Carson Daly Speaks On The Panel On Mental Health At Harvard

Abstract

This article offers a review of research into race-related stressors that affect your mental wellbeing of poor racial and ethnic communities. The article starts by examining the studies on self-reported discrimination and mental health. Although discrimination is the most studied aspect of racism, racism can also affect mental health through structural/institutional mechanisms and racism that is deeply embedded in the larger culture. Research priorities include greater attention paid to the stress-proliferation processes resulting from institution-based racism. Also, it is important to consider the analysis of the effects of stress on people who are a result of natural or human-caused environmental crises as well as identifying and understanding the adverse health effects of hostility toward the immigrants and other people of color in addition to determining the protection resources, and increasing knowledge of intricate connection between physical and mental health.

Racial Discrimination and Mental Health

In recent years research into mental health and discrimination based on race is a rapidly expanding field of study. But, racial discrimination is best understood as one the avenues through which racism impacts the health of people ( Williams and Mohammed 2013). The word "racism" is an organized system founded on the categorization and classification of social groups into different races.

The beginning of Empirical Studies on Racial Discrimination

Early studies on discrimination and health showed that self-reports of discrimination were inversely related with good physical and mental health. A review of the literature from the beginning found that the majority of studies were cross-sectional. The majority focused on mental health outcomes or other indicators that people self-report about health, and were primarily focused upon African American adults in the U.S.

Recent Evidence-based Research in Discrimination as well as Mental Health - Adults

A recent review has shown that discrimination can be positively linked with the severity of anxiety and depression, and mental distress, as in relation to mental problems. For instance, in the NASAL survey, which included African American and Caribbean Black adults who are 55 years old or older there were positive, but minor connections were observed between everyday racial and ethnic discrimination and the likelihood of any life-long (LT) disorder and LT mood and anxiety disorders.