EP 50 "Black Women, Depression and Caring for Your Mental Health"

It's Mental Health Awareness Month! In this episode, I unpack a recent study that discussed how depression shows up for Black women. This topic hits close to home because I went through a depressive episode years ago, and my symptoms didn't align with what I thought depression was.  Somehow, I got through it, but my goal is to help provide Black women the awareness they need to understand that their experiences are valid. You deserve care and to be healthy! I also give you three tips to start caring for your mental health!

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Transcript

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the audacious black girl podcast. It's Amanda. So it's May, it is mental health awareness month, and I wanted to discuss something I think that's really important for us as black women just in honoring our mental health and really making sure we're focusing on our care because mental health is health, we all have mental health. So this episode is based on an article that I read recently about depression and how it shows up for black women. So this is what we're going to talk about today and how to really honor yourself and recognize the symptoms if you might have any, and really focus on minding your well-being and your mental health. 

So a recent study from NYU discuss how depression shows up for black women. And there were a few things that validated things that I experienced, not only myself personally, but also in my therapy practice, I work with a lot of black women, women of the black black diaspora. And there were just some things that really made so much sense. Now, me personally, I was never diagnosed with having depression. But I do feel and believe, years ago, I'm talking when my oldest is almost 18. I do feel like a while ago, back when I had her and had my son, within two years that I experienced some form of depression. But it really was difficult for me to identify. And I was not a mental health professional at that time. And there's so many reasons why I think I experienced what I went through the sadness, the hopelessness, just really feeling loss, I had a lot of identity issues as well. And I was a new mom and wife. So it was really, really difficult for me, and I think a lot of us go through challenges, right. But as black women, we may not recognize ourselves when what we're going through might require us to seek out a mental health professional and get some help, right, because of the stigma around it, the rhetoric around it, you know, certain narratives that we hear about mental health, especially in our community. So it was really difficult for me at that time to even recognize what I went through. You know, but I do think this is why I want to talk about it, because it's so important for us to understand what these experiences are, and learn to be okay with getting help, and not just pushing through it. 

So not only with the audacious black girl, podcast and my platform, and everything I do outside of that, I aim to make mental health information assessable. And to give you a starting point, so that you can mind your well being right. So because you girl, once again, I'm not trying to lose my credentials, I'm going to get my little disclaimer, this episode and all of my content across my platforms is for education and awareness purposes and does not constitute or serve as a replacement for advice from your, your mental health providers. So seek them out if you feel like you need support. What more information as I said, this is for education and awareness, and I want to make mental health information accessible for us in our community. 

So depression, depression shows up in a variety of ways for many people. And me personally, in my practice, and other mental health professionals, we use certain diagnostic tools to help us explore the possibility of a diagnosis of depression or any other mental health disorders or challenges or illnesses that are there for our clients. So generally speaking, a lot of the concepts and tools and modalities used in mental health and even in my own education, when I was going through grad school and interning are really white person created and white person centered. They really don't, they really didn't focus on issues going on in different communities, the black community, Latino community, Asian community, a lot of the research was really heavily based on white people. And there are many reasons why that happened. And why it continues to happen because of medical racism and discrimination and, you know, a lack of trust in the medical system, especially as black people, you know, so once again, that's why when these studies come out, I'm definitely reading them and getting some information but really having a certain perspective because, you know, I am a black woman and I work with black people and I want to make sure that whatever I'm consuming that it is something that's competent, it is something that will be helpful, you know, because I know who I work with. I And I know that for me having a holistic approach to care is paramount. 

