Indigenous Knowledge and Mental Health: A Global Perspective

This book brings together Indigenous and allied experts addressing mental health among Indigenous peoples across the traditional territories commonly known as the Americas (e.g. Canada, US, Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil), Asia (e.g. China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia), Africa (e.g. South Africa, Central and West Africa) and Oceania (New Guinea and Australia) to exchange knowledge, perspectives and methods for mental health research and service delivery. Around the world, Indigenous peoples have experienced marginalization, rapid culture change and absorption into a global economy with little regard for their needs or autonomy. This cultural discontinuity has been linked to high rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide, and violence in many communities, with the most dramatic impact on youth. Nevertheless, Indigenous knowledge, tradition and practice have remained central to wellbeing, resilience and mental health in these populations.Such is the focus of this book.

Table of Contents:
Foreword.- Introduction.-Section A: Genocide, Exile and Trauma.-Yazidi Mental Health and Collective Trauma and Terror.- The Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Khmer Displaced and in Exile The Psychology of Mussar: Cultural Safety as a Verb.- Section B. The Land and Healing The Mental Health of Indigenous Communities in India: The Kondhas Niyamgiri Bachao Movement in Odisha.- Healing Practices and Rituals of the Forest-Dwelling Rabha Community in Assam, India.- Learning From Those Who Do: Land-Based Healing in a Mushkegowuk Community.- Section C. Culture, Identity and Resilience.- Mental Health and the San of Southern Africa.- Indonesia’s Political Reform: Challenges and Opportunities for the Adat Community’s Mental Well-Being.- Happiness, Underdevelopment, and Mental Health in an Andean Indigenous Community.- The Jewish People and Indigenous Resilience.- Section D. Culture and Treatment.- Alcohol Use and Resilience among the Indigenous Tuvinians of Siberia.- Reclaiming Our Identity through Indigenous Cultural Generative Acts to Improve Mental Health of All Generations.- Ka Huri Te Ao, a Time of Change: Māori Mental Health and Addiction in Aotearoa, New Zealand.- I Remember Who I Am: Deg Xit’an Athabascan Perspectives on Wellness.- E. Integrating Indigenous and Western Approaches.- Traditional Aboriginal Healing in Mental Health Care, Western Australia.-Integrating Indigenous Healing and Western Counselling: Clinical Cases in Culturally Safe Practice.- F. Reconciliation and Mental Health.- Reconciliation Social Work: Sustainable Community Development.- A Canadian Psychology Task Force Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report: Summary and Reflections.