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• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 40 - 49 >> Niabingi - Interview 01 >> Niabingi says all is not lost after being diagnosed, try to come to terms with your diagnosis and then try different things to aid your healing. (Play

This 42 year old Black, British born woman was diagnosed at the age of 25 with paranoid schizophrenia but disagrees with the paranoid part. She believes that her mental distress was caused by the racism she experienced when growing up.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 20 - 29 >> Chapman - Interview 20 >> Chapman says that taking medication did not help his symptoms and he has tried several different types.

Chapman, 23, describes himself as Black-African and was born in Zimbabwe. He has been in the UK for 7 years and is awaiting the decision of an application for asylum. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at the age of 20.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 30 - 39 >> Sara - Interview 32 >> Sara suggests that professionals listen, not make assumptions, and realise that people with mental health problems have "the same dreams and desires a

Sara, 34, describes herself as Indian and has a diagnosis of depression. Sara's food bingeing was interpreted as psychotic behaviour and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In her late twenties, however, a specialist diagnosed an eating disorder.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 30 - 39 >> David - Interview 15 >> David explains why it took so long to get a diagnosis and believes that this changed when he got a psychiatrist from an ethnic minority background.

David, 37, describes his ethnicity as mixed (White/North African). David was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and severe depression, 29 years after he first saw a psychiatrist. David's wife is also his carer.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 30 - 39 >> Shaukat - Interview 17 >> Shaukat diagnosed himself after reading about social phobia and then meeting people with experiences similar to his.

Shaukat, 36, was born in Pakistan and came to the UK aged 9. He has been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and general anxiety disorder. He finds going to support groups and talking to other people with similar experiences supportive and helpful.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 50 - 59 >> Lorenz - Interview 11 >> Lorenz describes coming to accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia and why he thinks the diagnosis was justified by his symptoms and not made because he

Lorenz is a 50 year old Black Afro-Caribbean man who has been in the UK since 1966. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 20 and this is now controlled by the anti-psychotic Aripiprazole (10mg daily) enabling Lorenz to work as a social care assistant.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 30 - 39 >> Ugo - Interview 02 >> Ugo describes her feelings and concerns about being diagnosed with personality disorder.

This Black-British woman became depressed in 1981 after 6 miscarriages, and losing her husband and home. She's also diagnosed with personality disorder (which she disagrees with) and lost custody of her child because of her mental health problems.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 30 - 39 >> Sara - Interview 32 >> Sara recalls being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia instead of an eating disorder and says she thinks things might have been different had she be

Sara, 34, describes herself as Indian and has a diagnosis of depression. Sara's food bingeing was interpreted as psychotic behaviour and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In her late twenties, however, a specialist diagnosed an eating disorder.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 20 - 29 >> Chapman - Interview 20 >> Chapman explains why he thinks he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and says if the diagnosis was right his medication would work.

Chapman, 23, describes himself as Black-African and was born in Zimbabwe. He has been in the UK for 7 years and is awaiting the decision of an application for asylum. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at the age of 20.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 40 - 49 >> Michael - Interview 31 >> He says that ethnicity influences diagnosis and in his view people have a "micro-ethnicity" and doctors should be aware of this.

Michael, 49, describes himself as a European Ashkenazi Jew. He has been given a variety of diagnoses, including bipolar affective disorder, personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, learning disability, and severe mental impairment.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 40 - 49 >> Sarah - Interview 28 >> She says it's difficult to communicate with her GP without her children to interpret for her. (Original interview in Cantonese, text in English).

Sarah, a married mother of 4, is Chinese and came to the UK from Hong Kong when she got married. She was diagnosed with depression when she was 46. Sarah gets a lot of comfort from her religion - she says she would feel very depressed without it.

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• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences

Publication date: 19^th June 2008          Last updated: November 2010

Review date: November 2012

 

We interviewed 30 people from different Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds about their experiences of having mental health problems.

 

Interviews in other languages: Bengali (Interview 7); Cantonese (Interview 28, 29, 31); Punjabi (Interview 19). See ‘People's stories’ section for these numbered interviews.

 

See also... Mental health: ethnic minority carers’ experiences

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• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Getting a diagnosis >> Getting a diagnosis

Getting a diagnosis

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 60 - 69 >> Anton - Interview 13 >> Anton says it would help if psychiatrists had personal experience of mental health problems because then they would have a better understanding.

Anton, 64, is an Asian man who came from Sri Lanka to the UK in 1962. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder aged 45 and was given various medicines but none worked. Now he is not receiving any treatment: he was told by doctors they had "given up" on him.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 40 - 49 >> Jay - Interview 27 >> Jay says to professionals: "Stop seeing diagnosis, see people".

Jay, 42, describes herself as Black-British. She was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder aged 34 and now works in mental health. Jay's voices say mainly negative things, but two voices encourage her and give her tenacity and drive.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 40 - 49 >> Michael - Interview 31 >> Professionals need to be "culturally competent" and aware of people's "micro-ethnicity" so that they don't fall back on "old fashioned" stereotypes.

Michael, 49, describes himself as a European Ashkenazi Jew. He has been given a variety of diagnoses, including bipolar affective disorder, personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, learning disability, and severe mental impairment.

• Mental health >> Mental health: ethnic minority experiences >> Aged 30 - 39 >> Sara - Interview 32 >> Sara was offered CBT in hospital to convince her to agree with a diagnosis she disagreed with; she has found psychological approaches to her depressio

Sara, 34, describes herself as Indian and has a diagnosis of depression. Sara's food bingeing was interpreted as psychotic behaviour and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In her late twenties, however, a specialist diagnosed an eating disorder.