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Racial Issues in Clinical Psychology

Categories: Psychology

  • Words: 2406

Published: Sep 17, 2024

Clinical psychology is a crucial area of psychology where individuals can receive professional assistance, medical care, and assistance in resolving their behavioral and psychological issues. Although the selected subject of psychology addresses a wide range of human difficulties, there are still a number of topics that need to be covered in order to prevent personal discontent, legal challenges, disappointments, and misunderstandings. Despite the fact that many Americans think they are racially insensitive, some racial issues have been noted in the field of clinical psychology. The fundamental issue is related to the wish to believe that the issue of racial inequality is a thing of the past and the denial of obvious racial difficulties. In the discipline of clinical psychology, can racial bias be used to judge the efficacy of psychological assistance and shape the relationships between a helpful professional and a patient? Before making a final choice, individuals and students who desire to integrate clinical psychology with their career advancement should strive to find an answer to this question. People rely on a variety of things these days, including political discourse, media knowledge, and even their own subjective interpretations of their neighbors' words. Human conduct is a complex system of ideas and information that is sometimes misunderstood. People require qualified assistance, which is what this essay is supposed to offer in terms of both assistance and understanding. Clinical psychology offers more than just a way to solve personal issues. It is an excellent chance to link behavioral issues in people with effective treatment. Psychologists ought to be able to provide adequate services to everybody, regardless of race, despite the existing racial issues.

The idea of health care cannot be separated from the socio-economic trends of the country because it is one of the key elements of the population's well-being. Because of this, social and ecological issues including gender, climate change, racial inequality, and ethnic disparity have a significant impact on the creation of high-quality healthcare and universal access to vital health services. It is appropriate to note that racism has emerged as one of the biggest barriers to attaining equity when discussing US health care and its social growth. Apart from posing a threat to the state's social environment, the problem itself is directly linked to a greater danger posed by ecological imbalances across racial groups.

Our comprehension of racism's varied dimensions has benefited greatly from psychology.

Psychologists have long studied the negative effects of racism, and a lot of their research has helped society advance. Psychologists have also contributed to a better understanding of how prejudice is created and maintained in the human brain. The propensity for people to acknowledge and recollect the faces of members of their own race effectively compared to those of other races, has long been studied by psychologists. According to studies, the processing of faces of other races is related to implicit prejudices toward various racial groups. These findings have important ramifications for circumstances that have major consequences, like the identification of eyewitnesses in court cases and the incorrect perception of pain tolerance in psychology institutions. Nevertheless, some psychologists who are supported by psychological testing and assessment have utilized psychological studies to sustain oppressive institutions as evidence. The way things are set up in the social environment has an impact on how individuals think about it, what they anticipate, and what they fear. Psychologists must examine and comprehend the social and cognitive frameworks that support racial institutions.

According to Anderson's 2003 study results, socio-political issues control the kinds of interactions that people from various cultural backgrounds have. It is important to consider how society's members view one another. Since it can lead to a variety of other unfavorable elements, racism has been one of America's most sensitive issues. Because of the large number of immigrants who arrived between the 17th and 20th centuries, America is among the most ethnically diverse nations worldwide. With the entrance of colonists, immigrants from Europe, and slaves transported from all over the world, the number of Native Americans was surpassed. The White population has historically ruled the United States. Racism has been a major issue for Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Arab Americans, American Muslims, American Jews, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and other immigrants to the US, according to the majority of researchers.

The construction of many American organizations has long been based on racial distinctions. They comprise government agencies, schools, and training facilities. Segregation, as well as oppression, are characteristics of racism, especially when it comes to housing, job possibilities, and educational access. Regardless of the justification that official racism was outlawed in America during and after World War II, it is still present in various areas of society, such as politics. According to a national survey done by Thompson (2009), racial identity has a big impact on how most Americans vote. There is a high level of racial prejudice in America against Muslims, African Americans, and Latin Americans. It has also been demonstrated that racism exists in the United States across almost all ethnic groupings.

Anderson (2003) draws the conclusion that the United States engagement in the Middle East is motivated by racial factors, particularly in the way they view and treat Arabs. In the past, the United States foreign policies were shaped by racial biases, with some races being deemed superior and others inferior. Researchers have discovered that after the notorious September 11 attack, American Muslims experienced racial discrimination in immigration-related procedures. It is clear that racism has a significant negative impact on a person of color's overall development. A person who is raised in this atmosphere may develop a sense of inferiority as a result of the way they are treated.

