Abstract

SummaryMental healthcare for ethnic minorities is a government policy priority. However, debate about how services should develop has been overshadowed by public criticism over high rates of admission and sectioning in some ethnic groups, the implication being that racism is rife in mental healthcare. These criticisms are headline-seeking, scientifically crude and unfair to mental health professionals. However, it is true that some minority communities are mistrustful of the services available. We need to overcome this mistrust with a positive message – and a promise of fair treatment.

Highlights

  • Mental healthcare for ethnic minorities is a government policy priority

  • In my 8 years working with the government, there are few areas of policy that have been as controversial as race equality

  • The apparent reasons do not reflect well on British society because they lie in the nature of ethnic minority experience in this country - urban poverty, educational disadvantage, racism - and social adversity whose effect is so pernicious that it can trigger severe mental illness, whatever the biological basis may be

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Summary

Introduction

Mental healthcare for ethnic minorities is a government policy priority. debate about how services should develop has been overshadowed by public criticism over high rates of admission and sectioning in some ethnic groups, the implication being that racism is rife in mental healthcare. The aim is one that few people could disagree with - to develop mental healthcare for a diverse society, with its rich mix of cultures, races and religions. The apparent reasons do not reflect well on British society because they lie in the nature of ethnic minority experience in this country - urban poverty, educational disadvantage, racism - and social adversity whose effect is so pernicious that it can trigger severe mental illness, whatever the biological basis may be.

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