Psychotropic medication and ethnicity: an inpatient survey

Abstract

A survey of the catchment area psychiatric inpatient population of the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals showed that more black (Afro Caribbean) than non-black (white British) patients received anti-psychotic medication. This finding ceased to be significant after adjustment for diagnosis because a larger proportion of black than non black patients received a diagnosis of schizophrenia. However, after adjustment for diagnosis, black patients were significantly more likely to be receiving depot anti-psychotic medication, to be detained under a section and to have been involved in a violent incident during the present admission. There were no significant ethnic differences in total dose equivalents of anti-psychotic medication but doses of the depot form were significantly higher for black patients.

Depression and Anxiety Among Afro-Caribbean General Practice Attenders in Britain

“…Racist views held by hospital and primary care workers are only one aspect of the problem (Lloyd & Moodley, 1992). Beyond this, in areas such as mental health, black people are faced with institutional racism which treats their beliefs, values and experiences as inferior, bizarre or deviant and as a result they find themselves subjected to poor or more brutal psychiatric treatment.…”

Mental illness in Black and Asian ethnic minorities: pathways to care and outcomes

“…A substantial body of research indicates that, for people from Black and Asian 1 ethnic minorities, access to, utilisation of and treatments prescribed by mental health services differ from those for White people (Lloyd & Moodley, 1992; for a review see Bhui, 1997). Pathways to mental health care are important, and the widely varying pathways taken in various societies may reflect many factors: the attractiveness and cultural appropriateness of services; attitudes towards services; previous experiences; and culturally defined lay referral systems (Goldberg, 1999).…”

Is there racial bias in clinicians' perceptions of the dangerousness of psychiatric patients? A review of the literature

“…Some studies report relationships between the high rates of compulsory admission of black patients and a higher incidence of recorded violence for those patients (Lloyd & Moodley, 1992); greater 'severity of aggression' (Noble & Rodger, 1989); and higher levels of 'disturbed behaviour' (Chen et al,1991). However one study found no racial differences in recorded levels of disturbed behaviour of compulsorily admitted patients .…”