Mental Health, Diagnosis, and Treatment: The Effects of Race, Gender, and Class on Access to Mental Healthcare

This paper shows the race, gender, and class disparities in access to mental health treatment based on stigma, perceived need, bias from professionals, transportation, and financial resources. This study used data from the General Social Survey and analyzed it with Survey Documentation and Analysis. It used variables of the self-reported mental health of the respondents, diagnosis of a mental disorder, and whether they have received treatment for their mental disorder. The results show that, 1) African Americans had lower rates of diagnosis of a mental disorder at a statistically significant rate; 2) Women had lower mental health and men had lower diagnosis rates at a statistically significant rate; and 3) Lower class respondents had the lowest mental health and the upper class respondents had the lowest mental health diagnosis at a statistically significant rate. There still needs to be future research on the intersectional aspects of these disparities, and more data on access to mental health care.