scholarly journals Indigenous Trauma Intervention Research in Canada: A Narrative Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Sarah Panofsky ◽  
Marla J. Buchanan ◽  
Roger John ◽  
Alanaise Goodwill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Narrative Literature Review ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

Contemporary Indigenous mental health research is beginning to address colonization, contextualizing Indigenous health within a history of colonial relationships and inadequate mental health responses. In practice, however, dominant counselling models for mental health in Canada have neglected Indigenous perspectives and there is a paucity of research regarding interventions that address psychological trauma with Indigenous populations. We identified 11 Canadian studies that employed culturally appropriate trauma interventions within Indigenous communities. We discuss the findings in relation to the study participants, outcomes reported, and research design. Recommendations are provided to address the need for evidence-based trauma interventions that have efficacy for Indigenous people in Canada to address Indigenous historical trauma.

‘Best Intentions’ Lives on: Untoward Health Outcomes of Some Contemporary Initiatives in Indigenous Affairs

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 575-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

Objective: A shortened version of a presentation to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, this paper raises questions regarding policy and program directions in Indigenous affairs with consequences for Indigenous health. Method: The author notes the inadequate Indigenous mental health database, and describes contemporary conflicts in the arena of Indigenous mental health, drawing on personal experience in clinical service delivery, policy and programme development. Results: Medicalized responses to the Stolen Generations report and constructions of suicide that accompanied the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody are presented to demonstrate unforeseen health outcomes. Examples are also given of wellintentioned social interventions that, in the context of contemporary Indigenous society appear to be contributing to, rather than alleviating, harm. Problems of setting priorities that confront mental health service planners are considered in the light of past and continuing social disadvantage that informs the burden of mental disorder in Indigenous communities. Conclusions: The importance of acknowledging untoward outcomes of initiatives, even when motivated by concerns for social justice, is emphasized. The tension within mental health services of responding to the underpinning social issues versus providing equity in access to proven mental health services for Indigenous populations is considered.

Recounting coup as the recirculation of Indigenous vitality: A narrative alternative to historical trauma

2021 ◽  
pp. 136346152110549
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Gone
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
American Indian ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Trauma Narrative ◽  
War Narratives ◽  
Tribal Communities ◽  
The Impact

Contemporary American Indians suffer from disproportionately high degrees of psychiatric distress. Mental health researchers and professionals, as well as American Indian community members, have consistently associated these disproportionate rates of distress with Indigenous historical experiences of European and Euro-American colonization. This emphasis on the impact of colonization and associated historical consciousness within tribal communities has occasioned increasingly widespread professional consideration of historical trauma among Indigenous peoples. In contrast to personal experiences of a traumatic nature, the discourse of Indigenous historical trauma (IHT) weds the concepts of “historical oppression” and “psychological trauma” to explain community-wide risk for adverse mental health outcomes originating from the depredations of past colonial subjugation through intergenerational transmission of vulnerability and risk. Long before the emergence of accounts of IHT, however, many American Indian communities prized a markedly different form of narrative: the coup tale. By way of illustration, I explore various historical functions of this speech genre by focusing on Aaniiih-Gros Ventre war narratives, including their role in conveying vitality or life. By virtue of their recognition and celebration of agency, mastery, and vitality, Aaniiih war stories functioned as the discursive antithesis of IHT. Through comparative consideration of the coup tale and the trauma narrative, I propose an alternative framework for cultivating Indigenous community “survivance” rather than vulnerability based on these divergent discursive practices.

scholarly journals Ketamine-Assisted and Culturally Attuned Trauma Informed Psychotherapy as Adjunct to Traditional Indigenous Healing: Effecting Cultural Collaboration in Canadian Mental Health Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Sherry-Anne Muscat ◽  
Geralyn Dorothy Wright ◽  
Kristy Bergeron ◽  
Kevin W. Morin ◽  
Courtenay Richards Crouch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Treatment Effectiveness ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Behavioral Systems ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Trauma Informed

Ketamine therapy with culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy in a collaborative cross-cultural partnership may provide a critical step in the operationalization and optimization of treatment effectiveness in diverse populations and may provide a foundation for an improved quality of life for Indigenous people. Decolonizing Indigenous health and wellbeing is long overdue, requiring an equal partnership between government and Indigenous communities, built upon an aboriginal culture holistic foundation of balance of mind, body, social and spiritual realms, and within the context of historical and lived experiences of colonialism. Culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy paired with ketamine—a fast-acting antidepressant that typically takes effect within 4 hours, even in cases of acute suicidality—may be uniquely qualified to integrate into an Indigenous based health system, since ketamine’s therapeutic effects engage multiple neuropsychological, physiological, biological, and behavioral systems damaged by intergenerational complex developmental trauma. Ketamine holds the potential to serve as a core treatment modality around which culturally engaged treatment approaches might be organized since its brief alteration of normal waking consciousness is already a familiar and intrinsic element of healing culture in many Indigenous societies. There is great need and desire in Indigenous communities for respectful and sacred partnership in fostering more effective mental health outcomes and improved quality of life.

scholarly journals Advancing Indigenous Mental Health Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-249
Author(s):  
Joseph P Gone ◽  
Laurence J Kirmayer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Transcultural Psychiatry ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ethical Awareness ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

