THREE TYPES OF DEPRESSION

There are many types of depression, but I will discuss the ones that impact black women the most:

Situational Depression

Dysthymia Disorder

Clinical Depression

Situational depression is stress caused by outside factors such as; loss of a loved one, loss of job or extended unemployment, or a hostile work environment. Situational depression can effect your normal everyday life in a negative way.  If left untreated for too long, situational depression can turn into Clinical or Major depression.  Exercise, yoga, meditation, eating right, prayer, and having a friend or support system can help you through this situation.  You need to talk to someone about the stressors that are impacting your life. Therapy and perhaps taking a anti-depressant on a short term basis, can also help you until your situation turns around for you.

RISK FACTORS FOR SITUATIONAL DEPRESSION

• Poverty
• Violence
• Violence and pregnancy
• Workplace stress/harassment/hostile environment
• Chronic illnesses such as, cancer, heart disease, diabetes
• Divorce/Widowed
• Loss of a job

MORE TRIGGERS FOR SITUATIONAL DEPRESSION

No resolution for past abuses as a child or young woman such as:

•       Sexual abuse

•       Incest

•       Rape

•       Violence

•       Emotional abuse

 

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT OUR DEPRESSION

“What do you have to be depressed about?  If our people could make it through slavery, we can make it through anything.”

“When a black woman suffers from a mental disorder, the overwhelming opinion is that she is weak.  And weakness in black women is intolerable.”

“Black women are supposed to be strong – caretakers, nurturers, healers of other people.”

“You should take your troubles to Jesus, not some stranger/psychiatrist.”

 Quotations from Meri Nana-Ama Danquah's memoir, “Willow Weep for Me”

 

HOW WE COPE WITH DEPRESSION       

•       Overeating

•       Doing drugs/alcohol

•       Neglecting our health

•       Participating in indiscriminate/unprotected sex

 

THE REASONS WHY WE DON’T SEEK HELP

Denial

 We feel shame or are embarrassed about being depressed

We refuse to get help or don’t know where to get it

We don’t have the money or insurance to get the help we need

There is a lack of services in our neighborhoods

We often distrust white doctors

Lack of access to African - American therapists

FACTS ABOUT BLACK WOMEN AND DEPRESSION

 We are undervalued by society

• We are often burdened by family responsibilities

• We have the lowest rates of suicide

• We have the highest rates of depression, diabetes, heart disease, HIV, and obesity

• Many of us believe DEPRESSION is a necessary condition of life

• We believe depression must be endured

• We tend to rely on our family, the community, and our church during periods of emotional stress

• We seek mental health care less than white women

• When we do seek it, it is later in life and at the later stages of our illness

MORE FACTS

• We don’t see depression as a disease

• We don’t seek help because of the stigma attached to it

• We view being depressed and seeking therapy as being weak

• We don’t talk about our depression, because we don’t want to be vulnerable and thought of as crazy.

• We are more likely to seek church and prayer rather than therapy

• Single white women and black women are more susceptible in living in poverty than white men