Hate crimes are on the rise in the U.S. What are the psychological effects?

Experiences of racial discrimination are consistently linked with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as physical ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

Young adults who faced discrimination frequently—at least a few times per month—were around 25% more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health disorder and twice as likely to develop severe psychological distress than those who hadn’t experienced discrimination or did less often, according to a 2021 study in the journal Pediatrics.