Indigenous Health: Mental Illness, Media's Role, And Positive Influences In Essay.

This assignment involves the collection and analysis of media items on a current Indigenous health and wellbeing issue. You are required to link contemporary issues as presented in the media with those discussed in the unit classes, content and readings.

Indigenous health and mental illness

Indigenous health is related to the social, economic, physical and mental status and well-being of aboriginal people. There are many indigenous Australians who are likely to die at a younger age than the other Australians due to their poor health. Indigenous Australians are more prone to mental illness which is a huge topic of concern in the country. The issue is continuously on the rise and is affecting the people's health adversely. The other common diseases are the bacterial infection of the eye which is known as trachoma and also the rheumatic heart disease (Azzopardi et al., 2018).

Mental illness in most of the Australians arises from the consumption of alcohol, illicit substances and tobacco and these play a critical role between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians when it comes to health and life expectancy (Sayers et al., 2017).

Negative Indigenous health coverage reinforces stigma

The media's report of this persistent issue such as mental illness in the indigenous Australians offers much knowledge to the society and understanding about the health issues that are continuously rising in public (Somerville et al., 2016).

The issue of mental health is a very crucial health issue which more than half of the population of the country will expect in their lifespan. The comprehensive coverage of media, i.e., " The Conversation" defines that the World Health Organization says about mental illness is that it is a holistic construct that overrules the social and emotional wellness in concluding health outcomes (Ogloff et al., 2017). It further added that the maintenance of the mental health is not limited to those who are suffering from it or at risk, but it applies to the whole population of the country (Nelson & Wilson, 2017).

How the media item effect, influence and contribute to the discussions about the mental illness issue?

The media is very much capable of promoting the behavior of help-seeking and helps in building positive health issue representations along with foster the negative accusation. This aspect is entirely dependent on how the journalist chooses and frames the information. The media's story framing related to the issue is represented in a way where some aspects are given importance over others. There are chances when the information presented differs from the source or information (Kisely et al., 2017).

"The Conversation" encourages many people to have a word with aboriginal people about their culture, life concerns, and the significant mental inconvenience. The outcome of the conversation results in many new stories that are more accurate and display a less perverted and a ready-made view of the aboriginal communities of Australia (Doherty, 2018).

The media's reporting on mental illness among indigenous Australians

The very effective method of training is the planning to visit the indigenous communities during the training in a university where students can talk openly about their feelings, hopes and life-related issues. Due to this step, a student of journalism spent eight months among the indigenous communities in two Western Australia towns.

There is an extensive need to develop sound media policies and the procedures that help in correct and fair reporting of the issue related to mental illness in the indigenous communities.

Most of the media articles about the mental illness issue among the aboriginal communities are negative. Following are the findings of the study of media for the aboriginal communities.

• Aboriginal people facing the mental illness issue are likely to end life between the ages of 25 and 54 than non-indigenous Australians (Gillies et al.,2018).
• The rate of employment for Aboriginal Australians has fallen a lot more than the previous years .
• Around twenty-five percent, adult prisoners in Australia are indigenous Australians though they represent a tiny part of the population of the country.
• The predicted gap between the indigenous people and non-indigenous people's life expectancy in Australia is much more than other countries such as Canada, the United States, and New Zealand (Maltzahn et al., 2018).

Media also represents that when aboriginal people are continuously targetted for mental illness issues, it develops the attitude of racism which impacts their health more negatively. The media is well known for representing the issue in a better form related to the data, facts, and figures but they only portray the half side of the story and failed to develop the sense of positivity or hopes for future among the public.

How can we influence the mental health condition of the indigenous Australians positively?

The successful strategy of overcoming the impact of the negative information shown by the media is to lay stress on the positive models of the commitment and change in the indigenous communities. It is very much helpful and offers ultimate positivity in collecting and intensifies the voice of aboriginals who run a successful organization and are fantastic role models in their communities.

Conclusion: In my opinion, the media has played an essential role in informing and influencing community for the mental illness issue and the people affected by mental illness. The summary of the findings is the critical review of the issue in the country. There is a continuous framing of mental illness in the media, and most of the articles are about crime and illness. In my opinion, the continuous reading of such articles may result in readers developing disgrace generalizations towards the mental illness issue of the indigenous Australians.

The indigenous disadvantage is getting worse in mental health and incarceration

Despite reducing the differences between the indigenous and non-indigenous people of Australia, some areas are getting adversely affected (Chmielowska & Fuhr, 2017). The reports of mental distress among the indigenous have increased in no small rate which is almost the triple rate of non-indigenous people. The productivity commission has found continuous declining outcomes in the nation's efforts to reduce the mental issues among the people.