So even if those modalities were focused or researched or created by white men, that's really who it was. I'm using techniques that work for the people that I work with. And they are really culturally competent, and it's person centered. And I really consider the person and environment I consider all aspects of the human being all aspects of the people that I work with. And I only mentioned this because yes, this is like my approach to things and we're working within certain systems. But I really want you to have an understanding that you know how this can help you be informed when you are seeking support from providers, right? No, don't self diagnose, no WebMD, all this and whatnot. But definitely arm yourself with information so that when you do go and see providers that you're able to really talk about your experiences in a way that will hopefully help them understand what you're going through. And these studies, once again, are important for providers, because we need to make sure that we are fully aware of what's happening in certain communities and what's happening with our clients. And if all else fails, your provider should should be curious. Bottom line, they should be curious about your experiences, and curious about what you're going through. Not only because you are a black person, a black woman, a person of color, because it'll help them help you make, you know, really good decisions and treatment plans to help you feel better, live better. And another thing I'll mention, then I'll get into the study. And it'd be really quick, it's not really, I'm not talking about all the parts of the study. But this the points that I thought were really important. You know, a lot of clients come to me as either a first time therapy seeker after you know, being traumatized or feeling invalidated, and not understood by previous providers. So I really do take my profession and my identity as a black woman, who is a therapist seriously and as a necessity. And given the brevity and the strength of all that I want to make sure that for me, what I do is I really take mental health and therapy beyond the couch, which is why I have these platforms, because I want you as a black woman to know what it's like and what is out there for you to help you get better feel better lift better. 

When it comes to depression, something I talk to my clients about often is a difference between clinical depression and depressed mood. All right, I get a lot of people who come to me already diagnosing themselves, right without really understanding that there are criteria that have to be met. And I will not go into that, of course in this episode, but what I wanted to talk to you about is how depression, and the experiences of depression are diverse, right? And depression ranges from mild to severe, to persistent, okay, and sometimes depression comes up. Because you might have an underlying medical condition you don't know about, or you might be taking some medicine or having other treatments or other, you know, challenges going on. That could be perhaps situational that might lead to depression, which is why it's really important to talk to your provider. So you can really talk about what your experiences are, and discover and explore is that is something you're going through. 
So once again, your mental health provider will be the one to best talk to you about that. What I want you to know is that regardless of how depression shows up for you, or depressed mood, this study really highlighted some key symptoms that can show up commonly for black women within those ranges. 

So this study was led by researchers at NYU and Columbia University School of Nursing, and I can leave the link in the show notes if you want to check it out yourself. But some of the findings were that black women in the study who experienced depressive symptoms, were more likely to report somatic symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, decreased libido, and self critical symptoms such as self hate and self blame. Now that was more than the stereotypical or different than a stereotypical depressive symptoms such as filling hopelessness, right or a depressed mood, which can show up as filling you know, an aversion to doing activities, things that you enjoy a loss of interest in certain activities, a loss of even feeling pressured pleasure, and low mood. Now those are usually like the standard type questions that we'll get asked like, How is your mood? Are you still you know, are you finding pleasurable activities? Are you still doing the things that you love and enjoy, but for black Woman, when we're asked different types of questions, right, it can lead to finding that insomnia is an issue that decreased libido is an issue, and that we're more self critical than other people. And that's how our, well, at least when it comes to like depressive mood, like our depressive mood, and depressive symptoms may show up in that way. And they also report it experiencing an inability to experience pleasure, and experiencing irritability. 

Now, me personally, these were things that I experienced, you know, 18 years ago. So I'm 18 years ago, when I became a new mom and wife, especially the irritability, and I had no idea that that was a way that depressive symptoms were showing up for me. So something to pay attention to, it really is something to pay attention to, because it may not just be that you're in a low mood, your low mood may show up as you being irritable, it may show up as you you know, not really finding, you know, that your sex drive or your libido is, you know, at a certain level that you might want it to be or maybe it wasn't a pass, you maybe you are, you know, blaming yourself where things are feeling a lot of self hate. But these are things to pay attention to. So you can be aware of whether or not something you're going through could be something you need to go to Mattel provider to explore further and understand. And there are things that you shouldn't ignore, right things you shouldn't ignore. But the things that really did catch my eye were the symptoms of decreased libido, self hate, blame and irritability. And generally speaking, these things don't get talked about enough when it comes to black women. When it comes to how we're feeling and all the different ranges of emotions we go through, we always hear about the angry black woman and I hate that stereotype because we're not angry, like we're joyful. We are the most spirited, and amazing people. But we also have the right to be angry when we're angry. Just like we have the right to be joyful when we want to be joyful and excited when we want to feel excited and sad when we want to feel sad, you know, but all that range of emotion that we experience, it should be validated. It should be validated. You know, and I think that we experience the feelings of you know, self hate and blame. Because of the fact that, you know, society, our environments, our families, they expect so much from us, behind that stereotype of strong black woman as well, right? Like, we're not supposed to experience these range of emotions. Or if we do, we're supposed to be good at hiding them, or not acknowledging them, we're human. And we have the right to experience the range of emotions, we have been blessed with the fact that we are alive and are able to experience these emotions, it means that we're supposed to, we're supposed to acknowledge them and not ignore them. 

