We use cookies to personalize content and to analyze our traffic. Please decide if you are willing to accept cookies from our website.

Resources and Research

Social justice, health equity, and mental health

Published:8th January 2022
Authors: Bhugra, D. Tribe, R. Poulter, D.
Categories: Health and social care Justice and home affairs Local government and communities

Details

There is considerable evidence to indicate that stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses are widely prevalent across nations. Research also shows that individuals with mental illnesses are likely to die 15–20 years younger than those who do not have these illnesses. In addition, they are more likely to experience delays in help-seeking leading to poor outcomes and are more likely to experience physical illnesses. Stigma and discrimination appear to play a major role in depriving people with mental illnesses of their basic rights. Their economic, political, social, and human rights are often ignored. In this article, we describe the capability to be healthy and basic principles of social justice related to mental health. We discuss findings of discrimination often embedded in laws of countries around the world in the context of basic human rights. We believe that clinicians have a key role as advocates for their patients. Clinicians and policymakers need to work together to bring about social and health equity.

This research report has been sourced from the UEL Research Repository under licence (CC BY 4.0).

Unsupported Browser

The web browser you are using to access this website is unsupported, which means certain aspects of the site wont work properly.

To use the website we recommend upgrading to a modern web browser such as Edge, Safari, Chrome, or Firefox if possible.

Proceed anyway (not recommended)