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It’s about racism, not race: a call to purge oppressive practices from neuropsychiatry and scientific discovery

Neuropsychopharmacology (2022)Cite this article

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Neuropsychiatry is beginning to reevaluate current research approaches in the wake of contemporary events of racialized violence against Black and other minoritized individuals. Although researchers, clinicians, and leaders have proposed reactionary personal and institutional commitments for change, many have done so without thoughtful consideration of how race and racism have been conceptualized in science and how sciences racist history could potentially contribute to harmful approaches. Here, we highlight three crucial errors that must be avoided for ethically sound research investigating the neurobiological effects of racism: (1) a belief in “race” as a biological reality, (2) a failure to address problematic approaches that maintain racism and (3) detachment of individual racism-related stress from structural and systemic issues.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to racially minoritized and marginalized participants for their contributions to the field of neuropsychiatry and to pioneers of racism-related scholarship for the advancement of critical knowledge to psychiatry and public health.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health K00MH119603, the National Cancer Institute R01CA220254-02S1, and the National Institute on Aging R01AG059260.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Sierra E. Carter, Yara Mekawi.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Sierra E. Carter

  2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Yara Mekawi

  3. Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA

    Nathaniel G. Harnett

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Nathaniel G. Harnett

Authors
  1. Sierra E. Carter
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  2. Yara Mekawi
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  3. Nathaniel G. Harnett
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Contributions

Drafting of the paper: SEC, YM, NGH. All authors revised the paper critically for important intellectual context and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to Sierra E. Carter or Nathaniel G. Harnett.

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Carter, S.E., Mekawi, Y. & Harnett, N.G. It’s about racism, not race: a call to purge oppressive practices from neuropsychiatry and scientific discovery. Neuropsychopharmacol. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01367-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01367-5

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