By Have you heard of “colonial depression”? Colonial depression is the aptly named phrase, coined by Alicia Elliott, to describe the mental health harm that arises from colonialism and its corresponding infrastructures that center white supremacy and place a lower value on the lives of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. In this Twitter thread, Indigenous author Alicia Elliott breaks down what colonial depression is, and why it’s important for everyone to know about it.
I've written extensively about my own experiences of depression and anxiety in my book, "A Mind Spread Out On The Ground." In the title essay, I compare depression to the effects of colonialism. Since it's #BellLetsTalk, I want to talk more about what I call colonial depression.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
CBT, or cognitive behavioural therapy, is a form of therapy that works based on the premise that how we think about and interpret the events in our lives affects how we feel, so if we train ourselves to think differently about the events in our lives, we can change our moods.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
To give an example, if a person yelled at you at work, a CBT approach to dealing with that situation would have you recognize that the person may have a lot of other things stressing them out that you don't know about. Their reaction is not about you. It's about them.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
I did a talk about this yesterday, and I go into detail about this in different essays in my book, so apologies if you've already heard me talk/write about this.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
The reality is: you cannot CBT mind trick your way out of systemic discrimination deliberately enacted by government
It's important to note here: there is never a question of who is going to fund infrastructure for clean, potable running water to the non-Indigenous communities minutes from my rez. It's also important to note my rez *isn't even on a boil water advisory.* We fall thru the cracks.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
And why? Because you're Native. That's it. That's the reason. What's worse? The province willingly gives away clean water from your territory to companies like Nestle for pennies per gallon so they can SELL THAT WATER BACK TO YOU.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
How do you CBT your way out of that knowledge?
This is the government telling you that you don't deserve one of the basic fundamental needs of humans everywhere BECAUSE YOU'RE NATIVE. And if you point this out, they trot out the costs this would set them back – something they never do for non-Indigenous communities.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
Let me again point out what often gets ignored in these sorts of discussions: NO GOVERNMENT EVER POINTS OUT HOW MUCH MONEY IT HAS COST THEM TO ENSURE CLEAN RUNNING WATER FOR NON-INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES. Because it's assumed they deserve it, simply for being non-Indigenous.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
You can go through every basic element necessary for human life – water, food, shelter, employment (necessary due to capitalism to get the other three) – and with every one, it's clear the Canadian government has DELIBERATELY chosen to make it harder for Natives to access them.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
It can only be relieved by radically changes that ensure *all of us* have access to, at the very least, clean water, healthy food and safe shelter. As this pandemic has shown, colonialism has made us believe we must "earn" these things, which leads to more colonial depression.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
And for who? For the benefit of the rich. The people who really control not only the market (as we've seen blatantly with the GameStop stock situation), but also the governments we pretend are put in place to help the very people who fund it: us.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021
TLDR: #BellLetsTalk about how colonialism and capitalism inevitably create depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, then profit off it by promising us therapy and pills we have to buy ourselves can stop it when they absolutely cannot.
— Alicia Elliott (@WordsandGuitar) January 28, 2021