Racism as a Clinical Syndrome

• Published in: American journal of orthopsychiatry Vol. 70; no. 1; pp. 14 - 27
• Main Authors: Dobbins, James E, Skillings, Judith H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK American Orthopsychiatric Association, Inc 01-01-2000; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Educational Publishing Foundation; American Psychological Association
• Subjects: Addiction; Clinical psychology; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; Differential Diagnosis; Ethnic Groups; Etiology; Human; Humans; Illness; Medical Model; Medicalization; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - psychology; Models, Psychological; Prejudice; Privilege; Racism; Relationship; Social Conditions; Social psychology; Structural analysis; Syndrome; Syndromes; Taxonomies; Taxonomy; Treatment
• ISSN: 0002-9432; 1939-0025
• DOI: 10.1037/h0087702

This paper examines the clinical effects of racism on its targets
and, in particular, on its agents, the individuals who,
wittingly or not, partake of the culture of racial privilege. It
proposes a paradigm shift in regard to the clinical study of racism, and
presents a structural model of racism, analogous to addiction as a
disease, which holds that racism has an etiology and a clinical taxonomy
that lends itself to differential diagnosis and treatment of those who manifest
symptoms.