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Origins of Racism in American Medicine and Psychiatry

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Racism and Psychiatry

Part of the book series: Current Clinical Psychiatry ((CCPSY))

Abstract

Like most structures, American medicine has been susceptible to the effects of racism. In matters of racial oppression, the field of psychiatry has been both slowly responsive and complicit in its reaction to the cultural challenge of racism; all too often it avoids matters of social justice. Unwittingly, it contributes to the perpetuation of health disparities. This chapter reviews the history of racial oppression in medical education and organized medicine by examining its origins in American colonization and slavery, which have engendered mental health disparities for black Americans. It also explores racial stereotypes in psychological theory, clinical practice, and health policies that adversely affect blacks in America, and it highlights the medical community’s role in creating historical trauma in the black community. Psychiatrists play a crucial role in the development of interventions that will help shape healthy racial identities for blacks, and they can also foster psychological well-being for all Americans by recognizing racism as a mental health disorder. Girded with an understanding of the historical context of how blacks view medicine and psychiatry, health care systems, policy makers, and providers can undo racism and racial mental health disparities by engaging in antiracism work and advocating for this work to be implemented and embedded in all aspects of organized psychiatry and medical education.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Kimberly Gordon-Achebe

  2. Hope Health Systems, Inc., Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kimberly Gordon-Achebe

  3. Division of Consultation—Liaison Psychiatry, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Danielle R. Hairston

  4. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Shadé Miller

  5. Department of Psychiatry, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Rupinder Legha

  6. Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Steven Starks

Authors
  1. Kimberly Gordon-Achebe
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  2. Danielle R. Hairston
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  3. Shadé Miller
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  4. Rupinder Legha
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  5. Steven Starks
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kimberly Gordon-Achebe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    Morgan M. Medlock

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Derri Shtasel

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Nhi-Ha T. Trinh

  4. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    David R. Williams

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Gordon-Achebe, K., Hairston, D.R., Miller, S., Legha, R., Starks, S. (2019). Origins of Racism in American Medicine and Psychiatry. In: Medlock, M., Shtasel, D., Trinh, NH., Williams, D. (eds) Racism and Psychiatry. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90197-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90197-8_1

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90196-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90197-8

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