Essay on Minority Mental Illness

Native Americans were colonized and forced to take on a lifestyle that was completely foreign to them. Even today, they are totally disenfranchised and forced to exist within a system that mandates their dependency on entities which actively discriminates against them. This systematic discrimination or racism, adversely affects the Native Americans in a way that causes conditions like deep depression, which leads to corruptible behavior like alcoholism, child neglect, and a high rate of suicide among young Natives. The environments of the reservations that they have been forced to exist on, in order to freely practice their natural way of life without the interference of Eurocentric mentality, have been compared to the conditions of third world countries.

Mental illness is and has always been a serious topic. But it has not always been taken as serious in the black community. From my research, scholars and medical professionals in the field of mental health spoke on the fact that mental illness is a stigma in the black community and the conversation of this is not happening. There are many factors that contributed to this. Factors such as the distrust of medical professionals, mis-diagnosis, socio-economical factors and so much more contribute to the reason the black community is missed when it comes to mental health. I also discovered the inside factors that were culture, religion, mis-education, and family reliance. This also becomes why it is a stigma or why it’s not talked about amongst everyone in the community.

Nichea Spillane argues that “Alcohol use among American Indians is perhaps the largest health concern in many American Indian communities” (8). Even with free medical clinics, known as Indian Health Services, many Native Americans who live in cities or have left their tribal lands find it difficult to receive the medical care that is needed. This could explain why, “Uninsured American Indians or Alaska Native Adults were more likely than uninsured adults in the general population to have binged on alcohol in the past month” (SAMHSA 6). Study after study show the disturbing effects of alcohol on the American Indians’ health. From minor health problems to alcohol-attributable deaths, to mental health and suicides, there is no way to document all the damage caused by excessive drinking. It is documented that “…excessive alcohol consumption is a leading cause of preventable death and years of lost life in this population. During 2001-2005, AmericanIndian/ AlaskaNatives were more than twice as likely to die from alcohol-related causes, compared with the U.S. general population (Naimi et al. 940).

Although tribes vacillate with regard to the use of alcohol and drugs, substance dependence is one of the principal sources of health problems facing Native Americans. As the graph below shows, there is a disparity in abuse.

Native American poverty is a social problem in the United States. For historic, political, sociocultural, and economic reasons, this issue affects not only those impoverished but American society as a whole. The most impoverished Native American communities are frequently within the boundaries of reservations. The rates of unemployment, low wages, and infant mortality are among the highest in the country on several reservations. Disease, mental illness, alcoholism, and fetal alcohol syndrome are also prevalent within the Native American population. To improve these conditions, strategies should be put into place to build stable economies in the otherwise isolated reservations.

Alcoholism is the leading health and social problem of American Indians than any other race. Native Americans who end up leaving the reservation to pursue education or employment opportunities express a high degree of discomfort and anxiety as a result of “feeling caught in two worlds.” By leaving the reservation they are abandoning their traditions, however temporarily, and suffering a sense of personal loss and insecurity. In entering a new world, this sense of loss and insecurity is heightened and becomes exacerbated, particularly if they do not experience success or acceptance in the new environment (Major, A.K. A 2003). However, if success and acceptance in the new world occurs, these individuals will still suffer the pangs of abandonment since they can never fully return to the reservation. In some cases, forced assimilation has extinguished the culture from many Indians as their grandparents and parents were forced to abandon the old ways in order to become more American. Thomas Jefferson, as well as many others believed that Native Americans can be just as ‘White’ Americans. In an attempt to increase local employment opportunities, many tribes have turned to gambling casinos and the collateral business which support these ventures. Illegal activities would certainly increase among Indians because of the simple fact that they need to survive by any means necessary. This can all

Mental illness is nondiscriminatory, can affect any person and transcends all social boundaries. As a result, the issues surrounding mental illness have become common discussion pints among policymakers dedicated or required to formulate solutions around providing the long-term care needed by many patients. Healthcare reforms and changes to the systems that provide services to those living with mental illness and funding for services to the facilities providing care have become major social issues (Goldman, Morrissey, Ridgley, Frank, Newman, & Kennedy, 1992). The reason for this is primarily how it can affect a market economy and how much of a burden diseases of the mind can be in a country such as the United States. According to the 1991 Global Burden of Disease study conducted by the World Health Organization mental health burden accounted for “more than 15% in a market economy such as the U.S.” (The Impact of Mental Illness on Society, 2001). The study also states that for individuals over the age of 5, varying forms of depression are the leading cause of disability. A more recent study indicates that mental illness in general is found in more than 26% of the United States adult population, of which 6% are severe and limit the patient’s ability to function (Martin, p. 163. 2007).

