Following Up: Is racism hazardous to your health?
Friday, July 20, 2007
Evidence is mounting that experiencing discrimination causes physical changes in the body that may contribute to the development of disease. Vickie Mays, professor of psychology at UCLA and William Gordon, a post-doctoral fellow at UCLA, explain what the latest research points to.
Comments [10]
love to hear a show responding to BK's question (2nd graph) -- Brian, do you dare?
I agree that we're all subject to stress & depression & I can only hope for good counseling for anyone who needs it.
What I'd like to know is how not to display prejudicial behavior. I'm white, middle aged, middle class & I do not believe that any race or gender is fundamentally better than another. but I notice people - in there likes & differences, race, clothes, behavior & stereotypes. I comment in my head - sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. I can't help it if, I go into macy's, one of the sales women has a head scarf on, & I notice. it's different to me. I'm intrigued. if an aftican-american kid is swaggering and "acting" tough, I notice - I take note because that stereotype feels threatening.
am I bad? is this wrong? please advise.
I second PW's comment! Being a woman I feel harrassed and discriminated against on a daily basis.
I think many people are unaware that they send subtle signs that are indeed racist. They don't know why they helped the white person first, or made an assumption about the black person. People do these things due to the subliminal messages we get everyday from television and media, and possibly from their own personal experience. We have to challenge ourselves to see the ways in which we all express our prejudices in everyday situations. And then we have to change it.
Um, let's see, hostility raises stress levels, stress has an impact on health, this is something new?
Dear Brian,
I would like to object strenuously to one of your guests, Dr. Gordon, using the old phrase, "...digging one's own grave with a fork." I felt my cortisol level rise when I heard that. I'm heavy, have always been, I eat rather little and this is well beyond normal levels of control, and I resent the extra level of stress brought about by discrimination against the overweight.
Regards,
Barbara Broido
Every time I hear statistics about the lower occurrence of mental health problems among African Americans, I have to wonder: couldn't this have a lot to do with African Americans' lower access to mental health counseling and cultural barriers to identifying and/or acknowledging these problems?
Not to take anything away from the plight of today's target group, but prejudice against the elderly is just as insidious and may very well be the cause of the prevalence of depression in this age group. And, as was just mentioned on your program, doctors dismiss complaints, sometimes by saying: :Well, take an aspirin, put the heating pad on it." They don't even say, "And call me tomorrow if you're not feeling better." All you baby boomers, now is the time to insist on respect. It's too late for the over 65 community.
Joan Robinson
225 E. 93rd St. #5A
NYC 10128
212-987-7993
Please ask Mays and Gordon whether the same criteria can be used to assess the health effects of agism and sexism!
...So hug a racist today -- it's good for your cholesterol!
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