Culture Matters: The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992’s journey to being culturally responsive

Abstract

Pacific people often view mental illness as a form of spiritual possession emanating from the breach of a sacred covenant between a group of people or between this group of people and their gods.¹ This is an orthodox conceptualisation of the cause of the mental illness and it is believed that the only means to healing is to seek the input of traditional healers believed to have spiritual powers necessary to full restoration.² This belief is further sustained by the reality that once society knows that someone has been diagnosed as mentally ill, there is a strong likelihood that perceptions of the person will be conditioned by that knowledge and the prejudices which go with it to the extent that we no longer see the person with all of her or his abilities and positive attributes.³ The danger here is that society will only see the reflection of its knowledge that the person is mentally ill.

¹ Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni and others “Exploration of Pacific perspectives of Pacific Models of Mental Health Service Delivery in New Zealand” (2009) 15(1) Pacific Health Dialog 18 at 19. ² At 19. ³ Phil Fennell “Reviewed Work: Mental Illness: Prejudice, Discrimination and the Law by Tom Campbell and Chris Heginbotham” (1991) 18(4) Journal of Law and Society 505.