Schizophrenia 'linked to racism'

Racism and discrimination may be contributory factors in the development of schizophrenia, according to a controversial scientific study. <

What a crock of sh!t. Man, I did not know hurt feelings were a national security problem.

I going to predict that many FReepers will disagree with the thesis of this article. I found it persuasive and in line with my own observations.

My experience has been that blacks coming to the US having grown up in majority-black countries either in Africa or the Carribean are generally better adjusted and more comfortable "in their skin", no pun intended, than black Americans.

Although we have obviously made tremendous progress in racial equality, etc., in the USA, I've often thought that if I were black in America, it might very well drive me crazy. For one thing, the feeling that you could never, not for a day, not for a minute, escape the fact of your blackness. Knowing that when you meet a white person, the first thing he is likely to notice about you is that you are black (I'll admit that I tend to do this).

I say it's enough, among other things, to drive many people crazy, as this article suggests.

About 10 years ago, another "study" said that high blood pressure among blacks was due to racism. I guess they overlooked the steady diet of high-cholesterol foods. It's amazing that with all of these weak-minded women and minorities running around, no one has suggested locking them up in one place so they won't be bothered by the cruelties of modern society. (may or may not be sarcasm)

Fat people, deaf people, those who stutter, ugly people, women who are overly endowed, women who feel not endowed enough, short people, very tall people, all kinds of people are judged by others for traits they can't do a lot about. Sometimes this leads to psychological problems, sometimes it doesn't. Such is life.

Is the British Medical Journal peer reviewed? There is no science in this article whatsoever. Providing that they have appropriate data to support it, there's only one fact in this study:

The team at the Institute of Psychiatry found the rate of schizophrenia in non-white ethnic minorities was highest in those areas where this group comprised a small proportion of the population and lowest where they made up a large population.

This fact is followed immediately by social theory to explain it:

The research suggests for the first time that social factors have a major effect on people from ethnic minority groups with a medical predisposition to mental illness.

The "researchers" present absolutely no evidence to support that suggestion, or their theory!

Hey, this is NOT a bad report. Now President Bush can fire that head of the Civil Rights Comission for racism and/or schizophrenia. What's her name, Berry?

Yes, the BMJ is peer-reviewed, but so what? JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine have published plenty of absolute crapola, and they are certainly peer-reviewed. Check out anything these two distinguised publications have ever published on gun control.

Political agendas rear their ugly heads under any circumstances, and biomedical researchers and publications are actually pretty bad on that account.

Incidence of schizophrenia among Afro-Caribbeans and Africans in their own countries was much lower, which could be explained by the existence of greater social support networks in their own countries.

Or it could be explained that in their own countries eccentric behaviour is more widely accepted.

Or that there are fewer psychiatrists in those countries per capita, leading to fewer diagnosis.

Or that liberal idiots can take raw data and run to the left with it.

Good book on the subject:

PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine
by Sally Satel
Drawing on a wealth of information, much of it never before revealed, PC, M.D. documents for the first time what happens when the tenets of political correctness-including victimology, multiculturalism, and the rejection of fixed truths and individual autonomy-are allowed to enter the fortress of medicine. Consider these examples:
1. A professor at the Harvard School of Public Health teaches her students that racial discrimination causes high blood pressure among blacks-an unsubstantiated and dangerous "truth"
2. Nationwide, consumer-survivors preach against involuntary commitment of the severely mentally ill, arguing for their "right" not to be treated
3. Baltimore's Commissioner of Health proposes distributing heroin to addicts, claiming they are too oppressed to help themselves
The consequences of putting politics before health are far-reaching, argues Sally Satel. Patients are the ultimate victims of these disturbing trends. Meanwhile, PC medicine diverts taxpayer money that could be better spent delivering health care, providing proven therapies, and rigorously investigating new ones. PC, M.D. is a powerful wake-up call to the medical profession and to patients. —from the publisher's website

