Revenge of the Windigo : The Construction of the Mind and Mental Health of North American Aboriginal Peoples

What is known about Aboriginal mental health and mental illness, and on what basis is this 'knowing' assumed? This question, while appearing simple, leads to a tangled web of theory, method, and data rife with conceptual problems, shaky assumptions, and inappropriate generalizations. It is also the central question of James Waldram's Revenge of the Windigo . This erudite and highly articulate work is about the knowledge of Aboriginal mental health: who generates it; how it is generated and communicated; and what has been – and continues to be – its implications for Aboriginal peoples. To better understand how this knowledge emerged, James Waldram undertakes an exhaustive examination of three disciplines – anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry – and reveals how together they have constructed a gravely distorted portrait of 'the Aboriginal.' Waldram continues this acute examination under two general themes. The first focuses on how culture as a concept has been theorized and operationalized in the study of Aboriginal mental health. The second seeks to elucidate the contribution that Aboriginal peoples have inadvertently made to theoretical and methodological developments in the three fields under discussion, primarily as subjects for research and sources of data. It is Waldram's assertion that, despite the enormous amount of research undertaken on Aboriginal peoples, researchers have mostly failed to comprehend the meaning of contemporary Aboriginality for mental health and illness, preferring instead the reflection of their own scientific lens as the only means to properly observe, measure, assess, and treat. Using interdisciplinary methods, the author critically assesses the enormous amount of information that has been generated on Aboriginal mental health, deconstructs it, and through this exercise, provides guidance for a new vein of research. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 11 1. Introduction: Monsters and Mental Health 13 Part A: Constructing the Aboriginal 33 2. Constructing Aboriginal Personality: The Early Years 33 3. The Psychoanalyst's Aboriginal 56 4. Measuring the Aboriginal 81 Part B: The Disordered Aboriginal 117 5. The Construction of Aboriginal Psychopathology 117 6. The Alcoholic Aboriginal 146 7. The Depressed Aboriginal 179 8. The Culture-Bound Aboriginal 202 9. The Traumatized Aboriginal 224 Part C: Treating the Aboriginal 251 10. The Clinician's Aboriginal 251 11. Healing the Traditional Aboriginal 283 12. Conclusion: The Windigo's Revenge 312 Notes 333 References 347 Index 405 Discusses our knowledge of Aboriginal mental health: who generates it; how it is generated and communicated; and what has been - and continues to be - its implications for Aboriginal peoples. The author undertakes an exhaustive examination of three disciplines - anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry - and reveals how together they have constructed a gravely distorted portrait of 'the Aboriginal.' Using interdisciplinary methods, the author critically assesses the enormous amount of information that has been generated on Aboriginal mental health, deconstructs it, and through this exercise, provides guidance for a new vein of research.