Mental Illness In Australia

Many Australian people experience mental illness; however, according to the ABS (2013), Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are three times more likely to develop mental illness than the non-indigenous population. Mental illness among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generation survivors is even greater (Dudgeon, Walker, Scrine, Shepherd, Calma, & Ring, 2014). Suicide rates within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are also twice as high, more so in remote areas, compared to the non-Indigenous Australians (The Department of Health, 2013). In this essay, I will firstly identify the social and cultural factors that are associated with mental illness and suicide among the Aboriginal and Torres …show more content…
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not seen as equal, they were believed to be primitive and childlike, and in fact the Australian State Governments introduced various legislation and policies in an attempt control and eradicate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Dudgeon, Wright, Paradies, Garvey & Walker, 2010). Under these state laws, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s rights were diminished; their children were taken from their families and communities and put into Government institutions or adopted by white Australian families (Hudson, 1999; Petchkovsky, San Roque, Napaljarri Jurra & Butler, 2004; Dudgeon & Hirvonen, 2014). These children were deprived of their culture, forced to adopt the white Australian way of life, traumatised, abused and treated as slaves (Silburn, Zubrick, Lawrence, Mitrou, De Maio, Blair, & Hayward, 2006). Dudgeon, Wright, Paradies, Garvey & Walker (2010) explain that these Australian laws “were a form of cultural genocide of Indigenous Australians, through the loss of language, family dispersion and the cessation of cultural practices” (p. 30). The period of colonisation severely impacted the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s self perception and self identity …show more content…
By increasing individual, community, family as well as culturally focused treatment programs, support and services; addressing all the significant contributing factors associated with mental illness among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in addition to developing a long term approach to treatment and prevention methods, mental illness among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population may be reduced (AIHW, 2013; OXFAM, 2007; Parker