Mental Health : A Growing Concern Within The Indian American Communities

When their parents are never there for their child, it makes the child feel lonely. Another reason why suicidal thoughts may occur for Native Americans is because they are feeling lonely and lost. Based on the text, “Statistics released from the state of Washington show that suicides among native youth from 10 to 24 years old were more than double the rate of any other ethnic group”(Newsela). This shows that stress is beating the Native Americans. Obviously the problems the Native Americans are facing are too hard for them to cope with, based on these numbers. They may struggle with their money, as well. The people who live on the reservations have financial problems. All in all when a teen is trying to overcome depression, it doesn’t help not having someone there to help them with their

The first obstacle that must be overcome when Appalachians want to get help for mental health issues is the lack of access to mental health professionals. While there are mental health treatment options available, they are mainly located in the more urban areas of the region (Susan Emily Keefe, Appalachia’s Children). All too often, people are unaware of the services available to them for the treatment of mental health disorders. Even if they do possess knowledge of what is available, it may not be feasible to get to these services. Many of the residents may not have insurance or the financial capabilities necessary to pay for treatment. Because the

Native Americans have a staggering forty percent rate from suicidal incidents in the ages fifteen through twenty-four. For young adults, it occurs between eighteen and twenty-four. Surprisingly, Native Americans have the highest rate of suicide than the general population, ethnicities, and races. In the year 2014, a report found that suicide happened to be the second leading cause of death, other than unintentional injuries. It is believed that in many occasions, Native Americans do not like to speak about suicide. In the case it was brought up, they will eventually kill themselves. They Native American culture struggles to receive mental-health funding to save anyone they can. Health issues like Diabetes and depression are very common.

They have had their land stolen from them. They have been victimized again and again by colonists. Today, they face deep systemic racism. Native Americans face unprecedented amounts of adversity that is resulting in a suicide epidemic. In this review, I present solid information on the reasons that a suicide epidemic is affecting the Native American community. Suicide and mental health are not often subjects that make headlines. However, Native Americans have been facing a silent mental health crisis for decades. The rate of suicide in Native American communities is disturbingly high compared to other races. Stigma, abuse, mental illness, and a lack of federal assistance are all factors that contribute to the alarming statistics. I will be looking at the various reasons for why the suicide rates are so high in these groups and what can be or has been done to combat this problem.

My dad always called me a “mut”, meaning I had too many ethnic backgrounds to count. He was never sure what the percentage of each of my ethnicities was. I have multiple, from both my parents sides from German, Puerto Rican, Pennsylvania Dutch, Dutch, Italian, and lastly that I know of Cherokee Indian. Always being very interested in my background I choose to understand why American Indian became and vulnerable population to begin with. Wanted to understand why this population had so many health care issues.

Mental and behavioral health agencies who service American Indians should employ a culturally relevant approach. Cultural-specificity is essential for understanding beliefs, values, and first language colloquial speech. Cultural-specific assessment information can enhance our understanding of the client’s symptoms and the need for other appropriate evaluation techniques. Client assessment practice within Indian Health Services (IHS) supports multi-culturalism, cultural competence, and sets the precedence for Tribal agencies to follow. Most Tribal Health agencies do follow IHS guidelines. However, most of those

I will be researching and writing about American Indian health issues. When I was searching for a topic, I came across a fact sheet about the mental health and population of American Indians. And I found out that there are about 1.5% American Indians in the United States.2 I did not know that there were so many issues in their society. I would like to focus on why they are having so many health issues, what are the major issues occurring, and who is helping them get rid of these issues.

urrently in the news, Alexandra Sifferlin from Time Magazine has released a new health issue article on, “Suicide Rates High among Young American Indians” (2015). The article discusses how suicide rates are high in American Indian and Alaskan Native, between the ages of 18-24, than any other demographic groups. In addition, research done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has revealed that young adult males are more likely to commit suicide than females. Leaders from the National Congress of American Indian are in the process on creating a Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda approach in order to prevent and reduce the number of deaths by suicide in their population.

When viewing the Native American population, it is easy to overlook the complexity of a very diverse and multicultural community. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) (2016) there are 566 Federally recognized tribes in the United States. Each tribe has unique cultural differences based on language, geographical settlement, and cultural beliefs. Many tribes speak different languages to this day and other tribes hold historical reference to nomadic lifestyle in comparison to other tribe’s preference of stable farming. Though there is diversity displayed through historical record, the introduction of European migration created a tragic commonality severely affecting Native American identity. The conceptualization of Native American identity is to consider tribal membership, specific customs, and traditions as a definition of “Indianness” (Choudhuri, Santiago-Rivera & Garrett, 2012). This identity of thriving nations across the continent were reduced to reservations, forced to change cultural livelihood, and abandon self-governed society as they were forced to assimilate to European culture and ideology. With dramatic decrease to the access of cultural heritage, Native American’s as a whole began the struggle to hold onto tradition and culture over generations. Counseling the Native American community begins with recognizing prevalent mental health issues, recommended treatment approaches, and understanding the differences between individual and community when

Cultural barriers certainly have a crucial impact in affecting the mental health of Indigenous people. This is evident as Indigenous people tend to have considerably high levels of stress and anxiety in their lives stemming from the consequences of trauma and grief of stolen generation and dispossession which is intricately linked to mental health and disorder (Craven, 2006).This common pattern of loss of culture, land, voice, family and dignity resulted in poor mental wellbeing for many Indigenous generations over the past century (Brown, 2001). However, problems still continue due to the inadequate research in the mental health of indigenous people. This results in

There is a stigma associated with mental health within this community, making the target population reluctant to seek treatment. Only 10% to 35% of AI/AN youth reach out for help during a suicidal episode (SPRC, 2013). When they do decide to undergo treatment, there often is a barrier in place between provider and patient because the provider may not understand the psychographics and cultural context of the target population. There is a deep sense of spirituality and community that is very unique and special to Native Americans and a mistrust of people outside of their community due to their social and political struggles in this country. Any mental health professional working with them must seek to not just understand but utilize these values in treatment. That is not often the case, so mental health issues go undiagnosed and untreated (Manson, 2004).

In their article, Roberts et al. (2015) reported that depression is a major public health issue especially among Indian immigrant women in the U.S. According to Robert et al. (2015), second generation Indian immigrant women, who are women whose parent (s) were born in Indian, are at risk for depression related to cultural value rejection of their parents. Although they do not share the same cultural values as their parents, they are

The sample includes 465 Asian international students who were selected randomly (Wong, Wang, & Maffini, 2012). The participants were asked to report their response on emotional self control and humility interactions with their family, folks from their country, and folks from the United States (Wong, Wang, & Maffini, 2012). The findings of this study supported the hypotheses (Wong, Wang, & Maffini, 2012). The study concluded that this population has a hard time seeking help for mental health in the United States due to varied cultural background (Wong, Wang, & Maffini, 2012). This study reflected that even in a country like the United States that has better resources than other countries, schools need to put more effort to educate international students to access mental health care easily in this

Mental Health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community (WHO, 2014).” Any deviation from that definition constitutes a mental health issue. It is important to note that mental health issues do not necessarily constitute a mental disorder.

Mental disorder can be classified into 4 categories: depression, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia and other psychoses and dementia. According to World Health Organization, depression is one of the most common mental disorders worldwide. Globally, about 400 million people of all ages suffer from depression. More women are affected than men. (WHO, Mental disorders, 2014)