What is it about?
More Black males are forcibly hospitalised due to their mental health than anyone of any other ethnicity or gender in England. This research aims to understand more about why this is through analysing and questioning previous research. We did this by using a research model called the Silences Framework. We believed that previous research did not include enough of the voices of Black men and their loved ones and carers. The Silences Framework helped us to question what was missing from the previous research, and discuss why it was important for these questions and answers to be included in research going forward. The most important part of this research was that it was written in co-production with people with lived experience.
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Why is it important?
We believe that Black men deserve to have better experiences of the mental health system. The new Mental Health Act is currently being written and we want to ensure that voices of those with lived experience are included. Our recommendations give plausible suggestions of how Black men can be treated by mental health services in a better way. These suggestions would be beneficial for all patients, and support all healthcare staff to personalise mental health treatment.
Perspectives
Mental health services are struggling, and that means that people are not getting the care that they deserve. Black men are at the receiving end of some of the worst treatment within these services. This should not still be happening in our modern era. By humanising people instead of treating them as another stereotype, mental health care can change dramatically. This does not need millions of pounds to achieve, it just needs some extra training and a change in attitude.
Kim Heyes
Manchester Metropolitan University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A co-produced review of the experiences of Black male detention under mental health legislation: Challenging discrimination in psychiatry using The Silences Framework, PLOS Mental Health, April 2025, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000041.
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