The Bleaching Syndrome

Abstract

Psychiatry is a medical profession whose practitioners are charged with the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of mental distress. They are trained to address both the physiological as well as the psychological aspects of various disorders. Subsequently psychiatrists are qualified to prescribe medication holding medical degrees which are followed by residency training in psychiatry. However despite such training many in psychiatry overlook psychological pathologies peculiar to people of color. In the colonial aftermath and Atlantic slave trade eras a most dramatic pathology affectively designates dark skin as a mark of denigration.