By Sum Sum, Blog Ambassador of Youthoughtism
According to the enormous title you might've seen, you will definitely think that we should stop this unenjoyable harassment. Well if you think this, many will agree and so do I. However, some of you may wonder, 'What is racism or mental health?’ or ‘How does this negative habit affect our mental health?’ Well, I’m here to advise you a few things and dig deeper through the summits of this topic.
What is racism?
To start off with this complex topic, racism is a type of discrimination that spreads hate to others from an individual or community by their features. However, this doesn’t end here. Racism comes in many, different types. To name a few, types of racism include cultural, economic, othering and most commonly, racial discrimination.
How does racism impact our mental health?
After going through some basics of racism, you might have gained some slight knowledge about it, which is a great start. In these 2 paragraphs, we will be looking at things from racism that negatively impact our mental health. According to Medical News Today ‘Racism, or discrimination based on race or ethnicity, is a key contributing factor in the onset of disease. It is also responsible for increasing disparities in physical and mental health among Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)’.
Firstly, we will be looking at adults’ conditions from racism. Symptoms include depression, stress, emotional distress, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and lastly, post-traumatic stress disorder (also known as PTSD). Moving on to children and young people, symptoms include PTSD, anxiety, grief and depression. Although younger people may be quite brighter and don’t directly handle racism, they may be more impulsive and it can still traumatize them through experience. But for adults, they may be more sensitive or easily stressed out which gives a more of an emotional feeling for them. However, if I just say that adults can be more sad and have easy to face symptoms, it doesn't mean it’s always that way. Many can have a much complete, different mindset.
How to help out on stopping racism
After reading most of the content, you may be quite concerned about this non-jovial prejudice currently going around the world. As a reader, may some of you wonder ‘If we want to stop this cause from happening, what should we do to help our world?’ First off, we need to correctly spread awareness such as teaching others (especially youngsters) to be able to recognise and consider if their behavior would strengthen racism. Another thing that supports going against racism is creating inspiring and powerful stories that will teach or persuade the target audience that racism needs to be put to an end. Lastly, you can also create activities (either virtually or physically) for others from different races to participate in community groups. This means that everyone participating would be able to talk about what they will be in charge of or do.
My personal experience
Luckily, I haven’t lately experienced anything relating to racism and getting medical conditions. However as an asian myself, I also do consider this major problem that has been happening in this modern age. When I was first introduced to racism by my friends and family, I have felt some sorrow and pain from many through the words spoken from their mouths and the digital screens from the television news.
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