The Relationship Between Social Class and Mental Health

"They began the book with a memorable claim: "Americans prefer to avoid the two facts in life explored in this book: social class and mental illness." They were right. Of course, there were social classes in the United States during the 1950s, but this flew in the face of the American Dream that anyone-no matter their background-could become successful. And of course, there was mental illness. But no one wanted to talk about that, either."

"Hollingshead and Redlich decided to study these two "facts of life" nonetheless. Both based at Yale, they used the city of New Haven as their case study. Their goal was to explore the relationship between social class and mental illness. The project was one of a number of social psychiatry studies developed during the 1950s. Social psychiatry was an interdisciplinary approach involving psychiatrists, social scientists, and other scholars, dedicated to identifying the social determinants of mental health."

A 1958 study used New Haven as a case study to examine the relationship between social class and mental illness. The study was part of a broader social psychiatry movement that combined psychiatry and social science to identify social determinants of mental health and to prevent mental illness. Researchers classified New Haven's rigid class system into five tiers and compared mental health outcomes and treatments across classes. Findings linked lower social class to poorer mental health and reduced access to quality treatment, while higher classes experienced better outcomes and care. Reducing socioeconomic inequality is presented as a strategy to lessen the mental health burden.

Read at Psychology Today