What Are the Emotional and Psychological Consequences of Prejudice?

Everyone is different in some way, so everyone has likely experienced prejudice in her life. Whether it is race, gender, sexual orientation or some other variety, prejudice hurts. It has some severe psychological and emotional consequences for the victim. Prejudice can lead a person to believe that there is something inherently wrong with him. Many times the victim will believe the attacker is correct. He cannot find acceptance, and this can lead to many psychological effects.

Negative Self-Image

• People who experience prejudice can have a negative self-image. A person who has experienced this will often believe the person who is prejudiced against him is right. He will believe that the society is right about him and that there is nothing redeeming about himself. If the person is being excluded for something he can't change such as race or gender, then it is even more devastating because there is nothing the victim can do to help himself. This leads to self-hatred.

Mental Illness

• Due to the constant self-hatred that prejudice can cause, mental illness is often not far behind. Depression and anxiety often come along with prejudice because victims cannot change who they are and conform with the whims of society. Victims are always measuring themselves and coming up short and this can lead to mental illness. Some people who have been exposed to severe forms of prejudice even exhibit signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. They may exhibit anxiety because they cannot please people or become an accepted member of the group.

Anger

• There is a lot of anger on the part of people who have experienced prejudice. It is frustrating for someone to be told that she is not good enough, especially when she cannot change the offending item. For instance, in the case of race, a man cannot change the fact that he is black or white to fit in with the accepted norm. This can cause a tremendous amount of rage against those who are prejudiced and are not accepting. This rage can find outlets in violence in all of its forms.

Vulnerability

• Some who have experienced prejudice find that they feel vulnerable in the world or fearful of it. The world becomes a scary place for them, and it can be hard for them to go out and face it. A victim of prejudice begins to fear that people will not accept him for who he is. He begins to look at the world as a hostile and frightening place. If a child experiences people tearing him down and shunning him for who he is, his outlook on people, especially the group of people that victimize him, is going to be one of fear and mistrust.