Resource Document on Advocating for Anti-Racist Mental Health Policies with a Focus on Dismantling Anti-Black Racism
Approved by the Joint Reference Committee, October 2021
Racial injustices have long contributed to mental health disparities for minority and underserved populations. More than 50 years ago, Dr. Melvin Sabshin and colleagues documented the “structured pattern of racism” in psychiatry in a series of articles in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Insufficient progress has been made in eradicating institutionalized racism in psychiatry. Race-based disparities in psychiatric care and mental & behavioral health reflect this lack of progress and reproduce racial inequities that span all sectors of our society.