What Depression Sounds Like

• I just don't feel like it.
• Go without me.
• I don't care.
• I just want to die.
• You want a piece of this, motherfucker?!
• I'm 'a bust a cap in his ass.
• Shut up bitch.
• Somebody's gonna pay.
• I'll give you something to cry about.
• Go away.
•  I can't feel anything.
• What's the point?
• I don't drink too much!
• I don't feel right. I know something is wrong with me, but the doctor can't find it.
• It's just nerves.
• I can't stop crying.
• I can't handle it.
• I don't need anybody.
• People just let you down.
• I don't trust anyone.
• Can you supersize that?
• I'm fat and ugly; nobody would want me.
• I can't breathe.
• I think I'm having a heart attack.
• Nothing good ever happens to me.
• Life sucks.
• I ain't shit.
• That nigga ain't shit

Excerpt from "Black Pain" It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting

Terrie M. Williams

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