As with many races and ethnicities, Native Americans have had the front row seat in social injustices related to gender and race from the social institutions in the United States. Native Americans faced much discrimination along with other groups when it came to educational institutions and businesses. In education, many young children had lower math and writing skills leading to fewer high school diplomas (Sarche & Spicer, 2008). In labor, Native Americans had high unemployment rates and a lower labor force than the rest of the demographic population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). They also have problems with poverty since more than twenty-five percent of this group live below the poverty line (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Additionally, there are high rates of violent victimization and contributing factors such as childhood trauma that lead to overall high deaths. A major contributing factor to these deaths is alcoholism which exceeds the US rates by seven times (Sarche & Spicer, 2008). Many of these statistics indicate great injustice. Furthermore, according to the Indian Health Services, American Indians have lower health and life expectancy when compared to the rest of America (2015). These staggering statistics point out some prevalent inequalities in modern social institutions that exist with Native Americans.

Not to be left out, The Economist published an article about alcoholism affecting Native Americans titled “The Wounds of Whiteclay An Alcoholism Epidemic Among the Lakota Sioux”. The article claims that “shops have been making immoral profits from the misery of vulnerable residents of the reservation” (Economist). Substance abuse is one of many reasons that many Natives do not go to college or receive higher education, as seen when Alexie writes “So what was I doing in racist Reardan, where more than half of every graduating class went to college? Nobody in my family had ever gone near a college” (Alexie, Forney, 56). All of these literary works show that alcoholism, along with other disadvantages brought to America by Europeans, hinders the success and the future of Natives.

Alcoholism is a big problem of reservations. Native Americans are four times more likely to die of alcoholism and 17 times more likely to die in an accident involving alcohol. In addition to this, they are twice as likely to be involved in an arrest concerning alcohol.

Poverty and addiction damage the Native American's mental health as they suffer from abuse, addiction, and high self-harm; because they experience abuse, they develop addictions and unfortunately have to cope with self-harm and suicide. High rates of self-harming is an outcome for the Native American’s because of the poverty and addiction that they are forced to cope with. The poverty Native Americans struggle with determines their emotions; they lack self-esteem and therefore believe they are “stupid and ugly” (Alexie 22). This lack of self-esteem affects their motivation, which then limits their ability to earn money, making them even more poverty-stricken. One source claims that many Native Americans start “cutting themselves at the age

According to Emily Guarnotta, who holds a doctorate degree in clinical psychology, “Alcohol appears to be the most widely abused substance among Native Americans” (Guarnotta). In addition, the percentage of lifetime alcohol use in Native Americans is nearly 72% according to Corrine O’Keefe Osborne, an award-winning journalist who focuses on psychology and addiction. Guarnotta continued to explain that any “[...] economic issues, cultural loss, domestic abuse, and physical and mental health issues [...]” could possibly contribute to the higher risk of alcoholism in Native Americans (Guarnotta). Out of all issues the most important is cultural loss, which has contributed to high rates of alcoholism in Native Americans. Their culture was threatened after Europeans colonized the United States. Throughout this transition, Guarnotta believes Native Americans lost “[...] family members and tribes, land, and traditions” (Guarnotta). Some spectators believe the brutality and loss they experienced led to historical trauma. This grief has affected each generation since Native Americans were separated from their land. The development of the negative coping mechanism of drinking was a result they’ve been encountering ever since the Europeans colonized and stripped their

In the Black Community, various health and social problems are ignored by its members. These include, but are not limited to, mental illness, crime rates amongst blacks, communication amongst family members etc. One of the more prominent of the problems ignored by members of the black community is mental illness. There are numerous reasons as to why it is ignored, although every 1 in 5 African Americans are facing a mental illness. One example that was given in the memoir Buck, was MK Asante’s mother, Amina, and as the journal is read, it is shown to see how mental illness can affect people.

Many factors have contributed to the abysmal condition of Native Americans in the United States. Two of which had the most impact have been poverty and alcoholism. There are many possible reasons why Native American’s were introduced to alcohol. For instance, their religious practice incorporated alcohol to be able to achieve a transcendent experience. It was not escape from reality that Native Americans sought, but more about fulfillment and discovery of oneself. However, Native Americans were uneducated of how potent alcohol was and what was to come from it being abused by the uneducated, and younger generations. Unfortunately, Native Americans have played a more ambiguous role on proliferating and facilitating the spread of alcohol throughout their communities. Alcohol has led to many health conditions in Native Americans, including kidney failure, and blindness. These health conditions have also led to diabetes, and with little hope from loss of land, Natives Americans still to this day live in poverty.

Epidemiological data shows that there has been an elevated rate of mortality and morbidity that is attributable to alcoholism in this population, and these rates remain at epidemic levels. Research on the prevalence of alcohol abuse among the American Indians shows that the rate of alcohol consumption within this community is one of the highest, and among the adolescents, American Indians’ alcohol prevalence is twice that of