Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-01T00:39:19.574Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are British Psychiatrists Racist?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Glyn Lewis ,
Caroline Croft-Jeffreys  and
Anthony David
Glyn Lewis*
Affiliation:
General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry
Caroline Croft-Jeffreys
Affiliation:
General Practice Research Unit
Anthony David
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Out of a sample of 220 British psychiatrists, 139 completed a questionnaire regarding a case vignette of a psychotic illness. The sex and ‘race’ of the vignette were varied and the responses compared. The Afro-Caribbean case was regarded as that of an illness of shorter duration, and requiring less neuroleptics than the white case. Respondents judged the Afro-Caribbean case as potentially more violent and thought criminal proceedings were more appropriate. The female vignette was perceived as less violent, less criminal, and less likely to need neuroleptics. Cannabis psychosis and acute reactive psychosis tended to be diagnosed more often and schizophrenia less often in Afro-Caribbean cases, refuting the claim that psychiatrists tend to overdiagnose schizophrenia in this group. Such ‘race thinking’ (a form of stereotyping which is distinct from ideological racism) could lead to inappropriate management.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 410 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Andréasson, S., Allebeck, P., Engstrom, A., et al (1987) Cannabis and schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of Swedish conscripts. Lancet, ii, 1483–1486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, A. (1984) Racism and psychological disturbance among West Indians in Britain. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 30, 50–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cochrane, R. & Bal, S. S. (1989) Mental hospital admission rates of immigrants to England: a comparison of 1971 and 1981. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 2–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, J. L., (ed) (1986) Transcultural Psychiatry. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Dean, G., Walsh, D., Downing, H., et al (1981) First admissions of native-born immigrants to psychiatric hospitals in South-East England 1976. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 506–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department Of Health And Social Security (1987) Medical and dental staffing prospects in the NHS in England and Wales in 1986. Health Trends, 19, 1–7.Google Scholar
Fahy, T. A. (1989) The police as a referral agency for psychiatric emergencies. Medicine, Science and the Law, 29, 315–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fahy, T. A., Bermingham, D. & Dunne, J. (1987) Police admissions to psychiatric hospitals: a challenge to community psychiatry. Medicine, Science and the Law, 27, 263–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernando, S. (1986) Depression in ethnic minorities. In Transcultural Psychiatry (ed. J. L. Cox). London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Ford, M. & Widiger, T. A. (1989) Sex bias in the diagnosis of histrionic and antisocial personality disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2, 301–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glover, G. R. (1989) The pattern of psychiatric admissions of Caribbean-born immigrants in London. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 49–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harré, R. & Lamb, R. (1983) The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Harrison, G., Owens, D., Holton, A., et al (1988) A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients. Psychological Medicine, 18, 643–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Husband, C. (1982) Introduction: ‘race’, the continuity of a concept. In ‘Race’ in Britain: Continuity and Change (ed. C. Husband), pp. 11–23. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Ineichen, B., Harrison, G. & Morgan, H. G. (1984) Psychiatric hospital admissions in Bristol I: geographical and ethnic factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 600–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, G. & Appleby, L. (1988) Personality disorder: the patients psychiatrists dislike. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 44–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littlewood, R. (1988) Community-initiated research: a study of psychiatrists' conceptualisations of ‘cannabis psychosis’. Psychiatric Bulletin, 12, 486–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littlewood, R. & Cross, S. (1980) Ethnic minorities and psychiatric services. Sociology Health and Illness, 2, 195–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1981) Some social and phenomenological characteristics of psychotic immigrants. Psychological Medicine, 11, 289–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1988) Psychiatric illness among British Afro-Caribbeans. British Medical Journal, 296, 950–951.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loring, M. & Powell, B. (1988) Gender, race and DSM–III: a study of the objectivity of psychiatric diagnostic behaviour. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 29, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGovern, D. & Cope, R. (1987) The compulsory detention of males of different ethnic groups, with special reference to offender patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 505–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mercer, K. (1984) Black communities' experience of psychiatric services. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 30, 22–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Onyango, R. S. (1986) Cannabis psychosis in young psychiatric inpatients. British Journal of Addiction, 81, 419–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pilowsky, L. & Moodley, P. (1989) ‘Cannabis psychosis’. Psychiatric Bulletin, 13, 148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rwegellera, G. G. (1977) Psychiatric morbidity among West Africans and West Indians living in London. Psychological Medicine, 7, 317–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.