Positive strategies for influencing the mental health of indigenous Australians

According to some indicators, there is an increment in the sectors such as childhood health and education, but there is no positive increment in composing the issue related to the mental health of the aboriginal Australians (Cao et al., 2018).

The psychological distress is continuously increasing and is very high than the non-indigenous adults. This further led to an increase in hospitalization rates and also increased the rate of suicide deaths than in the non-indigenous adults. This form of the situation is known as the humanitarian crisis. According to the estimates, it is around ten percent death of the indigenous Australians.

The reports also mentioned that the prisoned rate has also increased to a large extent and most of them are indigenous people of Australia. The data clarified that it is about 77 percent more than the non-indigenous people (Bailey et al., 2018).

How can we influence to reduce the mental distress among the aboriginal people of Australia?

The formation of a separate royal commission in the protection and detention of the non-indigenous people have begun. The commission work towards controlling the death rates among the indigenous people.

After the set up of the protection commission of the indigenous people, there has been a continuous decline in the death rate of the children. The rate is decreased to a great extent in the infants and the young adults. It limits to around fourteen to six deaths on a thousand children. The number of infant deaths has reduced to half by the year 2018 (Loh et al., 2017).

This development of new activities and commission helps in increasing the employment rates and participation in employment of indigenous Australians to a great extent. It has increased the educational outcomes to a large proportion, and more and more children are completing their education than that of the previous condition (Hadjipavlou et al., 2018).

The report also helps in displaying the cultural growth among the indigenous people. It has been found that more people are feeling proud to be indigenous that has reduced the feeling of racism that was quite high in the previous years. There is a sufficient increment in the people who are learning the indigenous language (Fuller-Thomson et al., 2018).

Indigenous people also show a positive increment for the homeownership aspect. The data shows that by the year 2016, there is a significant increase in the adoption o property by the indigenous people in Australia. They have acquired almost sixteen percent land of the country by the year February 2016.

Which policies contribute to the development of mental issue among the indigenous people?

It is essential to see the policies and actions that help in the development of positivity by reducing the effect of mental illness from the indigenous people. There are many contributions done such as the implementation of successful programs, flexibility in the designing and delivery, emphasis on building trust, a well-trained and well-resourced workforce, coordination and continuity of services and community involvement.

Conclusion: As per my opinion, mental distress in the indigenous people of Australia is affecting the nation most negatively.  The essential measures taken for the successful implementation of right strategies helps in reducing the issue to a large extent. There is a considerable increase in the development and involvement in positive factors such as employment, education health of the indigenous Australians. It is very much crucial for the media to keep reporting about the concrete implementation and improvements as it will develop a positive influence on the public and also on the indigenous people.

A campaign to address the connection between depression and anxiety in the indigenous

New research shows that the aboriginals in Australia still face widespread racism from other Australians that is a significant cause of their mental illness. There are many comments made on the indigenous people about their activities, and way to accomplish work. They are often called as lazy by non-indigenous people of the country (Heath et al., 2018).

There are campaign centers and television advertisements that show the indigenous people's are involving in illegal activities such as racism. This action results in providing a wrong impression for the aboriginals. As a result, indigenous people face suspicion and avoidance from other people of Australia. This a big reason for mental distress and other linked activities such as depressions, suicides, less employment, etc.

Some research says that the problem of mental distress among indigenous people is still prevalent and it will take a long time to get rid of it altogether. There is much racism in the country for indigenous people who are a significant factor in causing depression and anxiety.

According to a survey of a thousand non-indigenous people of Australia, more than half of them think that the indigenous Australians are getting an unfair advantage from the government (Faulkner, 2018).  However, more than one-third of non-indigenous people think that the indigenous are lazy and do not want to take part in any activities an almost a third think that the indigenous Australians should act more like other Australians. The survey also tells that most of the non-indigenous people think that it is okay to discriminate them an to go away if any indigenous Australian sits next to them. The increase in these activities and there continuous ongoing will increase the stress level of the indigenous Australians which results in many adverse activities. They avoid taking employment opportunities, not convinced to complete their education (Hamdullahpur et al., 2017).  

The continuous inflow of these activities put high stress on the indigenous people. Non-indigenous while offering their rue behavior forgets that how it is going to affect their mind, health, and life. It is imperative to make it a stop before it causes a disaster.

Indigenous people as a result of this behavior of other Australians face mental stress, anxiety, shame, and disrespect. Their min stops thinking about the positive factors which force them to commit suicide.

How to reduce the ongoing trend of non-indigenous people towards indigenous Australians?

