![Sample our Behavioral Sciences journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110801/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Behavioral-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
Despite the difficulty differentiating between the symptomology of dissociative disorders and schizophrenia, Black people of African and Caribbean descent in the UK continue to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and over-represented within the mental health care system. The reasons why remain illusive; however, some researchers have begun asking whether racism plays an integral part. Given that Black people often given racism as a contributing factor to their mental state, and the difficulty differentiating between the symptomology of dissociative disorders and schizophrenia, this study examined the relation between mental representations that might be indicative of the subjective experience of racism and dissociative experiences as evidence of a trauma-related response. A web-based questionnaire was responded to by 255 self-defined Black subscribers to an Ethnic Minority Research Panel. Results showed that youth, low academic achievement, mental representations of self in relation to people who made derogatory race-related comments about others and low self-esteem contributed significantly to the variation in reported dissociative experiences, overall. Therefore, processing of race-related information impacted on the Dissociative Experiences Scale and, therefore, might also explain the over representation of Black people within the mental health system in the UK.