Alcohol Abuse and PTSD among Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia: A Literature Review

This literature review explores the relationship between alcohol abuse and the development of PTSD in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia. It analyzes the factors linked to PTSD in indigenous Australians with alcohol abuse and provides suggestions to reduce mental health problems.

Research Proposal
Alcohol abuse and post-
traumatic stress disorder
PTSD among Aboriginals
and Torres Strait Islanders
in Australia: a review of
literature

Contents
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................4
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................4
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES............................................................................................................5
METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................6
Implications for public health.......................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................9

ABSTRACT
Exposure to traumatic experiences, especially those occurring in childhood, has
been linked to substance use disorders (SUDs), including abuse and dependence.
SUDs are also highly comorbid with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other
mood-related psychopathology. The present study has the aim of providing the details
of relationship between alcohol abuse and development of PTSD in aboriginal and
Torres Island people living in Australia. These people are suffering from following
disorders because of the social challenges faced, living in deprived and poor area and
also because of existence of social inequities which are giving rise to this problem
among indigenous people of Australia. The objective of the present study is to analyse
the association between alcohol abuse and development of PTSD symbols and to
assess the possible factors which are been linked with PTSD in indigenous Australians
with alcohol abuse. The study was being done with the help of computerised and
manual searching. The review of the research on the pathophysiology of PTSD has
been done in the present report. The present study has also reviewed studies which are
linked to epidemiology, clinical phenomenology, and pathophysiology of PTSD and
alcohol abuse disorders.
BACKGROUND
Alcohol abuse and illness related to mental health have an accurate association as
most of the Indigenous people who are been addicted to alcohol are most likely to face
and suffer the mental health problems. It has also been analysed that Torres island
people who have faced traumatic experiences are at the high risk of developing the
psychiatric disorder. Most of them are suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder.
This mental health illness can be faced by those of who have gone through traumatic
experiences such as alcohol abuse, substance use. There are various signs and
symptoms that has been linked to it like anxiety, depression, night mares. This has
reduced the health outcome of indigenous people living in Australia. Schweizer et.al.,
(2017) has stated that most of the Torres and Strait Island people who have faced the
traumatic experiences found it really difficult to adjust and cope with the good self-care.
This mental health disorder is also affecting and reducing down their quality of life. If the
symptoms last long, then it can become very difficult for an individual to survive. Some

studies have also provided the details that there is a building block effect which has
been linked to the trauma like alcohol abuse on the seriousness which is not been
limited to the PTSD. Jasbi et.al., (2018) has also founded out the indigenous people
who are suffering from the stress because of alcohol abuse are at higher risk of
suffering from the PTSD. The study has also determined the effects of different types of
trauma on the mental health and well-being of Torres island people living in Australia.
Like for example Olff, (2017) founded out the childhood alcohol abuse and the neglect
can be considered as one of the major factor which has been giving rise to PTSD in
adulthood. Gender also have one of the major role in the outcomes of behaviour and
psychiatric for the different types of trauma which has been suffered by the people living
in aboriginal region. The alcohol abuses and traumas faced by an individual in
childhood are one of the main factors which has been associated with the PTSD.
Women who have been involved in making use of drugs and alcohol are at higher risk
of developing the mental health problem like PTSD.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Research aims:
 The aim of the research is to provide details of relationship between alcohol
abuse and development of PTSD in aboriginal and Torres Island people living in
Australia.
 To identify the signs and symptoms related to development of PTSD
 To analyse the impact of PTSD in mental health and well-being of Indigenous
people
 To evaluate the impact of PTSD and alcohol dependence among the Australian
population.
Research objectives:
 The objective of the present study is to analyse the association between alcohol
abuse and development of PTSD symbols and to assess the possible factors
which are been linked with PTSD in indigenous Australians with alcohol abuse.
 To explore about how mental health well-being can affect communities living in
country’s public health system.

 To analyse the factors which can be linked to the development of psychiatric
disorder like PTSD.
 To provide suggestions in order to reduce the problems related to mental health.
The rational for the present study is to implement discussed strategies to improve care
coordination and provide smooth transitions of care for people with post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). The present study will be involved in identifying the various
factors which are been linked to rise of psychiatric disorder like PTSD in Torres island
people living in Australia. It will also be involved in identifying the pathophysiology and
aetiology related to the disorder. The research will also be engaged in identifying the
signs and symptoms related to PTSD. It will also determine the association between the
alcohol abuse and development of psychiatric disorder like PTSD.
METHODOLOGY
Rationale of present study
The present research will also be engaged in analyzing and providing the
suggestions related to overcoming this psychiatric disorder to enhance health outcome.
The current body of the literature related to alcohol abuse and PTSD is laying emphasis
on the Torres and Strait Island people living in Australia. Additionally, it has been
analysed that trauma related and alcohol abuse study in most of the published review is
mostly simple (Koek et.al., (2019). The data related to it can be easily extracted with the
help of published literature. The present study is also being conducted to know about
the prevalence rate of alcohol abuse contributing to the development of PTSD.
Therefore, the research will be critical in determining how factors and symptoms related
to it such as marginalization, poverty, and racism among others increase the risk of the
target groups to develop alcohol abuse problems and mental health conditions such as
PTSD.
Research strategy
The study was being based on the computerized and manual searches. The
method which is been used in research is review of literature. A computer-assisted face-
to-face structured clinical interview was conducted with each participant. The two
staged strategy was also being used so that only specific studies can be used in the
research (Dikmen-Yildiz, Ayers & Phillips, (2018). Firstly, the articles which were based

