Born: 1961

Discuss about the Health Story of an Indigenous Person for Psychological Distress.

The purpose of the assignment is to provide a narrative regarding the health story of an indigenous person. The narrative will outline the health journey of a person whom I shall call Mr. A, a brief history of his background and family, how the life changing event related to the health condition have changed his life and the impact of the health condition on his life, family and community. The paper will provide adequate evidence from various relevant sources regarding the health issue identified in the narrative. I have arranged an interview with the person and his care giver to compile with the health history. I have focused on one major health concern of Mr. A as he has various health concerns. The story will introduce us with the pain, bravery and loneliness of a person with psychological distress.   

Born: 1961

Age: 57 Years.

Birth place: A community in the Central Arnhem Land in the Northern territory of Australia located approximately 500 km from Darwin, the capital of the territory in the north-eastern corner. Mr. A has been recognized as an indigenous person having aboriginal decent.

Family: In the current address he lives with his care giver. His wife has expired 10 years ago and his only son has become separated and lives with his family at a near place. He has a sister who visits to his house once in a year.

History of prior life: Mr A was a renowned person in his community. By profession he was a hunter. He was well known for his extraordinary skill in hunting. Furthermore, he was famous for playing different musical instruments. Due to his capability of playing different musical instruments he was renowned in all places in the northern territory and his talent took him across the sea foe international performance as well.

In 2006 his son and daughter-in-law decided to become separated. From that time he became addicted to some substances due to mental stress. One day in 2008 his wife died due to brain stroke and he became lonely. Since the time he was suffering from severe depression. The incident of substance abuse become high and one night in 2015 he fell down from the stairs of his house due to excessive alcohol intake. Research has indicated that substance abuse is one of the leading social issues in the aboriginal community and most of the health issues are related to the substance abuse in the population (Whitbeck et al., 2014). The neighbour of Mr. A has taken him to the nearest health care centre. Injury in his leg and brain has been found. He became unable to walk without any support. He was diagnosed with severe brain injury, psychological distress and significant level of cognitive impairment. The past trauma and the accident have affected his mental health to an extent. After that incident a dramatic change has occurred in his life.

Age: 57 Years

As I mentioned before that due to the accident Mr. A has lost the ability to move and walk without any support. The accident has made him physically disable. He depends on the wheelchair to move and his major support is his care giver who stays with him and assists him in performing daily activities. Due to psychological distress he lacks the ability to communicate with others. I have faced enormous difficulties to communicate with him in order to learn about his health history. His reaction during the interview has shown his lack of interest in interacting with people. Most of the information I have gathered from his care giver. Due to loneliness and depression he has started to talk with himself. Research has been identified that burden of injury and disability is one of the main factors that contributes to psychological distress in the indigenous population (Anderson et al., 2016). 43.8% of indigenous people are suffering from mental distress due to physical disability (Hawthorne,  Korn & Richardson, 2013). The significant level of cognitive impairment has affected his memory and ability to think. According to the information provided by the care giver, Mr. A sometimes denies recognizing his care giver and starts creating chaos. It has been found that rate of cognitive impairment is 3 to 5 times higher in indigenous people than the non-indigenous people (Anderson et al., 2016). He has lost his ability to play different instruments. Detachment with such activities has contributed to his psychological distress as well. He is dependent on the service provided by the community health care centre. In Australia, financial support to the mental health service for aboriginals is provided by Indigenous Australian’s Health Programme (IAHP) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) also provides effective service to the people with need (Health.gov.au, 2018). Such support has helped Mr, A to survive in this condition.

Beside the effects of the psychological distress on the health and life of individual it affects the family as well and reduces the ability of a person to maintain relationships in an effective manner (Georgaca, 2014). Due to the mental disorder his son has left him with the care giver and visits his care giver to know about his health condition once in 3 to 6 months. Mr. A loved to visit his family members, especially his sister. Right now he is unable to visit them and his mental health condition restricts him to interact properly with the family members. However, in the present circumstances his care giver has become family member and he is the only person who communicates with Mr. A and supports him to overcome the loneliness. His sister comes to visit him once in a year. The smile on his face while talking about his sister has shown his love for his sister and the need of support from family members. The health care support has helped him to recover from physical injuries but lack of support from the family has filled his life with loneliness. I have heard that visiting the nearest pet club makes him happy and helps him to overcome the loneliness for a certain period of time.

Birth place: A community in the Central Arnhem Land in the Northern territory of Australia

Mr. A was well known for his talent. Detachment from such activities has removed his existence as a musician from the community. He has faced some discrimination in the community and became isolated. Research has been indicated that social discrimination and deprivation in case of people with mental illness is another social issue across the world. Loss of identity and societal attachment, powerlessness, overt racism and marginalization has been recognized to play an important role in order to create social discrimination in poor mental health condition (Ferdinand, Paradies & Kelaher, 2013). The Australian Institute of Health and welfare has mentioned that due to discrimination in the indigenous community most of the people experiences mental distress (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). Such condition triggers the signs of depression and distress in a person. The rate of suicide due to social discrimination for the person with mental illness is 3 times higher than general Australian people (Clifford, Doran & Tsey, 2013). In this case equal loss has occurred for Mr. A and the society from which he is belonging. Mr. A has lost the ability to perform in societal activity, thus has lost societal attachment. On the other hand, the community has lost a talented musician. The story has indicated the lack of access to improved health care service in the indigenous community. Healthcare service is available but they are not adequate.  People such as Mr. A that lacks support from the family need more support from the community health care service.

Conclusion:

The health story has revealed the health issues related to psychological distress and its prevalence in the indigenous community. It has indicated the pain, loneliness and struggle of a person with psychological distress to survive in the community. The health journey of Mr. A has justified the impact of such health issue on individual, family and community in an effective manner. I have learned that family and social support is more important in mental health issue. I think it is important to improve the health service social welfare in indigenous community. Such support would help a person like Mr. A to fight and survive in the community in an effective manner.

References:

Anderson, I., Robson, B., Connolly, M., Al-Yaman, F., Bjertness, E., King, A., … & Pesantes, M. A. (2016). Indigenous and tribal peoples’ health (The Lancet–Lowitja Institute Global Collaboration): a population study. The Lancet, 388(10040), 131-157. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673616003457

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/

Clifford, A. C., Doran, C. M., & Tsey, K. (2013). A systematic review of suicide prevention interventions targeting indigenous peoples in Australia, United States, Canada and New Zealand. BMC public health, 13(1), 463. Retrieved from https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-13-463

Ferdinand, A., Paradies, Y., & Kelaher, M. (2013). Mental health impacts of racial discrimination in Victorian Aboriginal communities. Lowitja Institute. Retrieved from https://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30058482/paradies-mentalhealthimpacts-2013.pdf

Georgaca, E. (2014). Discourse analytic research on mental distress: A critical overview. Journal of Mental Health, 23(2), 55-61. Retrieved from https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1008.7111&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Hawthorne, G., Korn, S., & Richardson, J. (2013). Population norms for the AQoL derived from the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 37(1), 7-16. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1753-6405.12004

Health.gov.au. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/2126B045A8DA90FDCA257F6500018260/$File/6PHN%20Guidance%20-%20ATSI%20Mental%20Health%20Services.pdf [Accessed 21 Jul. 2018].

Whitbeck, L. B., Hartshorn, K. J. S., Crawford, D. M., Walls, M. L., Gentzler, K. C., & Hoyt, D. R. (2014). Mental and substance use disorders from early adolescence to young adulthood among indigenous young people: final diagnostic results from an 8-year panel study. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 49(6), 961-973. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4031267/