Health Psychology

Particularly, the long-term emotional trauma caused to the Indigenous community is traced back through the dark history of many

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

Indigenous people have a big household where overcrowding is very common and rampant (Nizette, 2013) especially amongst Aboriginals living in remote areas and communities (Shepherd, 2012). Too many people living in a single household causes stress levels to increase in a variety of different ways. (Shepherd, 2012). An increase number of residence in the household leads to more noise exposure, less privacy, sleep deprivation and too much contact with other people all can lead to high incidence of anxiety as well as stress on a person (Shepherd,

It is well-known that the health issue of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been constantly discussed and analysed up to the present. Indigenous Australian experience poorer health outcome compare to other population in Australian, and also they experienced significantly higher rates of mental illness within their communities, and the suicide rate approximately more than double higher than for the general population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,2009). The purpose of this essay is to discuss the factor that associated with higher rate of mental illness and suicide behavior regard to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the concept of cultural, social and emotional well-being that triggers this phenomenon.

Research indicates that colonial policies related to residential schools, reserve communities, loss of traditional lands, and erosion of language and cultural traditions that lead to cultural continuity have created a loss of cohesion and identity in Indigenous communities which have impacted family health behaviors (MacNeil 6). Although this may

For centuries, Medicine Wheel teachings have been used by Indigenous peoples to guide their life’s journey. The delicate balance of the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical aspects of a Medicine Wheel, when influenced can become imbalanced. Such influences on a Medicine Wheel may be the social determinants of health or historical determinants. If the Medicine Wheel becomes imbalanced due to these determinants, it has the potential to “…reverberate through individuals, families, and entire populations,” (National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, 2015, para. 1). Unfortunately, many individuals who have experienced this kind of multi-generational trauma are at a higher risk of becoming depressed or turning to substance abuse as a coping mechanism. By addressing the four components of the Medicine Wheel through culturally appropriate means and time, hopefully, the on-going healing process will continue.

The Indigenous culture was viewed as inferior and unable to adequately provide for the needs of their children, which was fully fuelled by disproportionate poverty rates as well as the repercussion of residential schools (Russell, 2015). Due to not being able to maintain the standards of European child-rearing practices and common values, social services workers attempted to rescue these children from the conditions they were living in (O’Connor, 2010). These issues have detrimental effects on the families of survivors of the residential schools for generations, also known as multigenerational trauma. Instead of addressing this social policy concern the government was contributing and controlling it, where Indigenous people had little power to address

Carson, B., Dunbar, T., Chenhall, R. D., & Bailie, R. (2007). Social determinants of Indigenous health. Allen & Unwin.

Aboriginal peoples of Canada have suffered exponentially throughout the entirety of history and proceed to do so in modern society. Much of the continued suffrage of aboriginal peoples is as a result of the Sixties Scoop and the Residential School System, as well as the lack of resources available to them. This has wreaked extensive havoc on the mental health of Aboriginal peoples, and has left excessive amounts of stigma and racism attached to Aboriginal Peoples, explicitly seen in the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Diabetes is a common disease that can be diagnosed among indigenous Australians. It can influence individuals in the aspects of psychological, social and cultural. People with diabetes will have psychological issues such as depression. According to the Elsevier, unipolar depression and other significant depressive symptoms are prevalent in type 2 diabetes and aboriginals are much easier to have type 2 diabetes. They usually have problems in self-management, increased risk of diabetes complications, poor glycaemic control and higher mortality (Feltz-Cornelis et al. 2010, p.381). Specifically, depression in the indigenous Australians with diabetes may affect their

In this article, Professor King says loss of culture, land and language all play a part in poor health. Having an identity, he says, is especially important for mental health. As for example, many native children in Canada were taken from their families and sent to live at the residential schools. They were educated in the european system, they never had a normal chance to develop a cultural identity. The schools’ so-called purpose was to provide education for native children. But the real purpose was to eliminate native culture from Canada. As Reverend A.E. Caldwell of his school in 1938 said “The problem with the Indians is one of morality and religion. They lack the basic fundamentals of civilized thought and spirit, which explains their childlike nature and behavior. At our school we strive to turn them into mature Christians who will learn how to behave in the world and surrender their barbaric way of life and their treaty rights, which keep them trapped on their land and in a primitive existence. Only then will the Indian problem in our country be solved.” Caldwell view of aboriginal culture and how they should be assimilated to the european culture is how most ministers of the schools thought about native culture. Students were forbidden to speak their language or practice their culture, and were often punished for doing so. All these awful acts at residential schools made natives suffer loss

Healthcare is an ever changing entity with an ever changing population of clients. In current day 2016, the United Sates has become a melting pot of many different cultural backgrounds, which has led to changes within the system to accommodate the patient base. Unfortunately, not all changes have been able to effectively reach any and all persons from every background. We still see language and cultural barriers that have direct correlation to the inability to seek healthcare and or the ability to change cultural perspectives to ensure healthy lifestyles. Within this paper, the health of American Indian and Alaskan Native populations will be discussed along with the barriers to care and the

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

Native Americans have long questioned the authenticity of non-native researchers and Social Workers alike. In sum, they just don’t trust them and for good reason. Because of this, it is not surprising that most of the studies and interventions conducted within the ingenious population are incomplete or inconsistent. Many of us have skeletons in our closets, as does the social work profession. Although the primary mission of the social work profession has a dual focus of meeting the wellbeing and needs of people in a societal context, that did not always apply to Native Americans. Because of these historical practices non-native mental health professionals and researchers are acknowledged with skepticism.

38). Thus, in addition to the pain of indigenous dispossession from their land and family, the felt stigma from racism further catalyses emotional disorders in the Indigenous population. As historically alcohol and tobacco were exchange currency for sex and labour, its frequent consumption and soothing effect became a cure for Indigenous pain resulting in 52% Indigenous population smoking tobacco and consuming alcohol that is harmful to their health at twice the percentage of the non-Indigenous population (AIHW, 2007, p. 3). Since tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption are major risk factors to infant mortality, the pertinent negative effects of marginalisation as a product of colonialism is highlighted.