ISSUES NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN FACE IN RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION

1. ISSUES NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN FACE IN RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION • Abstract • Abuse Addiction and alcoholism have long been a problem in the United States; the Native American population has not been excluded. While looking at the causes of addiction is Important, it is equally important to look at the recovery from the debilitating state of mind that comes with the disease. Within the bracket of people in recovery lies a group of women that are of Native American descent. Native American women face many different issues when attempting recovery from addiction to alcohol or other substances. Some of the issues that interfere with recovery most often mentioned (Lowery, 1998) by Native American women in treatment centers and focus groups are: the lack of a supportive family, societal problems, insecurity, drug use by family and friends, and abuse both in childhood and adulthood. In 1988 the North American Indian Women’s Council on Chemical Dependency said that approximately 60 percent of Native American women were addicted to alcohol (Lowery, 1999). Sandmaier, from the National Center for health statistics, reported that 50 percent of the deaths from liver cirrhosis among Native Americans are women (Lowery, 1999). Also, though the rates for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are no greater than people of European descent, the small percentages that have alcohol affected children are 20 to 25 percent more likely to have a second alcohol affected child (Lowery, 1999). At Pine Ridge reservation alone, eight out of ten families are affected by alcoholism and the death rate for alcohol related deaths is 300 percent higher than that of the “remaining U.S. population” (Schwartz, 2006). Haseltine (2000) says that “Drug-dependent women are: more likely to use drugs to cope with negative mood, more likely to need help for emotional problems at a younger age than men (17 vs. 20 years), more likely to have attempted suicide,” and are “more likely to have internalized problems in childhood.” Is it any wonder that the need for research of issues Native American women face when trying to recover is great? If research can be done uncovering the main barriers to recovery, then perhaps the barriers can be broken and the issues resolved. • Negative Continuity & The Cycle of Addiction “According to descriptive reports of nine Indian women's treatment programs in seven states, there was no specific evidence of counseling for the gamut of abuse issues, including sexual abuse, and only the program in Nebraska listed counseling for domestic violence. At the same time, the treatment staffs in the nine centers identified physical, sexual, and emotional abuse as the most frequently mentioned childhood life experience and the second most frequent adult life experience for the participants after being a single parent.” (Lowery, 1998) Abuse is a major issue for Native American women. Some 81 percent of reviewed cases showed evidence of some kind of child abuse experienced by Native American women (Lowery, 1998). Of those 81 percent, 44 percent reported physical abuse as children and 43 percent reported sexual abuse as children. As adults, 78 percent noted some kind of abuse with physical abuse being most prevalent, at 80 percent. “Physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse, including rape, were consistent in the lives of American Indian women in two qualitative studies of addiction and recovery started in 1993” states Lowery (1998). Many of these women report domestic violence (as well as unhealthy relationships with men) and abusing their own children once they became single parents. Many of the Native American women in recovery interviewed by Lowery stated one of their main concerns to be their children’s recovery from the abuse they received from the women and the, usually adult, children’s own addictions (1999). Sexual assault and sexual abuse is a major issue in the lives of many Native American women in recovery. In the U.S., one of three Native American women will experience rape at some point in their life (Tirado, 2007; Fears and Lydersen, 2007). The reason for this high rate of rape is the maze of jurisdiction that occurs within reservation, state, and federal court systems. These court systems do not know who should be handling the case, most of the time, and it is usually not handled appropriately. Many tribal health facilities lack rape kits to collect the evidence necessary for identifying a rapist as well. The fact is most of these rapes go unreported because the women do not know who to report it to and even when they report it, nothing can be done due to this intertwining of jurisdictions. Many victims seem to be saying, “why bother” (Tirado, 2007). Most of these rapes [more than 86 percent] are committed by non-native men and the Supreme Court passed a ruling in 1978 that prevents reservations from