Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ suicide and the concerns over experiences of mental “ill” health are increasing. In recent years, this has caused contestation over approaches to “health” that seek to address this. Within this context, Social and Emotional Wellbeing, a holistic, decolonising approach to health, has ascended in Australian health policy. This paper applies a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis, using his theoretical framework of power, knowledge and discourse, to four Australian policy documents associated with addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ Social and Emotional Wellbeing and “mental health”. Findings reveal aspects of the Social and Emotional Wellbeing discourse having presence in the policy documents. Its understanding, however, is constrained by a cultural and institutional context that privileges and perpetuates a biomedical lens. Additionally, there is a failure to address systemic neo-colonialism even while acknowledging that health disparities stem from colonialism. As such, this paper argues that, although integration of Social and Emotional Wellbeing has commenced in these policy documents, the hegemony of colonial discourses persists. This is along with a lack of policy reference in these documents for coordinated activity across social institutions and structures to address holistic demands.

中文翻译：

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非殖民化精神疾病：原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民的社会和情感福祉以及殖民话语在政策中的持久性

原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民的自杀率以及对精神“病态”健康经历的担忧正在增加。近年来，这引起了关于寻求解决这个问题的“健康”方法的争论。在这种背景下，社会和情感健康，一种整体的、非殖民化的健康方法，已在澳大利亚的卫生政策中上升。本文运用福柯式的话语分析，利用他的权力、知识和话语的理论框架，分析与解决土著和托雷斯海峡岛民的社会和情感健康以及“心理健康”相关的四份澳大利亚政策文件。调查结果揭示了在政策文件中出现的社会和情感福祉论述。然而，它的理解受到文化和制度背景的限制，这种背景赋予生物医学镜头特权并使其永存。此外，即使承认健康差异源于殖民主义，也未能解决系统性新殖民主义问题。因此，本文认为，尽管在这些政策文件中已经开始整合社会和情感福祉，但殖民话语的霸权仍然存在。这与这些文件中缺乏跨社会机构和结构协调活动以解决整体需求的政策参考相伴而生。