Indigenous perspectives on mental health - addressing colonial trauma
The biomedical model underpinning our current understanding of mental health issues and treatment options fails to take into account the impact of colonial trauma on First Nations people, according to an article by Dr Cammi Murrup-Stewart, Senior Lecturer and researcher at Gukwonderuk Indigenous Health Workforces Centre and Madeline Wills, research assistant in the School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health.
Published in the Mariwala Health Initiative Journal Reframe, the article entitled Enough politeness: decolonising mental health in a society oblivious to its colonial wounds argues that recent shifts to recognise the social causes of mental health challenges regularly overlook existing Indigenous experiences and perspectives on colonial causes of mental distress. The forces of genocide, assimilation, and cultural erasure have not only marginalised but also actively oppressed non-Eurocentric knowledge systems, labelling them as ‘other’, ‘alternative’, or ‘lacking in rigour and validity’.
This biased view has invalidated centuries of Indigenous wisdom and healing practices, reducing them to footnotes in the dominant narrative of healthcare and causing irreparable harm to the mental health of Indigenous Peoples. Within this context, the Eurocentric biomedical model of mental healthcare falls significantly short, failing to address the myriad cultural, spiritual, and communal factors essential to the mental well-being of humanity itself.
As Aboriginal women, Dr Murrup-Stewart and Ms Wills state that they’ve had enough of the polite silence that masks the deep wounds society continues to inflict upon their culture, and state that we must return to simple yet profound ideas of connection, kindness, and caring for both the earth and each other. In the context we find ourselves, this shift in priorities demonstrates a radical reimagining of our future.
Read the full article to learn more.
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