Factors Contributing Factors Affecting The Lives Of The Native American

Suicide is complex and has many varied risked factors. Attempts are most common between the ages of 16-18 [2]. Females are more likely to attempt and contemplate suicide, but males are more likely to complete suicide attempts [2]. Native Americans suffer from the highest rates of suicide [2]. Besides the secular characteristics of suicide, there are some

    The mental struggles trauma that the Natives went through has marginalized them. In The Indian Diaries, an article explains how historical trauma may be the reason of today’s health crisis. It states, “A lot of our children that we see, for example, have been through not only one trauma but often multiple traumas in their life, in terms of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect...We look at what has happened to their parents, or what has happened to their grandparents, or their

The continuous trauma that they endured has negatively affected the mental health and physical health of the population. Native Americans are at higher risk for depression, physical/sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues (McLeigh, 2010). Native American youth are three times more likely to commit suicide than the average population. Native Americans in general are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and five times more likely to have alcoholism. Colonization not damaged natives mentally, but also brought harm to their physical health as Europeans brought diseases (measles, chicken pox, smallpox, etc) to America (McLeigh, 2010). In order for this population to be served to treat their many medical and mental health issues brought on by years of trauma, policies must be implemented to help Native Americans specifically. However, the reality is that natives mental health needs are often ignored (Gone, 2004). There have been policies that have attempted to meet the needs, but much more is needed. In the most recent action towards improving mental health services for natives, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 permanently gave authorization to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (Ross, Garfield, Brown, & Raghavan, 2015). This policy will be discussed and analyzed to examine further needs for services in this

The usual causes, triggers as well as risk factors that are associated with suicide are poverty, trauma, substance abuse and relationship problems (Ridani et al., 2015). From 2001 to 2010, 4.2% of Aboriginal deaths was due to suicide while for all other Australians it only accounted for 1.6% of deaths (ABS, 2012). Furthermore, females of Indigenous Australian origin aged 15 to 19 years, committed suicide 5.9 times more than other female Australians while the ratio for male Indigenous people was 5.5 more than other male Australians and the suicide overall ratio for Indigenous people is twice more than that of non-Indigenous Australians. (ABS, 2012) A person is at an increased risk for suicide if they have mental health disorders and chronic diseases, are unemployed, isolation, social support is non-existent, history of depression and other behavioural factors as well (Evans & Brown,

Secondly, the federal government of Canada funding towards suicide prevention programs in Aboriginal communities helps stop youth suicide. First Nation youths are 5 to 6 times more likely to commit suicide compared to non-aboriginal youths (Kassam, 2017). A community-based suicide prevention program is a key to helping stop the aboriginal youth suicide crisis. For instance, another northern Ontario First Nation community, Wapekeka, was a leader in suicide prevention (Kassam, 2017). Wapekeka First Nation’s suicide prevention program was working until the federal government cut funding towards the program and the spokesperson for Wapekeka First Nation, Joshua Frogg said, “twenty-two years we ran it until it drove us into a deficit. We couldn’t do it anymore.” (Kassam, 2017).

Native American people have a unique struggle in society. This stems from cultural epidemics like drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, and rampant suicide, but also systemic racism and a sort of cultural lag. This is not meant to be a critique of culture, simply an observation of the condition of the families I have helped serve over the course of this internship. To be “Native” has become a slew of stereotypical representations. Stereotypes do not represent reality, but they do affect how individuals view themselves, and limit their ability to become anything but what they are expected to be. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. If Native American children grow up in a closed network, such as a reservation or a boundary, they are presented

Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal

Historical trauma is a concept that refers to the wounding of generations due to traumatic experiences such as boarding schools, forced displacement, and genocide. Responses to this distress manifest in a number of social issues. For example, alcoholism and substance abuse could be recognized as attempts to numb unresolved grief. Other manifestations of emotional responses to this trauma include abuse, depression, domestic violence, and suicide. A framework for understanding the effects of historical trauma on communities is provided by Evans-Campbell (2008) in her article, “Historical Trauma in American Indian and Native American Communities”. These three levels include individual-level impacts, family-level impacts, and community-level impacts.

The reading material from my textbook aligns with the issues presented in the video on Mental Health of Native Americans. The video talks about reconnecting adults and youths back into their culture. One issue is that American Indians have a low success rate academically. American Indian children often distrust European American which makes it difficult for cross cultural counseling. According to Baruth & Manning (2012), American Indian adolescents will end up being counseled by European American counselors because there are few American Indian counselors. The video states that there is high use of substance abuse, suicide, and dropout rates for American Indians. The textbook list suicide, alcohol abuse and other substance abuse, and high school and college drop-out rates as being potential problems American Indian adolescents may experience

Within this draft proposal, it is argued that the issue of the unprecedented rise in teenage suicide on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation demands immediate action from the tribal government to help improve life on the reservation and work towards saving the young people of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (and potentially the youth amongst other tribes across the United States). Hopefully with this draft proposal, officials in charge of the Oglala Sioux Tribe can use these recommendations to work towards fixing the many issues on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that has contributed to the unprecedented rise of teenage suicide. First and foremost, the economic system within the reservation needs immediate reformation and further development to combat

Socially and clinically these can have crucial implications for Native American populations. At the social level, it indicates a large problem as the possibility for social maladjustment not only becomes seen through the eyes of subjective settler citizens within the United States, but it also makes these subjective opinions objective through the scientific gaze (Foucault, 1988). This, therefore, not only ensures that Native Americans be prevented access to things like jobs (for employment screening), but may also be at a higher chance to be criminalized due to their cultural beliefs since the MMPI-2 plays a role in forensic psychology (Butcher & Williams, 2009). Not only that, but, as Oliver (2004) points out, “It is not so much that the

Americans to their own death. 82% of American Indians on reservation commit suicide. Without proper housing or home care,

American Indians have endured health disparities as a result of unmet needs and traumatic historical experiences that have persisted for over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact, American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the poorest health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 AI/AN have been subject to disproportionately high levels of

America has a long and rich history. Today, the majority views the United States as the most democratic and civilized country in the world. It is one of the largest economies on the planet. Additionally, it has massive social influence over other nations around the globe. It is for this reason that United States’ opinion is important in the formulation of global policies. The US is a world leader in several areas and has significant influence over global organizations such as the United Nations.

While discovering theories and research by sociologist Emile Durkheim, I was able to see a clear connection to how these theories could be applied to the amount of suicides to those of first nation decent. Considering citizens from first nations groups have been estimated to be eleven times more likely to commit suicide, there are underlying factors of why this may be. Durkheim’s theory states that suicide is a sociological issue and as we have seen there are many ways society could affect ones emotional state.