There has been quite a bit of attention paid recently to mental illnesses in the black community. The stigma surrounding depression and suicidal thoughts keeps many from seeking much-needed help. Alvin Poussaint and Amy Alexander wrote a book highlighting this issue and explaining that people can't expect to deal with these issues alone.
In the book, Lay My Burden Down, noted Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint and writer Amy Alexander analyze how much of the Black community - determined to be victors, not victims - strive to downplay issues of mental illness, depression and resulting suicides within the culture.
"It is very much a misperception that Black people don't commit suicide and that comes in part from a need, the very real and legitimate need, for Black people, for many years to be very strong," Alexander is quoted as saying in a book review by HealthyPlace.com. Alexander had an older brother who committed suicide.
"They [Blacks] see mental disorder and depression as a sign of personal weakness or moral failure," said Alexander, who considered her brother's slow and painful death from heroin abuse as a precipitated form of suicide.
Although whites are more than 10 times more likely to commit suidice than blacks, studies show that a black American commits suicide every 4.5 hours in the United States. [LW]
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Finally! I'm so grateful this issue is finally getting some press coverage, and thank you @ Stereohype for helping out with the effort. I remember a conversation with my mom about my cousin's suicide–and she wanted to revoke his "Black Card" posthumously with the usual "Black folks don't do that" and "this is what we get for integrating" balderdash. I called her on her ugliness for being the self-appointed Black Police (yelling at her, in fact). Her coming off like that was totally unnecessary and completely disrespectful to my cousin and the complexity of Black folks in general. I backed her down and, hopefully, reading the press will back me–and my cousin–up.
Because choice is not always a solution. But Oprah is!
Ooops! "Stereohyped." My apologies…
Secretary - I've encountered that same attitude from family members and black friends, too. I end up angrily making the same argument you did - with family members. However if a friend is dumb enough to believe the "weak" or "that's a white thing" rhetoric….they get cut from my team immediately. No time for stupidity.
@blackmistressdiva–*hugs*
i actually read this book! my mom had it and i randomly picked it up one day. i felt weird reading it at first because i didn't know anyone who committed suicide and had no particular reason to read it.
yet i consider it a must read for all african americans because we really do need to call attention to mental health issues that face us.
also, it is helpful to know the importance of not dismissing someone's suicide just because they were a person of color. we need to learn from it and support their families, because they feel an eternal guilt.