Frantz Fanon (1925–1961), a West Indian of mixed race, was a French colonial psychiatrist trained in Lyon, France, who worked mainly in colonial North Africa between 1953 and 1957. He was one of the earliest psychiatrists to suggest that the lived experience of ethnic minorities within a discriminatory colonial environment could trigger mental illness. This article focuses on Fanon's work and contributions to psychiatry, as well as his philosophy, advocacy for social inclusion and pioneering work in culturally relevant rehabilitation. It also examines what lessons could be learnt from his life's work as a psychiatrist and traces his influence on a generation of psychiatric researchers, suggesting how his contribution may have influenced critical thought and current views.

In the years before and immediately after World War I, gendered and racialized bodies at work became the focus of debate and discussion in France amongst an informal alliance of engineers, doctors, scientists, employers, workers, and the state. Seduced by the promise of “modernity”, and the seemingly endless possibilities of science and mechanization, the state attempted to modernize public services and employers sought new ways to discipline labor for greater productivity. Both mobilized rationalization – Taylorism and work science – in the service of greater efficiency and in an effort to identify the allegedly “natural” qualities that made gendered and racialized workers suitable for certain kinds of jobs and would exclude them from others. A not insignificant dimension of this project lay in how French work scientists began to envision the potential uses of gendered French and colonial labor. The development of the French North-African and Indochinese colonial empires around the turn of the century heightened attention to racialized difference. World War I had opened the opportunity to use racialized colonial bodies, both on the military front and in the factory. Thinking about race and gender characteristics continued to influence work science and its applications in the 1920s and 1930s. Work scientists' experiments to ascertain the physical endurance of colonial male workers and white workers underscored the durability of gender meanings i n dealing with white French workers and the instability of those meanings in assessing the abilities of workers of color.

Treatment of mental illness in Black and minority ethnic groups differs from that in the White majority. Large differences in admission, detention and seclusion rates have been recorded. These disparities extend into the physical healthcare setting, particularly in the USA but also within the UK National Health Service. There are many influences on prescribing of psychotropic medication, not least the metabolising capacity of the individual. Ethnic differences do occur, particularly for East Asian peoples. However, these differences are broadly similar across ethnic groups, particularly for the cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for metabolising psychotropic medicines. Psychotropic medication prescribing also differs by ethnicity. Specifically, antipsychotic dose, type and route of administration may differ. However, most data originate in the USA and UK studies have not replicated these findings, even after controlling for multiple confounding factors. Similarly, antidepressant prescribing and access to treatment may differ by ethnicity. These differences may have complex causes that are not well understood. Overall, prescribing of antipsychotics appears to be broadly equitable in Black and minority ethnic groups.