The Importance of Anti-Racist Practices in Mental Health Care
At the intersection of race and mental health, people of color often face difficulties accessing appropriate mental health care services. The U.S. has historically harmed many marginalized communities on the basis of race. 2020 is an important reminder that the fight against racism can and will save lives in the present and future, if we understand and tackle racism and all the forms it takes on.
The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the pre-existing racial tension in our country. We have witnessed anti-Chinese rhetoric in a pandemic, police brutality and carceral violence against Black people and an uptick in overt discrimination against Asian Americans and African Americans. These political, social issues are coupled with health issues now. Racial disparities exist even in this pandemic and its management, and around 58% of nurses who have died from Covid-19 are nurses of color.
As racial bias finds its way into everyday life, it is inevitably reflected in the clinical, mental health care industry. People of color in the west often struggle with accessing health care in the first place. Recent studies show that African Americans might be overdiagnosed with schizophrenia. So, even if people of color are accessing resources for their mental health, the quality of care might not be as good as it would be for white counterparts.
Taking care of one’s mental health is important regardless of race, and the main concern now is how everyone working in mental health can apply multiple frameworks to suit the specific needs of people of color and other marginalized groups, sensitive to how their lived experiences might not match textbook cases. The science and clinicians can both hold racial biases, but that history leads to people of color’s distrust in this system to give them hope in a challenging world.
How should we approach anti-racism work in mental health care and provide more and better for all historically marginalized communities in the U.S.? Jude Mary Cénat, assistant professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Ottowa, argues that because of the racism that is ingrained into the mental health care system, racial trauma and its intergenerational impact must be treated on a case-by-case basis within the Black community, avoiding cultural homogenization.
Non-racist work in the system would help promote equity and humanize care in a racist and dehumanized system, providing support for communities without retraumatization. Ensuring workers in various institutions from welfare agencies, schools, religious centers, etc., understand that everyone has a role in promoting racial equity will in turn help people of color no longer be denied the empathy and compassion they deserve.