Mental illness - race, sexual orientation, and gender factors (racism, depression, status)

[artsyguy]

A lot of people seem to know a lot about mental illness.

Does anyone ever consider the history or minority status, sexual orientation, discrimination factors, or gender factors as contributing to diagnosis or no diagnosis?

For example if a male psychologist is embittered toward women. And he gives a bipolar diagnosis to a woman to harm her instead of thoroughly getting to know her through multiple sessions and figuring out what she really has?

Or diagnosis of a black person as having NPD or Personality disorder but without looking at how racism or other factors come into play? Or diagnosis of a gay person with a depression without taking into account homophobia or other concerns?

Does any one have any input on these issues?

[moonshadow]

Yep, there are some really bad shrinks out there.

There are also a lot of good ones.

[Zekester]

Any contributing factors and mitigating circumstances would be taken into account by any competent psychiatric professional and barring any underlying psycopathy on the part of the physician specifically they certainly wouldn't endeavor to harm a patient.

I experienced severe depression secondary to a physical illness for a while. Every psychiatrist that I saw took quite a while to get familiar with me and my problems before prescribing a course of treatment. They don't just say "so your sad huh? Here's a pill." It doesn't work that way -at least not in my experience.

[XodoX]

Another gay thread

[artsyguy]

It is on all minorities. Not just gays.

Originally Posted by XodoX

Another gay thread

[World Citizen]

I absolutely believe that a psychologist's perception can be influenced by their own belief, background and/or personal issues. They are human beings.

Whether or not it is considered "professional conduct" or "politically correct", all of the things you've listed come into play in any relationship. In addition, people all have different temperaments. And then,... creative people are usually a little different than everyone else, too... IMHO. A creative person needs to work with someone who understands and can speak to that part of us.

Just because someone is a psychologist doesn't mean that they are necessarily the right person to work with a particular individual. If someone feels that their psychologist is treating them a certain way or judging them wrongly -- and if they feel they are not being helped by that person but feel they are being hurt by their judgment... they should trust what they're feeling in their heart.

If a psychologist they're paying is making them feel bad about themselves or if they feel that they are not being helped, the patient should not hesitate to look for another psychologist. They should keep looking until they find someone that they feel good about working with.