As the world copes with a global pandemic, a historical pandemic has also been illuminated: the racism pandemic. We are becoming increasingly aware of the biases inherent in the structures that frame our society, and the need to enact change is urgent. If we accept the premise that existing systems are racist, we need to turn them upside down to achieve non-racist outcomes
“Racism is pervasive. Its negative impact exists in many forms. The field of psychiatry has not been exempt from this unfortunate truth, past or present. Such truth is of great concern as psychiatry represents a group of professionals whose primary purpose is to assess, diagnose, and treat serious persistent mental illness.”
How does racism contribute to Distorted Perceptions in psychiatry?
“African Americans, Latinx, and Asian Americans receive treatment of mental health challenges at 50–70% lower rates than white Americans in this country. This is the result of failures on individual and systemic levels,” he added.
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Black respondents — particularly those who had been through higher education — reported that they had experienced stigmatization, and that professionals had minimized their mental health symptoms. This resulted in a lack of access to appropriate care.
