New research reveals that trauma, poverty, discrimination, and housing instability have a more profound impact on mental health than clinical models acknowledge. Yet, mental health providers remain ill-equipped to respond.
A recent scoping review published in Translational Psychiatry offers a sobering analysis of how the social determinants of mental health (SDoMH) continue to be sidelined in clinical practice. Authored by a group of prominent psychiatrists and psychologists, the paper reviews the literature on how these social forces shape mental health outcomes and proposes new guidelines for integrating that knowledge into care.
Despite decades of evidence linking social and structural factors—such as poverty, trauma, and racism—to mental distress, the authors find a lack of institutional training, guidance, or infrastructure to support interventions that address these root causes.
“A healthcare system should start by identifying the SDoMH that apply widely in the community/ies it serves. Next, a community task force should determine which interventions to address the SDoMH are feasible locally or regionally. Finally, when assessing an individual patient, the clinician should determine which specific SDoMH are potentially modifiable and are of particular concern to a patient based on their and their family’s input,” the authors write.
You've landed on a MIA journalism article that is funded by MIA supporters. To read the full article, sign up as a MIA Supporter. All active donors get full access to all MIA content, and free passes to all Mad in America events.
Current MIA supporters can log in below.(If you can't afford to support MIA in this way, email us at [email protected] and we will provide you with access to all donor-supported content.)