convicting non-natives. Another issue in dealing with rape is that there is a lack of resources in the tribal governments to adequately patrol the reservation lands (Tirado, 2007; Fears and Lydersen, 2007). Some of these lands are so rural that it takes days or even weeks for anyone to respond. Another problem with the rural reservation lands is that many of the women lack the transportation at the time of the assault to get to a doctor or to report it. When the police do finally come and take the report, it often takes them weeks or months to arrest the subject, leaving the victim in a state of fear. Native American women face this issue, especially, due to negative and dehumanizing stereotypes about Native American women. The “drunken Indian” is among those stereotypes. This often results in police not responding if they find out the woman is has been drinking. Clearly something needs to change. • Maintaining A Social Identity Addiction is a disease in which nothing changes. It is a vicious cycle that those who are addicted get stuck in. This cycle is a cycle of negative continuity and requires the breaking of the cycle of addiction in order to get into “positive discontinuity” or a “new continuity” (Lowery 1994). In order to understand why this negative continuity is such an issue for Native American women, one must first understand the nature of addiction. Addiction is defined by Narcotics Anonymous, the second largest Twelve-Step program in the world, as an incurable and progressive disease that affects a person mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Narcotics Anonymous’ basic textbook says that only immense pain or a “nuclear explosion” is enough to pull the addict out of the cycle long enough to examine what is going on in their life. Narcotics Anonymous goes on to say that only great desperation to get better seems to work in order for addicts actively seeking recovery to succeed. Such is the nature of addiction that an addict who is ‘clean’ is actually in an abnormal state; the normal state is being in active addiction rather than in recovery (NA World Services, 1982). The cycle of addiction is as difficult to break as the cycle of abuse. This cycle of negative continuity is characterized by obsessions to use (or act out) followed by compulsions to consume drugs, (or other addictive behaviors) alcohol qualifying as a drug. The cycle of addiction restarts every time an addict acts out on that compulsion and they are left feeling various negative emotions and stuck in a continuity of negative behavior. There is also a negative continuity involving the lifestyle that these women maintain before their recovery. The unhealthy lifestyle and environments usually have to change in order to break the continuity and get into the new, positive discontinuity of recovery. From: http://l0velyjune.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/addiction-cycle.jpg?w=300&h=280 The Lack of a secure, stable home life An issue that strikes at the heart of many Native American women and non-native women alike is the lack of a secure, stable home life while growing up. Many Native American women report being raised in an environment not conducive to developing a sense of security. This feeling of insecurity follows the woman well into her adult life. Whether the lack of security came from abuse, abandonment, being taken from their home and sent to boarding schools, living in foster homes, the death of a parent (or parents), or living with an alcoholic or addict parent (or parents) varies. The damage from this type of environment can lead to feelings of insecurity in adulthood. When a child is not cared for by a reliable caretaker or is in an unstable environment, they develop an inability to trust the world and those in it, this is called Mistrust in Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development. Erikson said that feelings of security or insecurity come in the first stage of psychosocial development (Trust vs. Mistrust). Erikson also said that each stage had two possible outcomes, the completion of that stage by developing the positive outcome or the incompletion by developing the negative outcome. When Native American women failed to complete any stage of development it not only hindered their ability to complete further stages but it hindered their ability to maintain healthy relationships with others; as well as their ability to develop their personalities and sense of self. These stages can be completed at a later point in life, however, at which point healing can occur and the individual can complete the other stages successfully. Insecurity can be a precursor for unhealthy patterns of behavior. Drug abuse is an unhealthy pattern of behavior. When the insecurity stems from growing up in an alcoholic or addict’s home the woman is then predisposed to become an alcoholic or addict, therefore limiting her chances of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in adulthood. The cycle of addiction often runs on, through generation after generation of a family, meaning that each generation of the family has the disease of addiction. Racism http://thunderbirdenergetica.