Black Women & Depression

It used to be said that black women didn’t realize they had chronic depression because they lived their lives never expecting to be happy. Hopefully, that’s changed with new generations of sisters welcoming all the joy and opportunity that they can find. Even with these great expectations they are often confronted by a host of challenges which need to be met with a plan. They are:

• The Economy
• The loss of the emotional and financial support of black men to unemployment, addiction, incarceration and poor urban educational systems
• Overscheduling and overwhelming responsibilities
• Single parenthood and the lack of extended family support
• The dissolution of black communities to urban “revitalization”
• Manufactured food and its effects on brain chemistry, hormones, moods and weight
• The difficulty of holding on to jobs which comprise responsibilities that were formerly carried by three other workers
• Overmedication or improper medication through prescription and/or illegal drugs

If you’re thinking that it’s just you or that these everyday challenges are normal, they’re not. You’re living in a time in which it is essential to create your own limits, sane goals, and an oasis of peace that may not exist outside your door.  You may be living in a time when saying “No!” to what the media tells you you should have, will allow you to say “Yes!” to what your heart knows that you need. We are in the age of where Soul Power is not Black Power but the point in time when nurturing the Divinity within you will be essential to keeping the faith.