The thing is for, you know, black women and just in general, our community, there is that stigma around mental health, right. And I've seen it across the diaspora. I've seen it across the diaspora, with the clients that I work with, and just black women in general, no matter where you're from, there are certain black cultures where you see it more pervasive, right, I definitely have some Caribbean clients who you know, really have a hard time with being able to express that they're going through a mental health challenge, right and accepting and normalizing that it's okay to get help, you know, but me as a black woman, I can talk to them about those things and really explore what mental health means for them. And help them understand that it is important to mind your mental health just as you would your physical health, just as you would if you were, you know, if you had a cold or a stomach ache or a broken foot, right, your mental health truly, truly matters. And it is a conversation that I think we need to continue to have, and act on and support each other with. And the unfortunate thing you know, with that stigma is it leads to that lack of acknowledgement. It leads to, you know, you know, not being aware of certain symptoms that aren't healthy for you, right, or certain symptoms, when that make you not be in your healthiest state, mentally, you know, and that becomes pervasive because, you know, mind, body, soul, mind, body spirit, it's all connected. Right? If we're not good mentally, it does affect not only the different domains of who we are, but also the different domains in our life, our identities, it affects, you know, our environments, our relationships, right. It really, really does. Know what happens when we experience Some sort of depression and don't get help. 

As black women, you know, what we do is we try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, we try to work our way through it, we try to educate our way through it, right, we start feeling less than we start experiencing that self hate and self blame, and the irritability and is difficult to process and go through especially I think, when we are experiencing this feeling of less than, which may not be necessarily a part of depression, up depression symptom, but I do think it plays a key part in who we are as black women, when we're feeling like we're less than or that we got to keep, you know, doing more and getting more education and getting more experience. And that can lead to so many issues and challenges. And we have to shift our mindset around all of that. But, you know, it is something worthy of exploring, like, why am I doing all these things? Why am I getting more degrees? Why am I getting more, you know, feeling like, I need to get more education when I know, I have enough when I know, you know, there's enough there. It does speak to scarcity mindset at times, because I think we've all as black people, perhaps have been conditioned to think, you know, there we have to do like 150%, to their 20%, right, and like, all that stuff impacts us. And that goes into my next part of why this study is important. And why minding our mental health and be paying attention to how depressive symptoms or even anxious systems symptoms might show up for us is because a lot of this stems from the cultural narrative, right and cultural habits that we experience and the norms, and the external factors from society and the environment, they all compound and really impact who we are, impact how we show up in the world and impact our mental health. Right. And this is why I created the audacious black girl podcast, and this platform, because we have to continue to do the inner work so we can show up and show out in the world, even when we are you know, feeling successful, and are feeling like Alright, I got this, you cannot take your foot off the gas, you have to continue to take care of yourself and mind your mental health and your well being. Because as black woman, you know, the intersectionalities of who we are and any other identities that we may have, it impacts how the world treats us. And it can be really, really difficult to move through all that. Right, but having this space and community to really support us through all that and making sure that we find time for our care. And most importantly, like I said, our mental health that can help help us get through and, and, and move forward with right what we experienced it go through because we are a divine. 

We are absolutely amazing beings. And I love black women. And when I tell you I love us, I love us like it's just I am inspired by us. I think we're absolutely beautiful and magical and we make the world go round. And given the fact that we do all that all of that just naturally because that's who we are our care, our wellness, our health has to go just as hard we have to dedicate just as much time to taking care of ourselves because we naturally exude trend setter mode, we naturally exude you know beauty and you know, magic and we have to take care of ourselves just so that we can give it give in to ourselves just as much as we give out to the world. I just want you to know that, you know minding your mental health allows you to be audacious allows you to be audacious and I gave the story and talked a couple of times about my experiences with my own mental health challenges. If I didn't become the woman that I am today, and get to this point, until I started taking care of myself. I started recognizing what was going on with me mentally and getting help talking to people and finding out what I need it to be the best Amanda. So whatever you need to be the best you is what needs to happen. You deserve it. And I know we say that often you deserve this. You deserve that. You truly do.