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/sweatlodge11.jpg Recovery often forces a shift in identity for Native American women. This issue is perhaps one of the most difficult issues these women face because it deals with the lack of acceptance in their communities and families once they shift from being a “drinker” to being a “nondrinker”. There is debate among reservation communities about whether or not a person who decides to quit drinking or drugging is turning their back on their “Indian” identity. Often times the Native American woman is chastised by her fellow Native Americans for not being “Indian” enough as a “nondrinker”; to be a “nondrinker” is to be “non-Indian”. Social pressures from the community, family, and friends are often a seemingly insurmountable problem for youth and adults trying to recover. “Reducing or quitting drinking therefore involves fashioning and voicing persuasive accounts in support of one’s new identity as a nondrinker” (Prussing 2007). Living in a community in which drinking has become a cultural norm makes it difficult to maintain a lifestyle geared towards recovery. Native American women need a certain amount of emotional and spiritual support, often received through Twelve-Step Programs like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous but also received from community healing practices like fasts and sweat lodges. Native American recovery literature has even been developed by Native Americans with AA’s Twelve-Steps in mind (see The Red Road to Wellbriety). Family and friends of the Native American women often continue drinking or drugging and encourage the Native American women to do the same rather than to get better. Living in an unsupportive environment around unsupportive people is a clear risk to recovery yet many of these women work through it and manage. Keeping in mind the difficulty of an addict or alcoholic to resist temptation when set in front of them, it is a miracle that these women can recover against these odds. Unfortunately, many women do relapse due to this issue. One of the issues Native American women face today is an issue they have faced since Europeans first settled in the U.S. approximately 500 years ago. That issue is racism, and it is an issue that tears at the heart of many. May, an interviewee and Native American woman, shares of an experience some five years into her recovery that left her feeling angry and hurt (Lowery, 1999). She went to the hospital for severe abdominal pain only to be barraged with questions continuously about the last time she drank. Assuring the doctor that she was not drunk, May argued her case until she could not further stand the pain and left the hospital (Lowery, 1999). This is a prime example of racism. May had experienced shame due to the racist preconceptions of the hospital’s doctor. May’s doctor had labeled her in his mind as the “drunken Indian”, a racist stereotype that labels all Native Americans as drunkards. After an entire weekend of this pain, May had to have her gallbladder removed, thus proving that the doctor had no reasonable grounds for his treatment of her. Racism is an issue as old as history and after hearing May’s story it seems it is as much an issue today as it was 50 years ago. The truth is some people have changed their conceptions of race and ethnicity, usually educated people, but many racist notions remain that plague U.S. society. This is as much an issue for Native Americans as it is for African Americans, Mexican Americans or the many different ethnic groups that reside in the U.S. (Ethnic group is a term preferable to race due to the fact that race is a socially constructed idea holding no real value except for the meaning people attach to it.) May, with the help of a friend and her doctor, advocated for better treatment of Native Americans in the emergency room after this experience (Lowery, 1999). http://labmf.org/images/facts/cycle_of_abuse.gif • Poverty • Discrimination http://labmf.org/images/facts/cycle_of_abuse.gif Many people have heard of the poverty that exists for Native Americans living on reservations. What many people often do not realize is the true extent of that poverty. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines poverty, in this sense, as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. It can be reasoned then that many people’s concept of poverty is something close to that definition. Native Americans who live on reservations, about 400 thousand of 2.1 million, “have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, and disease of any ethnic group” in the U.S. (Carlson, 1997). This may be surprising news to many North Americans living in the U.S. as many seem to be under the impression that Native Americans are making “the big bucks” with casinos (Carlson, 1997). This thought dominates many notions about Native Americans when in fact, twenty-three Native American owned casinos are owned by a mere 5 percent of the Native American population (Bylund) . Poverty is a major issue among many Native American women, especially those living on reservations. The poverty on reservations is in many ways worse than the poverty people face in urban areas—aside from the U.S nation’s many homeless. These impoverished conditions many face include but are not limited to: a lack of running water and no sewage system, scarce jobs, a lack of paved roads (if any exist), a lack of a legitimate food pantry or food assistance program, next to no transportation, no electricity, no telephone, no furniture or appliances, large amounts of people living in the same house, no insulation or heat, and houses (some of them would be considered shanties) that are infested with potentially life threatening Black Mold. Not all Native American women live in these conditions, but many do. The Native American women that are in poverty face poverty as an issue that is in the forefront of their lives. It outweighs nearly anything else at times yet is still taken as the way things are. The truth of the matter is it is nearly impossible for those living in poverty to rise up of its grip. Native American women in poverty are many times born into poverty. Being born into poverty greatly reduces the chance that one will ever get out of it. The reasons it is next to impossible. out to get out of this poverty are many but among them are: a lack of transportation, a lack of job skills and education--with the lack of financial support for gaining a higher education, large amounts of distance from any gainful employment, a lack of support from family or friends, a lack of transportation to get to a job or school, and a lack of hope that it is even possible to achieve something better. When Native American women face this issue when they are also trying to recover from addiction they are left feeling hopeless due to their situation and, like others in this situation, many times give up on achieving a better life for themselves (because it is very difficult). Often times they choose instead [of recovery] to ‘medicate’ themselves into oblivion and out of reality. Native American women who face this issue may not be the majority but it is certainly an issue that is faced by thousands. “It is impossible to generalize about 2 million people who belong to more than 500 different tribes, each with its own history, each living in different circumstances – peoples as varied as the Navajo of the Southwestern desert and the Lummi of Puget Sound. But all Indian tribes do share one thing: a relationship with the United States government that is unique” (Carlson, 1997). Discrimination is often linked with racism, but it is different than racism. Racism is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines discrimination as: “the act of discriminating” whereas discriminating is “making a distinction”. To make a distinction between someone who is a Native American woman and someone who is considered a “white” woman is then the act of discrimination. Discrimination is another issue Native American women face today. It is already well known that discrimination exists. It exists for women in the gender stratification of our society. Gender stratification is a society's unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege between the two sexes. Gender stratification means, basically, that in the U.S., as well as many other countries, women are treated differently than men. Often this is seen through the income differences between men and women in the same position within a company and at the same skill or education level where the men are consistently paid more money than their female counterparts. It has gotten better in the last 50 years, but the U.S. is still eighth in the world for gender stratification, with a gender earnings ratio of 77 percent as compared to 57 percent in 1950. Similar to how women are treated differently than men, Native Americans are treated differently than non-natives. Just as African Americans face discrimination, Native Americans face it is as well. In the urbanization movement in the 1970’s a large percentage of the Native American population moved into the cities. In these cities, discrimination was one of the most pressing problems Native American women faced when looking for employment. Discrimination occurred often times due to the negative, racist connotations that arose from the past relationship between Native Americans and the U.S. government. If it is agreed upon that both women and Native Americans face discrimination, it is not difficult to argue that Native American women face more discrimination than Native American men due to their gender. Even within their own community Native American women have less access to spiritual practices than Native American men (Prussing, 2007). Native American men are the ones who are more likely to participate in “fasts, sundances, sweats and peyote meetings” (Prussing, 2007). Prussing (2007) states that “Since the 19th century, premenopausal women have generally played limited ceremonial roles that are largely linked to their husband’s activities (e.g., if he is pledging a sundance) and have tended not to have decision-making or other forms of authority in collective rituals.” • References RefBezdek, Marjorie and Spicer, Paul 2006, Maintaining Abstinence in a Northern Plains Tribe, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 20: 2, 160—181 Jones, Blackwolf 1995, Listen to the Drum: Blackwolf Shares His Medicine, Hazelden; Center City, Minnesota. Bylund, Jeremy N.d. Native American Gambling: The New Buffalo? Bringham Young University, found at http://www.math.byu.edu/~jarvis/gambling/Student-papers/Jeremy-Bylund.pdf Carlson, Peter 1997, In the year of 'Dances with Wolves,' everybody wanted to be on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Nearly a decade later, it can hardly get a quorum, The Washington Post, W06 Coyhis, Don and Simonelli, Richard 2008, The Native American Healing Experience, Substance Use & Misuse, 43, 1927–1949 Fears, Darryl and Lydersen, Kari 2007, Native American Women Face High Rape Rate, Report Says; Tribes Often Lack Funds and Policing to Patrol Lands, The Washington Post, A-SECTION; A14 Haseltine, Florence P. 2000, Gender Differences in Addiction and Recovery, Journal Of Women’s Health & Gender-Based Medicine, 9: 6 Lowery, C.T. 1994, Life Histories: Addiction and Recovery of Six Native American Women, Ph. D. Dissertation, School of Social Welfare, University of Washington Lowery, C. T. 1998, American Indian Perspectives on Addiction and Recovery, Health & Social Work, 23: 2, 127—135 Lowery C. T. 1999, A qualitative model of long-term recovery for American Indian women, Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 2: 1-2, 35—50 Encyclopedia Britannica 2011, Merriam—Webster’s Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/online , An Encyclopedia Britannica Co. Na World Services 1982, Narcotics Anonymous, World Service Office, Inc., 5th Edition Prussing , Erica 2007, Reconfiguring the Empty Center: Drinking, Sobriety, and Identity in Native American Women’s Narratives, Cult Med Psychiatry, 31, 499–526 Schwartz, Stephanie M. 2006, The Arrogance of Ignorance; Hidden Away, Out of Sight and Out of Mind; Native American Journalists Association, Freelance article Tirado, Michelle 2007, Where To Turn; Jurisdictional Maze Thwarts Justice For Rape Victims, American Indian Report, 23: 6, 8—11 http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_403/1243499626bAS1Be.jpg • Conclusion http://www.ohs.org/education/focus/images/readings-reservation-life_1.jpg http://www.hslawyers.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/racial-discrimination.jpg http://wizbangblue.com/images/2009/02/native%20american%20poverty.jpg Many of these issues, one might say, are faced all over the globe, not just by Native American women. That is true. Other people do face these issues but that is not the point of this project. This project was meant to identify issues that Native American women face. Those issues that have been discussed include: societal problems like racism, discrimination, and poverty; insecurities dealing with past and present abuse and the lack of a secure, stable home life; the negative continuity of addiction; and the problem of maintaining a social identity and a lack of support in their communities. Many Native American women relapse due to these issues. That is not surprising as they would not be issues if they did not cause some kind of problem or barrier to recovery. Bringing issues like these out into the open takes some of the power away from them. That is why it is so important to identify them. For Native American women in recovery to succeed in spite of these issues, healing must occur. This healing must come in many forms. It must be physical, healing the body; it must be mental, healing the mind; and last but not least it must be spiritual, healing the spirit and reaffirming one’s place in the universe. It is widely held that addiction is a sickness that must be treated not just physically or mentally but spiritually as well. The great news is that Native American communities have deep roots in spiritual practices. Native American women must find a balance between the good in their life and the bad things they have to deal with. They could be well on their way to recovery from a seemingly permanent problem if they grasp hold of this healing through whatever means necessary. The disease of addiction is a huge issue, let alone the many issues Native American women face when trying to recover from it. Native American women must face the stereotype of the “drunken Indian”; they must face it and recover in spite of it. The roots of addiction are deep but healing can occur. In order to recover, Jones says, one must “learn to listen at the deepest level…to yourself, your world, and the silence” (1995), one must “learn how to walk in balance and harmony”. The ones who recover are facing their issues and healing in spite of them. In order to recover Native American women must face these issues, let go of the pain, and embrace the positive. They must learn to walk the red road. • Kari Wilhems 2011