Price Pritchett is an Advisor & Author on Business & Change Management

​CMHIP:  Implicit bias + Pathologizing Conflict = Systemic Discrimination

Systemic discrimination refers to patterns of behavior, policies or practices that are part of the structures of an organization, and which create or perpetuate disadvantage for minorities. It has a broad impact        From our perspective discrimination is often used against people who are "complaining" about their own care or on behalf of someone else.

Implicit Bias + Pathologizing Conflict --- "Any patient we are in conflict with has an Anti-Social Personality Disorder" ---- CMHIP (CO Mental Health Institute @ Pueblo) can come perilously close if they are not already there to the above paradigm.

Situation #1

• patient complained on behalf of himself & others regarding staffing, etc.;
• patient has a degree from Univ. of Texas in Computer Science, job history & good family history;
• discharged to Homelessness from CMHIP
• We don't even agree with personality disorders, BUT patient doesn't meet the DSM 5 criteria for Anti-Social Personality Disorder.
• CMHIP labelled the patient with an Anti-Social Personality Diagnosis

Situation #2

• patient who is Black was sent to CMHIP for a competency exam.
• patient complained on behalf of himself & others
• patient is actually on SSI for mental health reasons.
• patient has been homeless for approx. 43 years, since he was 11 years old;
• patient does have biologically based mental health diagnoses as well as racial discrimination that is affecting his mental health as well.
• patient even in a snow storm will not go to a shelter and prefers to stay under a truck;
• it is this same person who alerted us to the young white man with mental health & developmental disabilities in AdSeg in the Denver Detention Center & begged us to try to help him.
• Because the patient refused to meet with examiner, a report was issued anyway.  Instead of just saying the person refused to meet, the report writer issued a diagnosis of Anti Social Personality Disorder
• The patient is in AdSeg in the Denver Detention Center with limited access to a psychiatrist based on the report.

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