Employment Law

Personal Injury

The effect racial discrimination at work can affect your mental health

On Behalf of | Jan 25, 2022 | Race Discrimination |

Anyone who has ever experienced workplace discrimination based on their race knows how painful it is. It can go beyond feeling hurt, angry or humiliated. Often, discrimination can trigger a mental health problem like depression.

Study finds possible link between race discrimination and depression

A medical study published in 2010 found a relationship between depression and incidents of racial discrimination at work. The study examined the cases of workers at two hospitals who had suffered job-related injuries. Researchers asked the participants if they had experienced unfair treatment from a supervisor or co-worker based on the participant’s race, ethnicity, age, nationality, gender or sexual orientation in the past year. Fourteen percent reported that they had.

The remaining questions were used to determine the reason for each participant’s discriminatory incidents (was it race, gender, etc.?) and how often it had happened. Around 57 percent said that the abuse they suffered was due to their race. More Black workers reported racial discrimination than other groups. After controlling for other things that can contribute to depression (such as life stressors and socio-economic factors), researchers concluded that the more race-based discrimination the workers had experienced on the job, the more likely they were to have symptoms of depression.

You can fight back

Depression is a chronic illness that can impact your ability to work, relationships, and enjoyment of life. But even if discrimination did not lead to depression for you, it can still have a hugely negative impact and it is always unacceptable. You do not have to take discrimination. You can take legal action to get compensated and stop such misconduct from happening again at your workplace.

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