Essay Sample on Mental Health of the Indigenous Women

Introduction

Mental health is the emotional, psychological and behavioral well- being of an individual According to World Health Organization (2000) when an individual is mentally healthy, he can intermingle with the environment and group in behaviors that encourage wellbeing, development, and use of mental capabilities. Mental health is essential and cannot be ignored. Some of the signs of depression are, suicidal thoughts, headaches, and violence, constant mood swings going through colonization, forced assimilation, and cultural oppression. The indigenous people have been able to suffer mental health issues. Females being the weaker Gender has sustained the most compared to men. The determinants of poor mental health of individuals do not only rely on the individual but also environmental factors, economic, social, legal factors that limit the opportunities to control these factors that determine their health ("World Health Organization," 2000). To broadly cover mental health on women, this paper will focus on depression disorder, which is a psychological issue that is very common among indigenous women.

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According to the anticipation of the World Health Organization (2000), depression is among the rising illnesses that will result in illness burden by 2020. Women are the victims of depression in society due to their roles that they play, biological factors, and hormonal factors. Depression is very different from sadness since it is a medical condition that leads to adverse symptoms that affect the way we think, talk, and feel. During the European colonization in North America, the colonizers brought with them diseases such as smallpox, cholera, trachoma and even diphtheria which increased the indigenous people mortality rate to 90% (Kirmayer & Valaskakis, 2009). Therefore due to this, many women acquired mental health issues because of their roles at the family level.

Women tend being involved in personal relationship and suffer mental disorders once disrupted. The multiple roles of women in the family set up like caring, for the elderly and family roles is one of the contributors to increased depression among women. A good example is among the indigenous women of India. 10-25 % of Indian women suffer Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) compared to 5-12% of men (Buhra et al., 2015). Growth of disease burden in areas where indigenous people live. I.e., Canada is a significant cause of depression in indigenous women. The purpose of this is due to chronic illnesses such as smallpox, trachoma, and cholera that were brought by the colonizers (Samson, 2008).

Biologically women go through hormonal imbalances, which in most cases lead to anxiety and distress due to change in mood swings. Some hormonal changes occur during menstruation while to other women it occurs during menopause (Tait, 2009). The variance of these hormones if not regulated leads to Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).If medication such as antidepressants administration is delayed, then the effects of MDD may be very rigorous.

Different types of depression have affected different indigenous women depending on the causal factors. According to the social element, one of the causative agents is the women lower position in society, which leads to inequality. In indigenous communities viewed women as housewives that cannot help in thinking, they are underrated and not valued as necessary in the society, Due to this, women end up having the feeling of not being enough which initially starts with stress and if, not treated early leads to chronic depression among indigenous women. To support this, according to the World Health Organization (2000), indigenous women have recorded to suffer depression 11.89 times more than indigenous men. Therefore the lowest position of women in society was and has been the dominant social factor of depression among indigenous women. According to Mirali, cultural subjugation and sidelining by the colonizers in northern America raised the levels of distress among the indigenous people (2017). Also, early missionaries were aiming at converting them, leading to violence towards the aboriginal people (Kirmayer et al., 2003). With this, women levels of mental distress raised because of their social role in the family and society. Generally, when everything is not okay, women stress out faster than men.

Economic factors also tend to be the cause of depression in women. During colonization in northern America, the Aboriginals also involved themselves in trade, which due to multitasking between family and business caused anxiety in women hence unstable mental health if not depression.

Treatment Implication on Mental Health Between Biomedical Model View and Contextual Model View

The indigenous people generally use the Medicine wheel model in understanding mental health issues. Although it has different symbols, all the information included in the circle is continuous (Vukic, 2011). The ring stands for the totality of being (Vukic, 2011), and thus, all things are interrelated. Mostly, the medicine wheel has been used by indigenous intellectuals to present the whole landscape of mental health

According to the Aboriginal people, the condition of mental health should be approached in a somewhat positive manner by seeing everything good in it while the medical view by the civilians from western countries embraces the mental health as a problem that needs to be solved. Thus the indigenous people consider the women depression as a mental health while medically, it is a mental disorder.

The indigenous people view the mental disorder as a result of individual's disconnection from the culture and nature, and such the only recommended treatment is to reconnect with the culture to regain mental health. They hold healing ceremonies to heal the disorders. Bio medically medication is necessary for the mentally sick while still including counseling and psychotherapy services.

In the Western Conceptualization, me medics use The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) of the American psychiatrist Association which identifies cultural disparities in clinical presentation thus acknowledges cultural somewhat considering the culture the client comes from and its contribution to patient's condition. This idea aids them to come up with the right and exact test for a medication of the client (Vukic, 2011). The psychologist also can study the patient mind to come up with a mental diagnosis. Since they cannot prescribe medicines, they use the DSM-IV to diagnose. At the same tame counselors are also trained to offer therapeutic sessions of canceling to help the patient gradually recover from the mental disorder.

A similarity between the two models is that both seek to promote and improve factors such as environment, social, and economic factors that affect the mental health of every being. The aboriginal people will attempt to come up with control measures for social vices such as women discrimination that directly affect women mental health. The same way is western conceptualization handling mental disorder.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is worth noting that mental health is essential in every human being despite Gender. Also, every human is prone to mental disorder, and thus, it should be noticed early enough to avoid chronic conditions and adverse side effects. Depression should not be handled on the grounds of traditional beliefs anymore, or instead should not be taken lightly. Therefore depression is a medical condition like any other and thus should be treated clinically inclusive of counseling. The comparison and contrast between the two models are not supposed to undermine cultural activities of the indigenous community no the skills of the psychiatrists, but to come up with better ways of handling, preventing and treating mental disorders especially in women.

References

Kirmayer, L. J., & Valaskakis, G. G. (Eds.). (2009). Healing traditions: The Psychological Health of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. UBC Press.

Kirmayer, L., Simpson, C., & Cargo, M. (2003). Healing traditions: Culture, community, and Psychological health promotion with Canadian Aboriginal peoples. Australasian Psychiatry, 11(sup1), S15-S23. kirmayer hi-res - UBC Press. https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/9291/1/9780774815239.pdf

Merali, N., (2017). The Responsibility of School Counsellors in the National Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention: An Illustration. Canadian Paper of Counselling and Psychotherapy (Online), 51(3), 246."The Role of School Counsellors in the National Aboriginal... Retrieved From https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-557426031/the-role-of-school-counsellors-in-the-national-aboriginal

Samson, C., (2008). A colonial double-bind: Social and historical contexts of Innu mental health. 195-244

Healing traditions: the mental health of Aboriginal... Retrieved From https://www.worldcat.org/title/healing-traditions-the-mental-health-of-aboriginal-peoples-in-canada/oclc/897030524

Tait, C. (2009). Disruptions in Nature, Disruptions in Society: Aboriginal Peoples of Canada and The "Making" of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Healing Traditions: Mental Health of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, 196-218. Retrieved From https://www.worldcat.org/title/healing-traditions-the-mental-health-of-aboriginal-peoples-in-canada/oclc/897030524

Vukic, A., Gregory, D., Martin-Misener, R., & Etowa, J. (2011). Aboriginal and Western Conceptions of Psychological Health and Illness. Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health, 9(1), 65-86. Retrieved Fromhttp://pimatisiwin.com/online/wpcontent/uploads/2011/08/04VukicGregory.pdf

World Health Organization. (2000). Women's Mental Health: An Evidence-Based Review (No. WHO/MSD/MDP/00.1). Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved From http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/67.pdf