The articles in this issue of Transcultural Psychiatry point the way toward meaningful advances in mental health research pertaining to Indigenous peoples, illuminating the distinctive problems and predicaments that confront these communities as well as unrecognized or neglected sources of well-being and resilience. As we observe in this introductory essay, future research will benefit from ethical awareness, conceptual clarity, and methodological refinement. Such efforts will enable additional insight into that which is common to Indigenous mental health across settler societies, and that which is specific to local histories, cultures and contexts. Research of this kind can contribute to nuanced understandings of developmental pathways, intergenerational effects, and community resilience, and inform policy and practice to better meet the needs of Indigenous individuals, communities and populations.

scholarly journals Controversy and Consensus in Disaster Mental Health Research

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen J. Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Disaster Mental Health ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Acute And Chronic Stress ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Issues

AbstractControversies regarding the mental health consequences of disasters are rooted both in disciplinary orientations and in the widely varied research strategies that have been employed in disaster mental health studies. However, despite a history of dissensus, there are also key issues on which researchers agree. Disasters constitute stressful and traumatic experiences. However, vulnerability to such experiences, as well as to more chronic Stressors, is socially structured, reflecting the influence of socio-economic status and other axes of stratification, including gender, race, and ethnicity. Disaster events differ in the extent to which they generate stress for victims. A holistic perspective on disaster mental health would take into account not only disaster event characteristics, but also social-systemic sources of both acute and chronic stress, secondary and cumulative Stressors, and victims internal and external coping capacities.

scholarly journals An Approach to Treating Depressive and Psychotic Illness in Indigenous Communities

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tricia Nagel ◽  
Gary Robinson ◽  
Thomas Trauer ◽  
John Condon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Problem Solving Therapy ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

This study is one of the activities of a multi-site research program, the Australian Mental Health Initiative (AIMhi), funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. AIMhi in the Northern Territory collaborated with Aboriginal mental health workers and Northern Territory remote service providers in developing a range of resources and strategies to promote improved Indigenous mental health outcomes. A brief intervention that combines the principles of motivational interviewing, problem solving therapy and chronic disease self-management is described. The intervention has been integrated into a randomised controlled trial. Early findings suggest that the strategy and its components are well received by clients with chronic mental illness, and their carers, in remote communities.

scholarly journals What does ‘holism’ mean in Indigenous mental health?

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-27
Author(s):  
Ranjana Bhattacharjee ◽  
Alana Maltby
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Cultural Discontinuity ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Indigenous Organizations ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

In Canada, suicide and depression rates are much higher among Indigenous populations compared to the general population. Colonial practices, cultural discontinuity, marginalization, and oppression have led to many of the mental health issues faced by Indigenous populations today. Recent literature emphasizes the importance of culture in the treatment and prevention of mental health problems among Indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, Indigenous perspectives on mental health or wellness in the peer-reviewed literature are often limited. This review aims to incorporate the grey literature produced by Indigenous organizations to better describe what ‘holism’ is as it relates to the wellness of Indigenous peoples, and to identify some practical implications of this understanding for healthcare providers addressing the needs of Indigenous patients and clients.

scholarly journals Indigenous land-based interventions and nature-oriented wellness programs: Commonalities and important differences.

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-45
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Sommerfeld ◽  
David Danto ◽  
Russ Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Wellness Programs ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Task Force Report ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health ◽  
Indigenous Land

The importance of Indigenous mental health has been highlighted and affirmed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report (2015), the Canadian Psychological Association and The Psychology Foundation of Canada’s Task Force report responding to the TRC findings (2018), as well as numerous recent studies. Unfortunately, Indigenous Peoples in Canada continue to suffer from a lack of appropriate mental health care. Land-based interventions have been cited as one culturally appropriate approach to wellness; nevertheless, given the diversity of nature-oriented wellness programs, confusion exists over the qualities unique to and common across each program. As such, this paper will discuss the qualities of nature-oriented wellness programs currently in use by Indigenous communities (e.g. landbased interventions) with land-based approaches outside of Indigenous communities such as forest bathing, Outward Bound programs, and green or blue space research. The authors will then explore what sets Indigenous land-based interventions apart from these other wellness programs and discuss why land-based interventions hold a deeper meaning for Indigenous Peoples.

scholarly journals Colonialism as a Broader Social Determinant of Health

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Czyzewski
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Intergenerational Trauma ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Policy Work ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health ◽  
Health Discourse ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

A proposed broader or Indigenized social determinants of health framework includes "colonialism" along with other global processes. What does it mean to understand Canadian colonialism as a distal determinant of Indigenous health? This paper reviews pertinent discourses surrounding Indigenous mental health in Canada. With an emphasis on the notion of intergenerational trauma, there are real health effects of social, political, and economic marginalization embodied within individuals, which can collectively affect entire communities. Colonialism can also be enacted and reinforced within Indigenous mental health discourse, thus influencing scholarly and popular perceptions. Addressing this distal determinant through policy work necessitates that improving Indigenous health is inherently related to improving these relationships, i.e. eliminating colonial relations, and increasing self-determination.

The importance of trials for global mental health

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Thornicroft ◽  
Vikram Patel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Global Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Continuum ◽  
Key Terms

This chapter sets the scene for the book as a whole by defining key terms, giving a brief history of randomized controlled trails (RCTs) in mental health research, explaining why RCTs can produce strong forms of evidence, and by locating trials within the translational research continuum. The authors describe criteria with which to judge the quality of pragmatic RCTs. Finally the authors discuss how the results of trials can be used to inform policy, investment, and service delivery decisions in low and middle income countries.

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