social determinants of health
While the world focuses on mental health for the day, let's consider that mental health is heavily determined by social context.
This model by Compton and Shim (2019) was one of my first ever illustrations when I started this page 5 (!) Years ago.
What other social determinants would you... See more
instagram.comOur suffering, our diagnosis and our treatment are far from objective or apolitical. If you are a marginalised person, your experience of all three of these things is likely going to be worse.
Dazed • This New Book Asks Whether Capitalism Really Is Driving Us All Crazy
A cardiologist, endocrinologist, obesity specialist, health economist and social epidemiologists all said versions of the same thing: Striving to get ahead in an unequal society contributes to people in the United States aging quicker, becoming sicker and dying younger.
Akilah Johnson • Stress Is Weathering Our Bodies From the Inside Out
“We should take a step back and look at the society we’re living in and how that is actually determining our stress levels, our fatigue levels, our despair levels,” said Elizabeth H. Bradley, president of Vassar College and co-author of the book “The American Health Care Paradox.” “That’s for everybody. Health is influenced very much by these
... See moreAkilah Johnson • Stress Is Weathering Our Bodies From the Inside Out
Life brings an accumulation of unremitting stress, especially for those subjected to inequity — and not just from immediate and chronic threats. Even the anticipation of those menaces causes persistent damage.
Akilah Johnson • Stress Is Weathering Our Bodies From the Inside Out
She said she was trying to capture two things. First, that people’s varied life experiences affect their health by wearing down their bodies. And second, she said: “People are not just passive victims of these horrible exposures. They withstand them. They struggle against them. These are people who weather storms.”
People seem to instinctively
... See moreAkilah Johnson • Stress Is Weathering Our Bodies From the Inside Out
Weathering doesn’t start in middle age.
It begins in the womb. Cortisol released into a pregnant person’s bloodstream crosses the placenta, which helps explain why a disproportionate number of babies born to parents who live in impoverished communities or who experience the constant scorn of discrimination are preterm and too small
Akilah Johnson • Stress Is Weathering Our Bodies From the Inside Out
Stress can change the body at a cellular level.