Native American Mental Health Running make up less than 2% of the U.S. population. But 8% of the U.S. population is homeless. According to Native American Mental Health Statistics, up to 70% of this population guess to have some mental illness—disorder throughout their lives. More than 45,000 Native Americans are homeless, and another 4 million are mentally ill; People experience their reality daily. Native Americans have been traumatized for generations by being driven from their homeland and deprived of their resources.

You take away from much of their culture, resulting in high rates of poverty. Self-destruction that have contributed to high rates of mental health disorders and substance abuse in this population group. If you look at the mental health statistics of Native Americans, you can see just how much mental health has impacted this minority of residents. Unfortunately, minority mental health again and again face.

A Grim History of Native American Mental Health Running

Today, five miles away, Rapid City Regional Hospital receives many patients who would otherwise treat in Sioux San. “It’s sad to see the impact on patients,” said Dr.Brook Eide, an emergency room physician at Rapid City Regional Hospital. “It’s sad to see the impact on patients,” said Dr. Brook Eide, a doctor at Rapid City Regional Hospital, on the tribe’s medical debt. Which extends beyond India’s healthcare system. “It is sad to see the impact on patients,” Dr. Brook Eide, a doctor at Rapid City Regional Hospital, said of medical debt for tribal members outside the Indian health system. Credit Kristina Barker for The New York Times

Social Correlates Of Positive Mental Health

Specific to A.I. populations, socially protective factors or buffers may include family and community, spiritual coping, traditional health practices. Identity attitudes, and enculturation (Walters, Simoni, and Evans-Campbell 2002; Wexler 2014).

This study focuses on participation in traditional cultural activities as a potential coping mechanism that may link social experiences (e.g., discrimination) to well-being. Walters and colleagues’ (2002) Indigenist stress coping model posits that cultural coping mechanisms.

Such as engagement in traditional practices serve as protective buffers against the harmful effects of stressors on health outcomes. In support of this model, prior research indicates that participation in traditional cultural activities buffers the impact of discrimination on depressive symptoms among A.I. adults.

Check Out Native American Mental Health

Suicide is the second cause of death among 10-34-year-olds, whereas the suicide rate among Native Americans over 75 is only one-third of the general population. Additionally, access is bound because most clinics and hospitals of the Indian Health resources locate on reservations.

Yet, Suicide is the two cause of death, and 2.5 times the national rate, for Native American youth in the 15-24 age range. In 2014, approximately 9% of Native Americans aged 18 and older had co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder in the past year—almost three times that of the general population

How Can We Break This Cycle And Provide Better Care To This Community

Raise awareness of mental health and its relationship to chronic diseases. Educate professionals about the unique mental health issues of Native American populations. Create and provide affordable, comprehensive health insurance for all.

Refocus mental health care towards prevention. Early intervention Better integrates traditional treatments and spiritual practices. With modern biomedical and traditional healthcare, too many of us will be healthy enough to pass it on.

Education Native American Mental Health

In 1990, 66 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives age 25 and older had completed high school or had a college education. On the other hand, in 1980, only 56% did so,the data suggest that Indian students perform as well as or better than non-Indian students in primary school. Show a shift or fall in performance between fourth and seventh grade (Barlow & Walkup, 1998). Indian children may have a culturally ingrained way of learning that is at odds with the teaching methods currently used in public education. Several scholars cite differences between Indian cognitive styles and Western teaching styles. Indian children, for example, learn primarily visually rather than auditory or verbally.

Income Native American Mental Health

After the devastation of these once prosperous Native American nations. The social environment of the indigenous peoples continues to be plagued by unfavorable economic conditions. As a result, many American Indians and Alaska Natives are unemployed or work in low-paying jobs. Males and females in the population were about over again to be unemployed as whites in 1998 (Population Reference Bureau, 2000). Between 1997 and 1999, about 26% of American Indians and Alaska Natives lived in poverty. This percentage compares to 13% for the Land of Liberty and 8% for white Americans (U.S. Census Bureau, 1999b).

Mental Disorders

Although not all mental disorders cause disability, these disorders are always associated with some level of mental distress and related impairments. In addition, these symptoms often go away with treatment. Therefore, the presence of a mental disorder is a reasonable indicator of the need for mental health care. As discussed in previous chapters, in the United States, these disorders are identified according to the diagnostic categories of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Established by the American Psychiatric Association (1994).

Native American Mental Health Problems

 

Symptoms

Although little familiar with the rates of mental disorders among Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States. A recent nationally representative study examined mental disorders in a large sample of adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998). Overall, American Indians and Alaska Natives reported much higher rates of common ailments. Almost 13% compared to 9% in the general population. The results of this study suggest that American Indians and Alaska Natives experience more psychological distress than the general population.

High-Need Populations

American Indians and Alaska Natives are the poorest ethnic minority group in the United States. Although a causal link has not yet started, there is good reason to believe that the history of oppression, discrimination. Displacement from traditional lands of indigenous peoples contributes. Their current lack of educational and economic opportunities and their significant representation among populations in high need contributed to psychiatric care.

Exposed to Trauma

Exposure to trauma is associated with the subsequent development of psychiatric disorders in general and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in particular (Kessler et al,1995). Because Native Americans are likely similar to non-Native Americans in their likelihood of developing PTSD after traumatic exposure (Kessler et al, 1995). The incidence of the disorder (22% for AI/AN compared to American veterans). Significantly higher to more combat-related injuries than their non-Indian counterparts National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and National. Center for American Indian Native Mental Health Research, 1996. Beals et al. under review.

Mental Health Systems Studies

A review of national data from 1980-1981 found that American Indians and Alaska Natives were admit to state and county hospitals more frequently than whites (Snowden & Cheung, 1990). In contrast, data from 1983 (Cheung & Snowden, 1990). Then 1986 (Breaux & Ryujin, 1999). Suggest that Native Americans use hospital facilities at a rate consistent with their percentage of the general population. The same study also examined the use of outpatient psychiatric services Cheung & Snowden, 1990; Breaux & Ryujin, 1999. Again Indians and Native Americans must use outpatient mental health services to a similar extent as the United States population.

Conclusion

Native Americans have been trauma for generations by being drive from their homeland. Deprived of their resources, and taken away of much of their culture. Resulting in high rates of poverty and self-destruction that have contributed to high rates of mental health disorders and substance abuse in this population group. The results of this study suggest that American Indians and Alaska Natives experience more psychological distress than the general population. In addition, Alaskan Indians and Native Americans have to use outpatient mental health services to a similar extent as the United States population.

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