TONY CERVANTES wrote:

>good morning and fyi. this is a very interesting, succinct damnation of todays
modern world which expresses where the real illness lies. i attended a workshop
in November, at the native american conference in los angeles, given by a navajo
man. he stated that there is no word in navajo for mental illness. i suspect the
same for other traditional languages around the world.
>
>Below is my article "Indian Problems: Shrinks, Lies, and Justice," which
>recently appeared in the The Piikani Sun. Below the article is more detailed
>information on The Piikani Sun. Long Standing Bear Chief (introduced to me by
Dave
>Walker a few years ago) is the publisher/editor of the Piikani Sun (published
>in The Blackfoot Nation in Montana), and he would like those who have an
>interest in Native American culture and social justice to be aware of his
>publication and consider subscribing.
>
>Indian Problems: Shrinks, Lies, and Justice
>by Bruce E. Levine
>The Piikani Sun, In The Greater Blackfoot Nation
>
>There is no doubt that alcohol abuse and other self-destructive behaviors are
>major problems among modern Indians. Is this a medical issue that will be
>solved by psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers? Or is this a
>political issue that can be solved only by ending the oppression of Indians?
There are
>of course many healthy and happy Indians, and they are used by the dominant
>culture as evidence that oppression is not related to self-destructive
>behaviors, but that is as silly as pointing to veterans who have survived war
as
>evidence that war is not related to death.
>
>I am a clinical psychologist who is not only ashamed of America's historic
>oppression of Indians but who is also ashamed of the mental health profession.
>Blaming biochemistry or genetics for self-destructive behaviors has been a
>lucrative lie for drug companies and the rest of the mental health industry; it
>has also diverted the dominant culture from examining a dehumanizing society.
>
>Today, Indians will tell you that they know plenty of crazy or insane folks
>among them, but was this always the case? The 1916 book The Institutional Care
>of the Insane of the United States and Canada reports: "Dr. Lillybridge of
>Virginia, who was employed by the government to superintend the removal of
>Cherokee Indians in 1827-8-9, and who saw more than 20,000 Indians and inquired
much
>about their diseases, informs us he never saw or heard of a case of insanity
>among them." Over the last two centuries, virtually all anthropological and
>epidemiological studies have shown a strong relationship between extended
>contact with European-American civilization and insanity or schizophrenia.
>
>Similarly, alcohol and drug abuse is most severe in traditional cultures
>which have been decimated by Western Civilization. One of the most widely used
>arguments for the genetic view of alcohol abuse is the "Oriental flush": the
>reddening after drinking that frequently characterizes those with Asian
ancestry,
>including Indians. But individuals from Asian backgrounds who flush do not
>necessarily have more drinking problems than those who don't. "Flushing groups"
>have both the highest rates of alcoholism (e.g., Indians) and the lowest rates
>(e.g., Chinese). Rather than looking towards the biochemical and genetic, the
>answer is obvious to social psychologist Stanton Peele, author of Diseasing of
>America: "It would certainly seem that Eskimos' and Indians' abnegated state
>in America and their isolation from the American economic and
>achievement-oriented system inflate their alcoholism rates."
>
>I believe the dominant culture is receiving a certain kind of justice for
>both its lies and its oppression of Indians. For stolen land and genocidal
>practices, Indians have certainly not received political, legal, or economic
>justice. However, there is a justice being meted out for forcing Indians into
become
>something they are not. Because of its denial and its failure to make amends
>for the violence of coercion, the dominant culture's karma is to repeat this
>with its own children. Increasingly, the dominant culture's "different"
>children, stubborn, bored, and shy kids (considered perfectly healthy in
traditional
>cultures), are diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit
>disorder, and social anxiety disorder -- and drugged into conformity.
>
>The dominant culture's karma for ignoring the resentment of Indians for
>forced conformity is that it now ignores its own children's resentment over
similar
>coercion. And the dominant culture's justice is a death sentence. Its very
>roots -- family relationships -- are being destroyed by its children's
>resentment, which acts on the dominant culture like a slow-killing poison.
>
>Bruce E. Levine, Ph.D., is a psychologist and author of Commonsense
>Rebellion: Taking Back Your Life from Drugs, Shrinks, Corporations, and a World
Gone
>Crazy. www.brucelevine.net
>
>
>The Piikani Sun
>Ookamootapi - the truth shall prevail
>An official source of cultural information about The Greater Blackfoot and
>other Indian Nations.
>
>Our Indian owned publication features articles about spirituality, music &
>book reviews, commentary, Indian persons making a difference, reasonable
>advertising rates, Glacier/Waterton International Peace Park views, governance
issues
>surrounding Federal, State, and Tribal Governments, stories from the old ones
>of ancient times, outstanding photography, and primarily the many different
>and joyful ways in which mankind expresses the beauty of life from an Indian
>point of view.
>
>We are the only INDIAN OWNED publication within the Blackfeet Reservation
>that makes its way around the world.
>
>All Subscriptions to the Piikani Sun are $15.00 for 12 issues anywhere in the
>U.S.* International rates: request quote via airmail delivery to your
>country.
>
>The Piikani Sun
>In the Greater Blackfoot Nation
>59417-0390
>
>Telephone: 406-338-2882 E-mail: blkfoot@...
>
>The Piikani Sun as a periodic book?
>
>Ours is more than just a play on words. We publish our Piikani Sun as a
>periodic book since we periodically publish it as a book and not as a
newspaper. It
>is a continuation of the last "book", except that it has new exciting and tho
>ught provoking chapters.
>We do not want to label our Piikani Sun a newspaper because people throw the
>newspaper out once it has been read, or will not be read if it is past a
>certain "expiration" date. We believe we are the first to use the term and it
is
>called the Piikani Sun because like the sun it continues to rise, and will
>never end. Every day is a new and beautiful day.
>
>And one more consideration: We are one of those publications out to change
>the world because of our dedication to the truth and with a positive attitude
>that the world and our communities can indeed be happy and healthy places.
>
>We are a periodic book put out by thinking Indians for thinking people. We
>are not your usual run of the mill "majority" newspaper put out by a press
>whose ownership is apt product be allegiance to a corporate line.
>
>You will want to keep our publication because its about the good things of
>life. We are about change for the better from the perspective of our ancestors
>and we*make no bones about it. We take extreme pride in not being anyone's
>minion.
>
>
>