Mental Health Inequality

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Racism and discrimination have plagued the United States since its inception. The persistent prejudice and distaste of foreigners and minorities created institutions that tend to benefit the “natives”, white people. The sentiment of these institutions trickled down into the realms of education, employment, and overall livelihood, creating systemic inequalities along the way. I will be discussing one of these unequal institutions: health, specifically mental health in minorities. Of particular interest to my research is why people who are disproportionately prone to mental health illnesses underutilize professional services. This disproportionate rate at which certain demographics are prone to mental illnesses can be explained by the issue of …show more content…
The trouble stems from the multidisciplinary approach necessary for adequate understanding. Knowing the history of health inequality is not sufficient for understanding the problem, or even offering solutions. This was also the initial issue I faced when I began to study mental health inequality. In Mental Health Inequality, they argue, “the theories and methods of medicine, psychology and sociology are in tension… [with] partisan participants [at] risk of mutual ignorance”. Although, I stated that history is not sufficient for understanding this issue, it is still necessary and the absence of history in this text reflects yet another aspect of mental health inequality that one must acknowledge. Furthermore, in Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, the author states, “More is known about the existence of disparities in mental health services — and their significance — than the reasons behind them”. Again, I believe that historical factors must come into play when attempting to discover the driving forces of mental health inequality. These gaps in knowledge and research are hindering the destruction of unequal institutions. For example, there is an apparent paradox in psychopathology between “the emic” and “the etic”, the former refers to “culturally specific disorders” and the latter to “universal disorders”. Rogers and Pilgrim point out that acknowledging the emic …show more content…
In addition, there is the public health approach which, “ is premised on the conviction that it is inherently better to promote health and to prevent illness before it begins”. Lastly, the public health policy approach includes policies to help prevent issues of health inequality, like the Fair Housing Act Amendments and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Despite the proactiveness of implementing policies, I believe that the critical realist approach would be the best for aiding minorities because it attempts to address the underlying issues at hand, not just the superficial ones. Also, the public health approach would focus on preventing further illnesses but would not deconstruct the problematic institutions that are already in
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