Title: 10 Hardships Plaguing Native American Communities Today - Listverse
Headings: 10 Hardships Plaguing Native American Communities Today
10 Hardships Plaguing Native American Communities Today
10 High Suicide Rate
9 Poverty Rate
8 Discrimination
7 Alcoholism And Drug Addiction
6 Obesity
5 Dying Traditions And Languages
4 Self-Hatred
3 Corruption
2 Sexual Abuse
1 Injuries

Content: The removal of tribes from their homelands has destroyed many traditions that were tied to sacred areas, causing many Natives to lose the unique understanding of their world as embodied in their former religious rituals. Many Native organizations and non-Native advocates are working hard to preserve the languages and cultural practices of tribes, and there has been some improvement in the past few decades. 4 Self-Hatred
So far, you have a population that has dealt with genocide, colonialism, relocation, poverty, high suicide rates, unemployment, and a predisposition to addiction. Is it any wonder that there is some self-loathing that goes with that? One Native man who wrote an article about his self-hatred for The Huffington Post stated, “I am simply admitting that, despite my efforts to discard my damaging thought processes, I hold deeply-rooted prejudiced views about my own people, and indeed about myself.” The trauma that many modern-day Native Americans and their ancestors have lived through can result in depression. Even in many educational institutions today, the Native American genocide is still not openly discussed or recognized. Especially with the loss of traditional values and a lack of strong cultural identity, Native American children are more prone to self-esteem issues than their Caucasian peers. Of the few mental health studies conducted on Native populations, results have shown that the rates of those suffering from depression in Native American communities can range anywhere from 10 to 30 percent. The Native concept of psychological health is holistic and can be expressed via phys