How Does Discrimination Affect Mental Health

How Does Discrimination Affect Mental Health?

By: Sumiya, Jane and Ipar

What is Mental Health?

Mental Health

Mental health includes our :

• emotional well-being
• psychological well-being
• social well-being

It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make healthy choices. Your mental health can be good or bad, and it can be affected by your thoughts, experiences and the people around you!

What Is Discrimination?

What Is Discrimination?

• Discrimination is the unequal treatment of people
• It is based on personal characteristics (their race, age, gender, religion, disability)

Discrimination can be seen in many different forms:

• employment discrimination
• housing discrimination
• discrimination in education

Direct discrimination- when someone is treated poorly in a workplace because of a protected characteristic

Indirect discrimination-when policies and procedures exclude a certain group of people

We sent out a survey to the whole of year 7, asking them about their experiences with discrimination and mental health.

What does our research show?

Our research has showed that approximately 54% of people in your age range have experience with discrimination, and only 34% do not. 12% remain unsure.

Haven't experienced discrimination Unsure Have experienced discrimination

34%

54%

12%

Who Is Affected?

Anyone can be affected by discrimination, though it is most commonly experienced by minority groups, such as Muslims, Jews or people of colour. Another common group that faces discrimination is disabled people.

" A person (P) has a disability if - (a) P has a physical or mental impairment, and (b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activites."

Equality Act, 2010

As shown in the quote from the Act, people with mental health issues do fall under this category, and indeed are protected by the Act and therefore by the goverment. Discrimination against people with mental illnesses is called stigma.

Do People With Mental Health Issues Face Discrimination?

“We all add to the stigma surrounding mental illness. I am not trying to call anyone out or make anyone feel bad, but in our own way, we all contribute to the stigma. It could be the way we think about other people with mental illness, or even the way we talk to ourselves about our own struggles.”

Kati Morton, 2018

Why is This Not Talked About?

Although both discrimination and mental health are widely talked about and taught in the UK, they are rarely talked about side by side and people do not always know that one can affect the other. We think that more people should know about how these things can affect each other.

Are they directly related?

In a study done by American Academy of Pediactrics, it was shown that people who experience discrimination are much more likely to experience problems with mental health. It also showed that 75% of mental health problems begin when people are teenagers, so this is an especially crucial stage of mental development.

THanks

Jane Scott

Ipar Kurban

Sumiya Ahmed