16 / 22
Page 81
Notes:
conferenceseries
.com
Volume 19, Issue 2 (Suppl)
Int J Emerg Ment Health, an open access journal
ISSN: 1522-4821
Mental Health 2017
June 21-23, 2017
Mental Health and Human Resilience
June 21-23, 2017 London, UK
3
rd
International Conference on
Int J Emerg Ment Health 2017, 19:2(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/1522-4821-C1-009
The bleaching syndrome: Mental health diseases and women of color
Ronald E Hall
Michigan State University, USA
I
nfluenced by Western culture women of color have internalized a pathological appreciation for light skin. Travelers to Asia, India,
Africa and the Americas will be struck by the various skin bleaching applications utilized by the women there in their efforts to
acquire light skin vis-à-vis the bleaching syndrome. The bleaching syndrome is a social disease invisible to the casual observer but is
immune to dispute in the aftermath of bleached skin as the universally preferred skin color ideal. According to Webster’s Dictionary
bleach is a verb that means to remove color and in the case of the Bleaching Syndrome to make one otherwise white. A syndrome
consists of a grouping of symptoms i.e., behaviors that occur in conjunction and make up a recognizable pattern. These literal
definitions provide a context for the bleaching syndrome which contains three basic components. They consist of the following: (1)
psychological according to internalized ideals; (2) sociological according to reactions to those ideals; and (3) physiological according
to the bleached ideals manifested via bleach creams. The mental health implications of western skin color ideals are universal and
extend to the norms of the total non-European population. Without exception, Eurocentric skin color ideals are an environmental
force that impairs the mental health of women of color resulting in a predisposition to disease i.e., bleaching syndrome. Al¬though
the literature acknowledges racism among the list of social pathologies, amidst idealization of light skin the neglect of the bleaching
syndrome has been all but institutionalized. Greater focus on skin color would enhance the ability of human service professionals to
alleviate social pathogens that accommodate the bleaching syndrome and serve the mental health interests of their clients, in-toto.
hallr@msu.edu