How your background will influence how you are treated in Psychiatry:

1. If you are a young female who happens to be suicidal or self-harms you are less likely to be taken seriously and more likely to be labelled with a personality disorder.
2. If you are diagnosed with a personality disorder, you will not be taken seriously – not just by us as mental health services, but all health services.
3. If you are black, any irritability, frustration, raised voice or argument will be seen as a risk of serious violence. You will be perceived as a threat.
4. If you speak with a middle-class accent you will receive better care out of fear of a complaint.
5. If you are on universal credit, your desire to seek help for your mental health will be questioned.
6. If you drink alcohol you will be refused mental health support until you ‘deal with your drinking’ (don’t ask us how).
7. If you are on multiple painkillers we will not treat you seriously. Especially if you are a woman.

Yet the oddest thing of all is that we pretend to notice and care about these things through grand statements such as ‘institutional racism’ without actually doing anything on the ground to change things.