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Does racial stereotyping still occur in psychiatry?

October 17, 2001

Ten years ago, psychiatrists rated black male patients as potentially more violent than white patients. A study in this week's BMJ asks does such racial stereotyping still occur?

A postal questionnaire, concerning the first presentation of a young man at casualty, was sent to 1000 British psychiatrists. It included a photograph, brief history, and findings on the patient's mental state. Half received a picture of a black man and half received a picture of a white man. All other details were the same.

Psychiatrists indicated that they were more likely to ask black patients whether they had a social worker or had received learning support at school, whereas they were more likely to ask white patients about problem drinking. They were equally likely to ask a black patient or a white if they had a criminal record or had recently used illegal drugs.

Psychiatrists were also more likely to rate schizophrenia and personality disorder as appropriate diagnoses for white patients.

In this study, participating psychiatrists did not rate black patients as more likely to be violent than white, say the authors. This is different from a decade ago.

Racism is evident in the psychiatric system, say the authors, but our results suggest that the racial stereotyping that occurs at first interview is not sufficient to account for the inequalities seen in secondary care. Urgent exploration is required to find out where these inequalities arise, they conclude.


British Medical Journal (BMJ)