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Black Women Can’t Be Depressed
(Black women ARE cis-gendered, trans, and gender expansive)
Over a decade ago I left the field of psychology because it simply did not care about Black women. As a Black woman studying psychology, I struggled to see myself reflected in the readings and assignments of my undergraduate and graduate courses. Black women have largely been ignored and/or excluded in research and readings regarding mental health, its manifestations, and interventions. Even in the rare cases where Black women were included in studies and research, the framework and lens were too often not made for us or even by us. To me, the numerous diagnoses from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-5), the manual mental health professionals and students use to treat clients, never fully aligned with what I have seen in many of the Black women that I have encountered, myself included. Our unique intersects between race and gender have yet to be fully recognized in their impact on our well-being by the industry as a whole, leaving us at the hands of those who exclude our lived reality and its complexities. Recognizing that the mental health and wellness industry is in some limited ways trying to catch up, it is still greatly lacking in addressing the specific needs and conditions of Black women.
About a week ago, I was sitting in the student office of my psychotherapy clinic…
