Mixed race mixed racism and mental health Identity

Mixed race, mixed racism and mental health Identity, racism and mental health services Dr Suman Fernando University of Kent; and Visiting Professor, London Metropolitan University Sponsored by:

Identity, Racism and Mental Health Services Suman Fernando European Centre Study of Migration and Social Care (MASC) University of Kent Department of Applied Social Sciences London Metropolitan University

RACE & CULTURE; ETHNICITY & IDENTITY Characterized by Assumed to be In reality RACE Physical appearance Genetic ancestry Socially constructed CULTURE Behaviour, attitudes etc. Passed down by parents / parent substitutes Variable, changeable, blue-print for living ETHNICITY Sense of belonging How people see themselves in terms of background and parentage Culture-race mixture IDENTITY Subjective feelings Formed through upbringing and experience Feelings about heritage: personal choice Ref: Fernando, S. (2010) Mental Health, Race and Culture, 3 nd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave

IDENTITY COMMUNITY (AND FAMILY) -BASED RELATIONSHIPS PARENTAL (‘NOMINAL’) RELIGION ‘RACIAL’ BACKGROUND OR APPEARANCE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND PROFESSIONAL (OR OTHER ) ALLEGIANCE INDIVIDUAL-BASED (PERSONAL CHOICE) OWN (CHOSEN) RELIGION LOYALTIES VALUES SENSE OF BELONGING CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED FORCES IN SOCIETY AT LARGE (E. G. RACISM) CATEGORISATION BY AUTHORITIES PROFESSIONAL OR OTHER ALLEGIANCE Refs. Sen, Amartya (2006) Identity and Violence. The illusion of destiny. (London: Allen Lane)

RACIST THEORIES IN PSYCHIATRY & PSYCHOLOGY ‘Idiots and ‘imbeciles’ suffer from ‘racial throwback’ (degeneration) to Ethiopian, Malay, American and Mongolian racial types (John Langdon Down, 1866) Indians, Africans and North American Aborigines are ‘adolescent races’ equivalent to children of white races (Hall, 1904) Javanese do not get depressed or suffer from guilt – ‘psychically underdeveloped’ (Kraepelin, 1921) Psyche of (white) Americans liable to be pulled down by racial infection’ of living too close to primitive black people (Jung, 1930)

RACIST DISCOURSE IN MODERN TIMES Africans did not get depressed because they lacked ‘sense of responsibility’ and their thinking resembled that of ‘leucotomised Europeans’ (Carothers, 1951) Asians, Africans and African-Americans show less developed ‘emotional differentiation’ (Leff, 1973, 1977) Racist IQ movement (Jensen, 1969) supported by Eysenck (1971, 1973) Repeated by Herrnstein & Murray (1994) and Rushton (1997) Also note Depression became commoner in Africans after Ghana became independent (Prince, 1968) ‘Schizophrenics’ have better outcome in under-developed countries (WHO, 1979) High rates of schizophrenia among Blacks in US, UK, Netherlands (see Fernando, 2003) References See Mental Health, Race and Culture (Basingstoke: Palgrave 2002) and Cultural Diversity, Mental Health and Psychiatry (Hove: Brunner-Routledge 2003) by Suman Fernando

RACIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES FINDINGS IN ENGLAND Black / Ethnic Minorities more often: Diagnosed as schizophrenic Compulsorily detained under M. H. Act Admitted as ‘Offender Patients’ Held by police under S. 136 of M. H. Act Transferred to locked wards Not referred for ‘talking therapies’ Ref: Fernando, S. (1995) Mental Health in a Multi-ethnic Society. Routledge, London

Diagnostic mis-perceptions involving ‘race’ and ‘culture’ Because of cultural dissonance (‘culture-clash’) between psychiatry and background of clients assumption of ‘objectivity’ of diagnosis and certainty of western cultural thinking disregard of service-user perceptions of ‘problems’ and diversity in expression of distress and anger institutional racism, especially influence of stereotypes in clinical judgement racist perceptions of ‘psychosis’, ‘schizophrenia’, and dangerousness political pressures to put away people considered ‘dangerous’ to ensure public safety

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM ‘The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people’. The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson (Home Department, 1999: 28)

SOME WEBSITES • www. sumanfernando. com • www. blackmentalhealth. org. uk • www. bmementalhealth. org. uk • www. spn/org. uk • www. aen. org. nz