C-Span Booknotes interview with Doctor Satel:

". . . it's a very, very pernicious--there are three basic tenets to multicultural counseling. And I must say, this is not done with people who are wildly psychotic. It's done with people who have problems living, difficulty adjusting, minor depression or anxiety.
But the three tenets of multicultural therapy are, first, that the thera--that the therapist, the counselor, assumes that the most important aspect of a patient's psychological landscape is her or her membership in an oppressed group--assumes that.
The second is that whatever distress this patient is suffering from is inevitably due to his or her bumping up against racism, sexism or some sort of oppressive force.
And thirdly, that for the patient to get better, he or she will have to engage in some sort of social activism, which only makes sense, of course, if you believe that it's the environment that's--that's largely responsible for your psychic distress, then that's got to be the--that's got to be the thing that--that you seek to change.
Now when you think about it, this is the antithesis of therapy. Therapy should be about self-observation. It should be about taking responsibility for choices. . .
What I talk about in my book is really an effort to--well, the book is--is really an expose of--of what I call political correctness in medicine, the--the idea that disease and even behavioral dysfunction are primarily caused by social injustice and that doctors and especially public health professionals should take on social justice as a mission. I reject that. . .
Full interview HERE

I believe there is also some research linking certain types of family systems to schizophrenia, wherein a family can be a "crazy-making" environment. Actually, our identities are formed first of all in our family systems.

I wonder if the researchers have the guts to look at what goes on in the homes of those schizophrenics - is there abuse, are the biological fathers present, are there multiple "fathers" in and out, is there incest? Previous studies (I'll look for links to these) in late 80's, early 90's looked long and hard at incestuous homes as being key in schizophrenia.

The "researchers" present absolutely no evidence to support that suggestion, or their theory!

Absolutely, theirs is a cavalier jump to conclusion, when we know statistics never figured in any law.

Let's see...small population, large abnormalities; large population, small abnormalities. Don't zoos have this problem?

our "blackness" is a color, not a behavior, not a culture, not an affliction, not an advantage, not ANYTHING but color.

I agree with your view and admire your attitude. But the fact is that I believe that inside the head of most white people, myself included, when meeting a black person for the first time will hear a voice saying "oh, this is a black person".

It doesn't necessarily mean that there are specific negative connotations that accompany that thought. But the thought is there. I have to assume that most black people are aware of this fact. And, trying to put myselves in their shoes, I think I would find it bothersome. I would want people to simply look at me and see me, see a person, rather than "a black person".

Call me silly, tell me I have problems if you like. I mean no offense; I'm trying to be honest about a sensitive subject. And the fact is that I have thought, over the years, that being black in America might be enough to push me over the brink. That's simply the truth of what I've thought.

I see your point. One of the sad things about this particular "study" is the finding that the "Incidence of schizophrenia among Afro-Caribbeans and Africans in their own countries was much lower" may actually have medical significance. People of all ethnic groups suffer from schizophrenia. It's possible that new, more effective, treatment could be discovered through legitimate scientific inquiry. For instance, is the rate of schizophrenia lower among all ethnic groups in Africa and the Carribean, or only among the black population? This study doesn't tell us.

There's nothing inherently negative about initially observing upon meeting someone that "he is black". We all form initial impressions based on appearance, and generally take note of those physical characteristics that are different from ourselves. This is the same as noting on a first meeting that someone is your opposite gender, or that someone is tall or overweight. Cultural bias may appear when you make your observations. It depends on what, if any, meaning you assign to what you observe.

And you raise an interesting point. Schizophrenia is--as every other disease is--an interplay between genes and environment. The demands of the more complex environment of the west are undoubtedly greater than those of tribal or even non-tribal but simpler societies, so it should be no great revelation that this disease should have a higher incidence in the UK.

My guess would be that the Celts living in Liverpool or Dublin have higher levels of schizophrenia than their ancestors had before the Anglo-Saxons started their mischief with them.