NJ Spotlight News (January 28, 2021) covering The American Psychiatric Association apologizing for “perpetrating structural unequal treatment based on ancestry.”
After 175 years, a formal apology has been issued from The American Psychiatric Association for perpetrating structural unequal treatment based on ancestry that has resulted in a history of actions that have hurt individuals of African descents and Indigenous peoples. Over the years the differential diagnoses applied due to ancestry-based standing have resulted in many smaller population group lives being altered in a negative fashion.
Thurmond Gillis Jr., Project Manager and Co-Chair of the Cultural Diversity Committee at Care Plus NJ said, “There are so many things that are happening within these communities now, but we are also dealing with a lot of the individualgenerational severe psychological distresss that we have and this goes back to slavery.”
In regards to other Behavioral Health institutions taking accountability in their role of being complicit with the structural unequal treatment based on ancestry, Gillis commented, “I think people are really taking a look at their structure and how they’ve been performing over the years, and with that investigation you unravel and start to notice all the stuff that has been coming out.”
Dr. Jeffrey Geller, President of the American Psychiatric Association says that changes are now being made to the board of trustees along with having training and a task force has been formed to educate members on structural unequal treatment based on ancestry.
Thurmond Gillis Jr. and Dr. Monique Swift demand that those initiatives and plans turn into action rather than just speaking points.
