Psychological research involving Indigenous people: Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the current state of psychological research with Indigenous peoples, with a specific focus on research including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia and the Māori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand). We identify how the mental health of Indigenous people is often significantly poorer than non-Indigenous people and could be contributing to the increased prevalence of comorbidity between mental health and substance abuse. However, we also show that there are concerns about the reliability of these data and that comparing Indigenous to non-Indigenous data is contested and often unreliable. The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is discussed within the context of competencies required for psychologists within Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand), concerning their relevant National Psychology Boards accreditation standards, and core competencies for clinicians. Finally, we show that there is a paucity of research measuring the effectiveness of Western developed psychotherapies with Indigenous people, question their relevance and note the conspicuous silence around Indigenous psychological knowledge. In conclusion, we show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are lagging in most health statistics compared to Maori people and other Indigenous peoples which may reflect different experiences of colonisation in each country. However, these statistics also show that progress is possible to help Indigenous people, globally, to achieve their mental health goals.