The Social Challenge of the Powerful Taking Care of the Poor: Columbus Day, Indigenous People’s Day, and More

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Perhaps one of the primary social tasks of human beings is how well we care for those less powerful. That starts with the mother and parental care of the infant, continues with teachers and students, bosses and workers, politicians and those they serve, mental health care clinicians and patients, and globally, the most powerful countries and the less powerful.

Today, October 13, illustrates that disparity. In the United States, the second Monday is designated as a federal holiday, long called Columbus Day. As recent years have shown, there is also a growing number of states and cities that now celebrate what is called Indigenous People’s Day. This new development is reflecting a way to rectify some of the historical damage to our Indigenous people after Columbus and other following Europeans colonized the land, often violently.

Some have been advocating that Columbus Day be replaced. President Trump has conveyed that he wants the day to be reclaimed.

My wife and I are on a trip to witness a reflection of both holidays. Today we are planning to visit both Mt. Rushmore, with the carved heads of 4 Presidents, as well as the nearby private massive carving of the head of the Indigenous leader, Crazy Horse. At Crazy Horse, there is a day-long celebration with speakers, music, and free Buffalo stew.

In the world, there are 2 people who have come from the same land and fought over the centuries over being Indigenous, those in Israel and Gaza. Perhaps it is possibly a sign of hope that there is a lull in the war and an exchange of some of those mutually captured.

In psychiatry, that power disparity is protected by the conscious healing desire of the clinicians. Even so, such desires can go awry if the values of the more powerful do not fit those of the patients. Clinician self-reflection, along with guarding against countertransference, helps protect both the patient and the clinician.

Our ethical priorities also include ways to improve the mental health of communities. Such concerns are increasing with the reductions and changes being made by HHS leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

We are familiar with helping to resolve past conflicts between parents and children with psychotherapy. We have even extended that expertise to some extent to the intergenerational transmission of trauma, including that to Indigenous Americans, as well as the impact of slavery on Black Americans and, off and on, have taken in immigrants from danger and trauma. In this day, it behooves us to use our skills to help the Indigenous, including not only their imperiled mental health, but use their traditional environmental knowledge that the world needs.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.