Racial disparities in psychotic disorder diagnosis: a review of empirical literature
Open accessAbstract
Psychotic disorder diagnoses are common in the United States and internationally. However, racial disparities in rates of psychotic disorder diagnoses have been reported across time and mental health professions. This literature review provides an updated and comprehensive summary of empirical research on race and diagnosis of psychotic disorders spanning a 24-year period. Findings reveal a clear and pervasive pattern wherein African American/Black consumers show a rate of on average three to four higher than Euro-American/White consumers. Latino American/Hispanic consumers were also disproportionately diagnosed with psychotic disorders on average approximately three times higher compared to Euro-American/White consumers. In addition, a trend among international studies suggests that immigrant racial minority consumers receiving mental health services may be assigned a psychotic disorder diagnosis more frequently than native consumers sharing a majority racial background. Potential explanations for this phenomenon are discussed, including possible clinical bias and sociological causes such as differential access to healthcare and willingness to participate in mental health services. Directions for future research should include the exploration of disproportionate diagnoses according to race through qualitative interviewing as well as empirical investigation.
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There are disparities in who is at risk for mental health concerns, in who is diagnosed with mental health disorders, and with which mental health disorders people are diagnosed.
“there are disparities in who is at risk for mental health concerns, in who is diagnosed with mental health disorders, and with which mental health disorders people are diagnosed [49-51]”
From The Opportunities and Risks of Large Language Models in Mental Health (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
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- Authors
- Schwartz, R. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Akron (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schwartz, Robert C
- Venue
- World Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
- Published
- 2014
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 133
- ISSN
- 2220-3206 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4274585
- OpenAlex
- W1973201512
- Cited by
- 461
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 87 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 0.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- World Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Keywords
- racial disparities, psychosis, diagnosis rates, clinical bias, access to mental health care, ethnic minority mental health
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