Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health

Michael Larkin; Rose McCabe; Lisa Bortolotti; Matthew Broome; Shioma-Lei Craythorne; Rachel Temple; Michele Lim; Catherine Fadashe; Chris Sims; Oscar Sharples; Josh Cottrell

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-68881-2_1

Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health

Michael Larkin^*, Rose McCabe, Lisa Bortolotti, Matthew Broome, Shioma-Lei Craythorne, Rachel Temple, Michele Lim, Catherine Fadashe, Chris Sims, Oscar Sharples, Josh Cottrell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter

1 Citation (SciVal)

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Abstract

Across many domains, it is important for us to feel that we are understood by others. This is crucial when we are disclosing a vulnerability or seeking help for a problem. When these disclosures or helpseeking requests relate to mental health difficulties, our interactions with others can carry many threats, including stigmatisation; inappropriate moral or character judgements; overly stringent threshold evaluations; and assumptions about our personal circumstances and social resources. In this chapter, we summarise some of the core findings from empirical and qualitative studies which examine what happens when young people meet with health professionals to disclose or to seek help for their experiences with poor mental health. We then draw out some key implications for improving relational and communicative practices amongst mental health professionals. We focus on those implications which are highlighted by those members of our team who are young adults with experiences of accessing mental health services and reflect on these implications in the light of insights from the literature on epistemic injustice.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare
Subtitle of host publication	Recognising Agency and Promoting Virtues Across the Life Span
Editors	Lisa Bortolotti
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Chapter	1
Pages	1-22
Number of pages	22
Edition	1
ISBN (Electronic)	9783031688812
ISBN (Print)	9783031688805 (hbk)
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68881-2_1
Publication status	Published - 17 Nov 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Keywords

Agency
Clinical encounters
Felt understanding
Mental health
Youth

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10.1007/978-3-031-68881-2_1Licence: CC BY 4.0

Being Understood - Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
Final published version, 216 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Larkin, M., McCabe, R., Bortolotti, L., Broome, M., Craythorne, S.-L., Temple, R., Lim, M., Fadashe, C., Sims, C., Sharples, O., & Cottrell, J. (2024). Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health. In L. Bortolotti (Ed.), Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare: Recognising Agency and Promoting Virtues Across the Life Span (1 ed., pp. 1-22). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68881-2_1

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abstract = "Across many domains, it is important for us to feel that we are understood by others. This is crucial when we are disclosing a vulnerability or seeking help for a problem. When these disclosures or helpseeking requests relate to mental health difficulties, our interactions with others can carry many threats, including stigmatisation; inappropriate moral or character judgements; overly stringent threshold evaluations; and assumptions about our personal circumstances and social resources. In this chapter, we summarise some of the core findings from empirical and qualitative studies which examine what happens when young people meet with health professionals to disclose or to seek help for their experiences with poor mental health. We then draw out some key implications for improving relational and communicative practices amongst mental health professionals. We focus on those implications which are highlighted by those members of our team who are young adults with experiences of accessing mental health services and reflect on these implications in the light of insights from the literature on epistemic injustice.",

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Larkin, M, McCabe, R, Bortolotti, L, Broome, M, Craythorne, S-L, Temple, R, Lim, M, Fadashe, C, Sims, C, Sharples, O & Cottrell, J 2024, Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health. in L Bortolotti (ed.), Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare: Recognising Agency and Promoting Virtues Across the Life Span. 1 edn, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68881-2_1

Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health. / Larkin, Michael; McCabe, Rose; Bortolotti, Lisa et al.
Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare: Recognising Agency and Promoting Virtues Across the Life Span. ed. / Lisa Bortolotti. 1. ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. p. 1-22.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter

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AU - Larkin, Michael

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AU - Bortolotti, Lisa

AU - Broome, Matthew

AU - Craythorne, Shioma-Lei

AU - Temple, Rachel

AU - Lim, Michele

AU - Fadashe, Catherine

AU - Sims, Chris

AU - Sharples, Oscar

AU - Cottrell, Josh

N1 - Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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N2 - Across many domains, it is important for us to feel that we are understood by others. This is crucial when we are disclosing a vulnerability or seeking help for a problem. When these disclosures or helpseeking requests relate to mental health difficulties, our interactions with others can carry many threats, including stigmatisation; inappropriate moral or character judgements; overly stringent threshold evaluations; and assumptions about our personal circumstances and social resources. In this chapter, we summarise some of the core findings from empirical and qualitative studies which examine what happens when young people meet with health professionals to disclose or to seek help for their experiences with poor mental health. We then draw out some key implications for improving relational and communicative practices amongst mental health professionals. We focus on those implications which are highlighted by those members of our team who are young adults with experiences of accessing mental health services and reflect on these implications in the light of insights from the literature on epistemic injustice.

AB - Across many domains, it is important for us to feel that we are understood by others. This is crucial when we are disclosing a vulnerability or seeking help for a problem. When these disclosures or helpseeking requests relate to mental health difficulties, our interactions with others can carry many threats, including stigmatisation; inappropriate moral or character judgements; overly stringent threshold evaluations; and assumptions about our personal circumstances and social resources. In this chapter, we summarise some of the core findings from empirical and qualitative studies which examine what happens when young people meet with health professionals to disclose or to seek help for their experiences with poor mental health. We then draw out some key implications for improving relational and communicative practices amongst mental health professionals. We focus on those implications which are highlighted by those members of our team who are young adults with experiences of accessing mental health services and reflect on these implications in the light of insights from the literature on epistemic injustice.

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Larkin M, McCabe R, Bortolotti L, Broome M, Craythorne SL, Temple R et al. Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health. In Bortolotti L, editor, Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare: Recognising Agency and Promoting Virtues Across the Life Span. 1 ed. Palgrave Macmillan. 2024. p. 1-22 doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-68881-2_1

Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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