on the alcohol abuse were been search and after that the articles related to PTSD
among indigenous people in Australia were being searched. The use of ‘keywords’ was
also prominent for the study. Various key words were being used like Aboriginals,
alcohol abuse, PTSD, trauma were being used to select an appropriate article. Only the
recently published articles were been used for the present research. The article
published in English language were been used for the present study. Electronic
searches were also being done from the data bases like PubMed, Medline, ERIC. There
were also various limitations for the present study like the data collection was quiet
difficult from the online interview been done. This was because of the pandemic
situation COVID-19; the search was being done on limited bases.
Ethical/confidentiality issues
The information is being collected by the participants through online interview. In
this the scholar needs to make sure that consent is been taken by the participants
through online modes before collecting the information from them. The researcher
should also be engaged in analyzing the quality of data which has been collected from
the systematic review (Hyland et.al., (2017). It can be said that the researcher must be
engaged in well-planning the research and also they must make sure that there is no
redundant publications and plagiarism in the study which has been provided by them as
this will reduce the quality of data which has been presented by them. The intellectual
property related to research also needs to be discussed properly in order to avoid any
miss-consequences in the research. They also need to make sure that reliable research
outcome is been provided after the completion of research.
Data analysis
The data will be analyzed with the help of using different sets of analysis and
also it will be extracted from different data basis. For the present study thematic
analysis will be used. This is because the research is qualitative in nature. It can be said
that the data can be easily collected through published sources. This is being used to
evaluating the patterns related to data set and providing the answers based on the
same. This analysis is fully based on theoretical framework which has been used in the
study. For the present study content analysis is been done. It is based on the research
questions and also on the data which has been collected from the online interview.

Research risks
There is various risk which can be faced by the scholar while collecting data like
evidence selection bias. There is also the risk related to ethical issues, it may happen
that ethical code of conduct is being hampered by the researchers. In the literature
review the data are already published so there are chances that information which has
been published might be wrong or copied from another sources. This increases the risk
of researchers who have been engaged in doing the research.
Implications for public health
The population which will be benefited by the present research will includes Torres
and Strait island people living in Australia and suffering from the mental health problem
like PTSD. The benefits which will be provided to them will include that after the
successful completion of this study, they will be able to analyse the early signs and
symptoms related to this disorder. They will also be able to analyse the relationship
between alcohol abuse and PTSD (Daveney et.al., (2019). This study will be helpful in
enhancing the health outcome of indigenous Australians. This study will also be helpful
for them so that they can evaluate the various ways which can be used by them to
overcome this mental health disorder. The present study will help in enhancing the
health outcome of people who have gone through mental trauma and are facing the
signs and symptoms related to PTSD disorder. It will also help in changing the health
care policies which have been made for the aboriginals, by this equal and fair treatment
can be provided to them. The results of the study will also reduce down the inequalities
of health which exists for indigenous people. It will act as a foundation for health
focused study.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hyland, P., Shevlin, M., Brewin, C. R., Cloitre, M., Downes, A. J., Jumbe, S., ... &
Roberts, N. P. (2017). Validation of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
complex PTSD using the International Trauma Questionnaire. Acta Psychiatrica
Scandinavica, 136(3), 313-322.
Dikmen-Yildiz, P., Ayers, S., & Phillips, L. (2018). Longitudinal trajectories of post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after birth and associated risk factors. Journal
of affective disorders.229. 377-385.
Koek, R. J., Roach, J., Athanasiou, N., van't Wout-Frank, M., & Philip, N. S. (2019).
Neuromodulatory treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Progress
in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 92, 148-160.
Daveney, J., Hassiotis, A., Katona, C., Matcham, F., & Sen, P. (2019). Ascertainment
and prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people with
intellectual disabilities. Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual
Disabilities.12(3-4). 211-233.
Schweizer, S., Samimi, Z., Hasani, J., Moradi, A., Mirdoraghi, F., & Khaleghi, M. (2017).
Improving cognitive control in adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). Behaviour research and therapy. 93.88-94.
Jasbi, M., Sadeghi Bahmani, D., Karami, G., Omidbeygi, M., Peyravi, M., Panahi, A., ...
& Brand, S. (2018). Influence of adjuvant mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
(MBCT) on symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans–
results from a randomized control study. Cognitive behaviour therapy.47(5). 431-
446.
Olff, M. (2017). Sex and gender differences in post-traumatic stress disorder: an
update. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(sup4), 1351204.

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