A post-Jungian perspective on 55 Indigenous suicides in Central Australia; deadly cycles of diminished resilience, impaired nurturance, compromised interiority; and possibilities for repair

Abstract

AbstractOn a 15 month Consultant Psychiatric placement in Central Australia the senior author learned that Indigenous suicide rates in this region over 2001 to 2006 were almost ten times as high as European ones. What accounts for this, and what can be done to reduce it? Within the limits imposed by organisational and service delivery priorities, the authors conducted an opportunistic qualitative study, investigating hospital records, opinions of colleagues, interviews with survivors, and Coroners’ and Psychiatric reports, in an attempt to address these questions. Basic data patterns were similar to those in other Indigenous suicide studies; reflecting dire overall levels of chronic stress, and indicating an undermining of resilience. Canvassed opinions of medical colleagues, informed by contemporary epigenetic perspectives, developed this hypothesis further. Chronic deprivation and stress may have resulted in a transgenerational cascade of epigenetically impaired resilience to stress, mediated by the imp...