical background of the Supplement. I then present its strengths, which include the authority and visibility of the Office of the Surgeon General, the organization of the re- port by racial/ethnic group, the examination of the social and historical context of each of the racial/ethnic groups, and the emphasis on science. Last, I identify three major ten- sions within the Supplement, focusing on groups versus cultural processes, situating culture within individuals or social worlds, and examining differences between minority groups and whites versus examining conceptually informed processes. The Supplement makes a significant contribution to advancing our understanding of the mental health of racial and ethnic minority groups. The actions that follow (or don’t follow), however, will determine the import of this document. KEY WORDS: culture, mental health, mental health care, minorities On August 26, 2001, Dr David Satcher, the United States Surgeon General, pre- sented to the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting his “Report on Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.” He stood tall, with consider- able distinction. His Public Health Corps uniform, his white beard against his dark skin, and his measured speech added to the authority with which he spoke. Midway through his talk he uttered the words, “The main message of this Supplement—that culture counts—should echo through the corridors and communities of the nation.” At that point, the large overflowing audience became still. They understood the significance of his words. Our nation’s leading health professional recognized that the mental health status of our country’s largest “minority” groups is most impor- tant to the welfare of the nation. Furthermore, the Surgeon General underscored the importance of culture. According to Dr Satcher, service providers and researchers must embrace the concept of culture to address the mental health needs of African Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans. In 1975, just after completing my Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, I accepted my first job in the mental health field. I was a Rural Community Men- tal Health Worker at La Frontera, a federally funded Community Mental Health Center dedicated to serving Mexican Americans in my hometown of Tucson, Arizona. After two years, I entered a doctoral program at UCLA, where I am now a professor of psychology. Since 1975, I have dedicated my professional life, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 27: 419–434, 2003.  C 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.