Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:28:47.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

State of indigenous mental health in Australia - a colonial legacy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sanil Rege
Sanil Rege*
Affiliation:
Northern Sydney Central Coast Mental Health Service, Australia, email rege_1@yahoo.es
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Aboriginal culture of Australia is one of the oldest cultures on earth, dating back 50 000 years. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people are the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, constituting 2.4% of the population. The health status of these ‘First Australians’ has been described as a source of national shame, with the life expectancy approximately 17 years lower than that of other Australians (Eades, 2000). This gap in life expectancy is also significantly larger than that of other countries with indigenous populations and a history of colonisation, such as the USA, Canada and New Zealand (Ring & Firman, 1998). This paper offers an overview of the impact of colonisation and its subsequent influence on the social and emotional well-being of ATSI people.

Type
Special Paper
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 98 - 100
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2009

References

Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council (2006) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework Report 2006. AHMAC.Google Scholar
Centre for Mental Health (2007) NSW Aboriginal Mental Health and Well Being Policy 2006–2010. New South Wales Department of Health.Google Scholar
Durie, M. H. (2003) Health of indigenous peoples. BMJ, 326, 510–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eades, S. J. (2000) Reconciliation, social equity and indigenous health. A call for symbolic and material change. Medical Journal of Australia, 172, 468–469.Google Scholar
Fanon, F. (1963) The Wretched of the Earth (trans. Farrington, C.). Grove Weidenfeld.Google Scholar
HEREOC (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) (1997) Bringing Them Home: The ‘Stolen Children’ Report. Available at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/bth_report/index.html (accessed August 2009).Google Scholar
Jackson, R. L. & Ward, J. E. (1999) Aboriginal health: why is reconciliation necessary? Medical Journal of Australia, 170, 437–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ring, I. T. & Firman, D. (1998) Reducing indigenous mortality in Australia: lessons from other countries. Medical Journal of Australia, 169, 528–531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swan, P. & Raphael, B. (1995) Ways Forward. National Consultancy Report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Mental Health. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.Google Scholar
Totten, S., Bartrop, P. R. & Jacobs, S. L. (2007) Dictionary of Genocide. Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Westerman, T. G. (2004) Engagement of indigenous clients in mental health services: what role do cultural differences play? Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 3(3). Available at http://www.auseinet.com/journal/vol3iss3/westermaneditorial.pdf (accessed August 2009).Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.