Recent qualitative research conducted in metropolitan Perth and the Kimberley region of
Western Australia has highlighted major gaps in service delivery to Aboriginal clientele
suffering depression and suicidal ideation (Vicary, 2002). Seventy Aboriginal people were
interviewed about their beliefs and attitudes towards mental health, western psychology and
western practitioners, and strategies for improving mental health care delivery. The study
highlights that participants consistently perceived the course and treatment of depression as
following a different aetiology to that of mainstream Australia. The authors’ references to
depression do not conform with Eurocentric perceptions, but rather to the Aboriginal
Australians’ conceptualisation, as explained within the paper. Almost three in four respondents
indicated that they believed that Aboriginal people did not perceive depression as a state that
could be addressed via treatment. Instead they perceived it as a characteristic of the individual
concerned stating ‘that’s just the way he is’. Subsequently they reported that individuals might
not get the assistance they require in overcoming their illness.