Here, the media can play a significant role in collecting data and organizing surveys to reveal the accurate figures in front of the public. It is a significant time when there is a need to ask the majority of the non-indigenous people of Australia to tell the public about their views.

Media can manipulate and show the facts and figures in a way to control the situation. Media. More and more articles about the reduction in these activities and increasing positivity between two groups of the country are essential to display in public. This can change the view of people and also increase the hope of developing harmony an positivity between non-indigenous and indigenous people of Australia (Honey et al., 2017).

It is an essential task and is the immediate responsibility of the country's media to bring their country together by avoiding all these issues and focussing on other vital issues of the country.

Conclusion: As per my opinion, the country is in urgent need of guidance and direction to remove the differences and to bring the indigenous Australians and non-indigenous people together. There is a need for the constant development of ideas by conducting surveys and representing facts both the groups. This media article has revealed that the mental illness issue is an extremely hot topic on the media's list. There has also seen some development in some areas, but still, there is broad scope for its improvement.

According to the Australian psychological society it is essential to do the long-term commitment to implement the emotional well being of the indigenous people of the country. To improve people's social and mental status, it is essential to focus on the conditions that are responsible for the issue. Serious health issues such as mental illness, anxiety, suicide, and self-harm are double in indigenous Australians than other people (Fenner et al., 2017).

The Australian psychological society efficiently supports the framework which was advanced with indigenous leadership and provides an effective and appropriate model for developing the culture of both indigenous and other people of the country. The psychological society suggests a strong culture model helps in strengthening and building of advanced indigenous culture. This action is helpful in reducing the mental stress and the suicide happenings among the indigenous (McQuaid et al., 2017).

The society says that many concepts are related to emotional well-being such as the house, status, spirituality, community, family. All these factors are highly effective in improving the mental status of the individual.

Such development plans are useful as mental professionals make them. They are experts in analyzing the mental framework of the individual and a community and work towards the reduction of those issues that are the main reason for affecting the emotional well-being of the people (Kilian & Williamson, 2018).

General Practitioners face many issues related to the mental illness of the people in a year. The number of patients who have mental illness has increased a lot in the last few years which is said to be eleven percent approximately. The doctors in Australia are handling the mental issues of indigenous people much higher than that of non-indigenous Australians.

The mental health conditions of indigenous Australians led to more than four percent hospitalizations in the country. The media reported that there is an increase in the suicides of indigenous people five percent more than the non-indigenous Australians. In the report, there is an increased number of young adults indigenous people (Ralph & Ryan, 2017).

The media can influence the people by showing them the improving medical report and the survey report of the last few years. This action of media will bring hope among the indigenous people that can help in improving their mental status. People watch, listen and act from media. Media's positive stories are very much helpful and can influence a large number of people. In many places, media is the first thing to connect and to manipulate people's thoughts.

A study says that almost every individual in Australia is going to be affected by depression, anxiety and mental illness in their lifespan. General practitioners say that everyone is dealing with a case of mental disorder in his or her family, friends, relatives or neighborhood. The issue is profound and is affecting most of the people at a substantial level. For all the patients of mental health, it is not possible to get the treatment available at the right time which further results in making the situation worse. The mental stress put a significant impact on the indigenous Australian that may result in:

• Self-harm: People under mental stress reacts abnormally in every situation and cause self-harm. Self-harm can be of any form whether emotional, physical or economical.
• Suicide: This is a worse situation that originates due to mental stress. It can force an individual to commit suicide.
• Death: In some critical cases of mental illness, there are fewer chances of life expectancy.
• Health-related issues: Many people who have mental illness can develop many types of health-related issues such as diabetes, trachoma, high cholesterol, and others.

Conclusion: In my opinion, prevention of mental illness is essential for all conditions such as physical, emotional and economical. The management of mental is essential to be managed by psychology society. These societies are helpful in treating people who have mental illness and can help in reducing the astronomical hospital bills. Caring and treating people who have a mental illness is a necessity and not a choice (Kiemele et al., 2017).

Conclusion

In this study of various news and media articles, it is found that media is a highly capable source of giving and spreading information to the people. Media's report of mental illness of the indigenous Australians is extensive and can convince many people that improvements are going around the country and the indigenous people are reducing their mental stress. This exclusive report brings a lot of hope and scope of improvement among the indigenous people. They have started responding to their educational qualification, employment, etc in a much better way. This change has reduced the patients suffering from mental disorders to a great extent. There are less harmful activities for indigenous people are recorded. The improved mental status of the indigenous Australians is improving their community as a whole. The concerns of the above media articles from the Conversation, the Guardian, etc revealed that the mental illness is the current health and well-being issue of the indigenous.

References:

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