Systemic Oppressions Impact on Mental Health
Chronic Stress and Allostatic Load
Systemic oppression—through racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and other hierarchies—creates chronic exposure to stressors such as discrimination, exclusion, and economic instability.
These stressors activate the body’s stress response systems (HPA axis), leading to a high allostatic load—the cumulative wear and tear on the body.
Over time, this increases vulnerability to anxiety, depression, PTSD, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions.
Internalized Oppression and Identity Distress
People who experience systemic oppression often internalize negative societal messages about their worth or identity.
This can manifest as shame, self-blame, and low self-esteem, especially when individuals feel powerless to challenge systemic barriers.
Internalized oppression contributes to identity conflict, alienation, and loss of self-agency, which are major risk factors for mental illness.
Structural Barriers to Care
Oppressive systems are embedded in health institutions themselves:
Bias in diagnosis and treatment (e.g., racialized overdiagnosis of schizophrenia, gender bias in pain assessment).
Limited access to affordable, culturally competent care in marginalized communities.
Distrust of institutions due to historical abuses (e.g., Tuskegee experiment, Indigenous residential schools) can lead to avoidance of care.
Intergenerational and Historical Trauma
Systemic oppression does not occur in isolation—it transmits across generations.
Trauma from colonization, slavery, displacement, and institutionalization creates intergenerational cycles of grief and maladaptive coping.
Epigenetic research shows that such trauma can affect gene expression related to stress and emotion regulation, perpetuating disparities in mental health.
Social Death and Isolation
Oppression often results in social exclusion—a form of “social death,” where individuals or groups are stripped of recognition, rights, and belonging.
This erasure undermines social connectedness, a key protective factor for mental health.
The absence of representation or validation in systems of power reinforces feelings of invisibility and hopelessness.
Collective and Community Impacts
At the community level, systemic oppression weakens social cohesion, trust, and safety, all of which are essential for collective mental well-being.
Neighborhoods impacted by segregation, environmental injustice, and poverty experience higher rates of violence, substance use, and trauma exposure.
Yet, these same communities often generate resilience and resistance, using cultural and spiritual traditions as protective mechanisms.
Pathologizing Resistance
One of the most insidious effects is how dominant systems pathologize the symptoms of oppression—anger, resistance, or grief are labeled as disorders rather than recognized as rational responses to injustice.
This reinforces the power imbalance between institutions (which define “normalcy”) and the oppressed, perpetuating epistemic injustice.
Systemic oppression undermines mental health by producing chronic stress, restricting access to care, eroding identity, and transmitting trauma across generations. Healing therefore requires structural change, not just individual treatment—integrating cultural humility, community empowerment, and social justice into all levels of mental health practice.
Systemic Oppression and Its Impact on Mental Health
Systemic oppression, defined as the institutionalized and enduring patterns of inequality embedded in social, political, and economic structures, exerts a profound influence on mental health outcomes. Rather than isolated incidents of discrimination, systemic oppression functions as a continuous environmental stressor that shapes both the external conditions and internal experiences of marginalized populations (Hardy, 2019). Its effects are cumulative, intergenerational, and deeply psychosocial, producing conditions that exacerbate emotional distress, psychological disorders, and community-level disconnection.
Chronic Stress and Psychophysiological Burden
Oppressed groups are disproportionately exposed to chronic stressors such as poverty, discrimination, and social exclusion. These persistent stressors activate the body’s hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, increasing cortisol levels and contributing to a phenomenon known as allostatic load—the physiological “wear and tear” associated with long-term stress exposure (McEwen & Seeman, 1999). Over time, the sustained activation of stress responses contributes to higher rates of anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic disorders among marginalized populations.
Internalized Oppression and Identity Formation
Systemic oppression also impacts identity development and self-concept. Individuals who internalize oppressive narratives often experience shame, self-doubt, and reduced self-efficacy (Freire, 1970). These internalized messages distort personal identity and create internal conflicts that exacerbate mental health difficulties. This process illustrates the psychosocial mechanism through which structural inequality becomes embodied within the individual psyche.
Intergenerational Trauma and Structural Violence
The psychological impact of oppression extends beyond individual experience. Historical traumas—such as slavery, colonization, and forced assimilation—create intergenerational patterns of grief, mistrust, and emotional suppression. Emerging epigenetic evidence suggests that trauma may alter gene expression associated with stress regulation, further perpetuating vulnerability across generations (Yehuda et al., 2016). Structural violence—where social systems harm individuals by denying access to basic needs and dignity—reinforces this trauma, normalizing inequity as part of the social order.
Pathologizing Resistance and Epistemic Injustice
Mainstream mental health systems often fail to recognize the sociopolitical context of distress. Expressions of anger or resistance to injustice are pathologized rather than understood as rational responses to oppression (Metzl & Hansen, 2014). This dynamic reproduces epistemic injustice—where the knowledge and lived experiences of marginalized groups are dismissed or devalued—further deepening mistrust toward institutions that claim to provide care.
Conclusion
Systemic oppression is not simply a backdrop to mental illness but an active determinant of psychological suffering. Addressing mental health inequities requires more than individual therapy; it necessitates structural reform, cultural humility, and the redistribution of epistemic power within health systems. Healing must be reimagined as both a personal and collective process rooted in justice, equity, and the restoration of dignity.
References
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder and Herder.
Hardy, K. V. (2019). The View from Black America: A Call for Cultural Humility in Family Therapy. In M. McGoldrick & K. V. Hardy (Eds.), Re-Visioning Family Therapy: Addressing Diversity in Clinical Practice (3rd ed., pp. 131–148). Guilford Press.
McEwen, B. S., & Seeman, T. (1999). Protective and damaging effects of mediators of stress. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 896(1), 30–47.
Metzl, J. M., & Hansen, H. (2014). Structural competency: Theorizing a new medical engagement with stigma and inequality. Social Science & Medicine, 103, 126–133.
Yehuda, R., Daskalakis, N. P., Lehrner, A., Desarnaud, F., Bader, H. N., Makotkine, I., ... & Meaney, M. J. (2016). Influences of maternal and paternal PTSD on epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene in Holocaust survivor offspring. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(8), 856–864.*