Discrimination can have a negative impact on an individual's psychological growth. In addition, going through extensive screening and questioning when entering the United States on a visit or through immigration may make someone feel uncomfortable. An individual who feels discriminated against may be driven to engage in a criminal action by being viewed and regarded as a criminal or terrorist. The person who is born into a racially superior group will likewise spread the same attitudes, particularly if they don't have the opportunity to routinely engage with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. According to studies, persons who do not interact with people of diverse racial origins are more likely to practice discrimination than those who live in multicultural environments.

The consequences of such conversation, despite the fact that the topic has been explicitly discussed for decades, are nevertheless quite unsatisfactory for the prejudiced population. The idea of racism significantly contributes to the formation of serious health access inequities in the clinical psychology business within various racial and ethnic groups, which is one of the primary problems with modern US health care in terms of people's socioeconomic situation. As a result, it can be inferred that the main issue with racism in the health care setting is that it prevents treatment and therapeutic procedures free from implicit and explicit systemic racism and financial burdens due to its deep integration into the world's socioeconomic structures.

In the pandemic era, racial minorities were more inclined to work at the forefront of the global pandemic outbreak, where they are more likely to be exposed to the virus. Their socialization also poses a problem in regards to maintaining social distance and attempting to address hospital services early in the infection. Due to inadequate early care and a higher chance of developing chronic ailments that worsen one's condition, many ethnic minority representatives are successful in addressing the facilities when it is in a critical state. Therefore, it is crucial for the governing bodies to develop a comprehensive intervention strategy for eliminating social and financial gaps between the ethnic groups in case of any disputes. The US Department of Health and Human Services ought to be the main stakeholder and budgetary allocator when it pertains to concrete measures to address the problem because it deals with both social and health care concerns. The department must then work with local stakeholders, such as administrators of healthcare facilities, by allocating funding for educational initiatives and providing insurance for people from minority communities.

Nevertheless, a questionable premise that may encompass some of these diversity and access efforts is that minorities of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not drawn to the psychology profession and that if we can increase their participation in training programs and the profession, we can combat claims of prejudice and Eurocentricity in psychology (Douglas et al., 2021; Wood & Patel, 2017). An associated belief is that the sheer presence of trainees from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds can eliminate Whiteness and racism in the profession and help trainers and trainees learn about "diversity" or, more specifically, neutralize criticisms of the profession as being exclusive, primarily White, Eurocentric, and discriminatory. Without a more comprehensive discussion of sociopolitical frameworks, as well as institutional and structural racism within the profession, diversity initiatives have severe limitations.

A number of incidents have been discussed nationally and are connected by a shared set of worries about the psychology of anti-racism, racism in psychology, and the psychology of racism. Psychologists frequently plan these gatherings in their local communities. Numerous venues across the country host the events. These forums are individually designed by their organizers to make sure they are attentive to regional and local issues and audiences while yet representing the goals of the overarching APA Psychology and Racism campaign.

The most prevalent sociopolitical element that has a substantial impact on the area of clinical psychology, according to the paper, is racism. Each factor's potential effects have also been discussed. Therefore, it is clear that more work needs to be done in order to reduce, if not completely remove, the issue's detrimental effects on the diversity of American society. Clinical psychology delivery outcomes would significantly increase in this scenario since more patients will be able to contact healthcare providers promptly and obtain insurance (Douglas et al., 2021). Additionally, the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) provisions incentivize firms to provide insurance for workers. Therefore, as soon as companies are required to refrain from discriminating against any group, the proportion of members of racial minorities who get health insurance will rise.

Finally, in order to reject the notion of race-blindness, psychologists must complete specialized training programs designed to promote cultural competency and racial health awareness.

References

Anderson, J. K. (2003). Multicultural America: a historical perspective. Journal of U.S Department of Justice, 3(5), 35-51.

Douglas A.. Bernstein, Bethany A.. Teachman, Bunmi O.. Olatunji, & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2021). Introduction to Clinical Psychology: Bridging Science and Practice. Cambridge University Press.

Thompson, V. L. (2009). The consequences of racism in America. Community of Mental Health Journal, 43(3), 224-235.

Wood, N., & Patel, N. (2017). On addressing ‘Whiteness’ during clinical psychology training. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(3), 280-291.

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