You really really do. deserve to love yourself and take care of yourself so that you can show up as the audacious black woman that you are, right. And like I said, once you get to this point of just striving and knowing that you're worthy and continuing to explore and expand who you are, continue to mind your mental health and take care of you at all times. I'm stingy as hell when it comes to me, and what I need, and I want you to be the same. Took me a while to get there. But I am not going back. We don't go backward here. So there are three things I hope that you can take away from this. And the first thing is that your mental health is a part of your whole Well, being so minded daily, make a practice of checking in with your mental health daily. Ask yourself the question, What's real for me right now? What's on my heart right now? What's my mental space, like? What's going on in my life right now that I really need to take attention, pay attention to? How can I rest today, really make it a daily practice, I tend to sit down in the morning and meditation even for like five minutes to check in with myself. And that allows me to set my intention for my day. Right? And that's super helpful. Because now I'm really mindful of the space I'm in and meet yourself where you are always. Check checking in with yourself allows you to do that. And check in with your sisters, right? Check in with like, your friends, too. Especially it's mental health awareness. Most say, Hey, I just want to do a check in how are you? How are things going? You know, and something I've been making sure that I don't do anymore is when I email or message people. Oh, I hope you're well, because that's just people down from actually saying how they really feel, right? It's kind of like, oh, well, they hope I'm well, I'm not well, but I don't want to unload on to them, or tell them how I really feel. So if you're someone that does that, maybe make a practice like I am of not doing that anymore. Ask people how are you? How are you really doing? Number two, define what being well looks like for you, and claim it and make yourself a priority. Get stingy with your time and wellness, daily, weekly, monthly, do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself. And number three, be curious and investigate your narrative around mental health. We talked about it in this episode about you know, those narratives and habits that we learned, and those learned behaviors, and things that we saw as we were growing up, but the messages we received regarding mental health. So you're an adult, now, you have a certain level of awareness, right? You're listening to this podcast, because you have a level of awareness that you need to take care of yourself, and that your mental health and your well being is important, right? 
But that still means you need to be curious about your narrative around mental health. I'm still processing all that myself. What that looked like for me, especially as a woman and the women in my life and how they took care of themselves. Right? So be curious, investigate your narrative, you know, think about how it was talked about or not in your family, in your community. Right? What thoughts do you have about mental health? What opinions do you have? And observe what you do and tell yourself the next time you're going through something difficult? What do you do? Do you push forward? Do you bypass it? You know what I mean? Like, think about what you do when you're going through a difficult time? Do you pause? Do you take time to really acknowledge what you're going through and adjust accordingly. Take the time to do that it matters. You will live better when you are able to be mindful and prioritize yourself and act accordingly. It matters it really really truly is a life changing thing. To give yourself the ability to check in with yourself often. Often, often often. And when you get that insight right into how your mental health narratives are, guess what you can start doing, you can start creating generational wellness. We are at the edge of our ancestral line and it is time to create many different ways of being so she generationally and what we passed down but making our wellness a priority so that you know it continues to pass down and pass down through generations it'll be a beautiful thing. It'll be a beautiful thing with different narrative different habits and I'm excited for it because I know a lot of us black women are really trying to prioritize ourselves and our and our well being and just keep pushing. Keep going, keep doing it. Keep doing it. But that was today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Definitely. Let me know your thoughts on this episode. And let me know how you're minding your mental health. Send me an email at Amanda at audacious black girl.com Or you can also feel free to message me on Instagram. I want to hear from you and how this episode went for you and your thoughts of brown black woman and mental health and even depression like what that you know what your thoughts around that are and if anything was shocking to you based on this conversation, but until next time, peace

Transcribed by https://otter.ai