Tag Archive | depression

To Our Hospital Heroes: You Have a Story to Tell and We Want to Hear It!

Sep30

I remember watching the news as I got ready for work and hearing about a virus spreading in another country. At the office, I listened as people talked about it and would often interject what I was thinking….we are connected, this will be here soon. Sooner came faster than we were prepared for, we were sent home with laptops, children sent home from school, empty the streets and close the shops, we were all in quarantine.

Getty Image: The empty streets of Boston

Fear came with the unknown. People stocked piled toilet paper, food, cleaning supplies and masks. Businesses pivoted where they could and others closed. We watched the numbers on the news ticker increase while as it slid across the screen announcing the latest number of infections and even worse, deaths. We did our best to find comfort in the idea of being safe at home. Distracted ourselves with projects, sourdough bread and finally having time to do that project while we quietly imploded from the solitude that Zoom could not ease. Families lost jobs, students became homeschoolers, parents became teachers, everyone was sinking into depression, anxiety and despair. Covid-19 has arrived.

Day after day optimism waned as stories flooded the news, social media and our own families detailing the true horror of the virus that has been upgraded to a pandemic. As Covid-19 continued to ignore boarders it ravaged countries, states, towns, communities and families. In all of this, there were people on the front lines who faced it boldly and didn’t leave their posts. Janitors, clerks, market workers, delivery drivers and hospital workers left their families to provide a service. They risked their lives for ours with no expectation of reward. Doing what they can to keep their own families safe like sleeping in the driveway or not coming home at all.

A fatigued health care worker takes a moment outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center in April. Many hospital workers these days have to cope with horrific tragedies playing out multiple times on a single, 12-hour shift.

Then there were the hospital workers. Day after day I would hear their stories and listen to their hearts. Not only were they struggling with availability of personal protective gear to keep them safe from contracting this vicious virus, they provided medical attention and acts of human kindness to maintain the dignity of the people they were treating. I am reminded of the images of healthcare providers brushing the hair and caring for their patients in a way that family couldn’t because visitors weren’t allowed. They endured long days and longer nights fighting this virus, fighting to save lives. They persevered through seeing death daily, ventilator shortages amidst their own anxiety, depression, loneliness and fatigue.

There are many heroes without capes that have endured loss and suffered during this pandemic. To our hospital workers, we want to hear from you. If you are a hospital worker (doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, aids, nutritionists, sanitizers, technicians…etc.) who is willing to participate in an interview, we would like to talk to you. Click here to contact us and we will schedule a time that is convenient for you as we take time to hear….what’s under YOUR Brim.

Happy Freakin’ Holidays

Dec27

As the years go by I’ve learned the Holiday trio (Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year) can be depressing. Stress, illness, addiction, financial woes and other challenges don’t go away because it’s the holiday season. Meanwhile the holidays heighten the expectation that  we should be kind (if not oozing the Norman Rockwell painting-ish kinda love) to all around us. Continue reading →

#1 Lady Killer

Jan7

From heart disease to breast cancer to depression, WebMD gives the inside information on why women are at high risk for these problems but may not know it. We are going to examine the #1 Lady Killer….

Continue reading →

New Study Shows How the Pressure to Be ‘Strong’ Can Leave Black Women Denying, Ignoring Their Own Struggles with Depression

Apr23

Reposting from: http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/04/09/new-study-shows-pressure-strong-can-leave-black-women-denying-ignoring-struggles-depression/

depression-300x180Black women are far less likely to struggle with depression than their white counterparts.

That’s the inaccurate message several headlines implied when a new study found that Black women were less likely to report suffering from depression than white women.

Those headlines, however, can be extremely misleading by omitting one simple but extremely important word: Report.

The study, which was recently published in JAMA Psychiatry, utilized findings from a massive survey where women were asked to report whether or not they battled with depression at some point in their lives.

Researchers talked to more than 1,400 Black women and roughly 340 white women.

With such a significantly greater amount of Black participants, one might be quick to think that the Black women reporting struggles with depression would outnumber their white counterparts.

Even with more than 1,000 extra Black female participants, the national survey found that only 10 percent of Black women reported dealing with depression or any other mental health disorder at some point in their lives.

More than 20 percent of white women said they dealt with at least one mental health disorder.

When specifically focusing on depression, Black women still represented a miniscule part of the population that admitted to dealing with the disorder.

While nearly 10 percent of the white participants admitted to battling depression within the last year, 5.5 percent of Black women reported the same.

Another 22 percent of white women admitted to dealing with any kind of mood disorder at some point in their life. Only 14 percent of Black women reported so.

So does this mean Black women are happier, more carefree individuals? Is this an implication that these women are just as strong as society has always proclaimed them to be and that despite facing life changing obstacles and unique challenges, they are nearly invincible when it comes to emotional distress?

Not at all.

Black women are a population that has to fight battles against both sexism and racism, delivering a left hook and an uppercut to their fight for equality in a white, male-dominated world.

That type of stress makes it very easy to slip into the grips of depression, but the stigma about depression and other mental disorders in the Black community discourages many Black people from seeking help for such conditions or even realizing they have a problem.

The Black community boasts a lineage of incredibly strong and resilient ancestors.

It’s a history to be proud of but also a past that is used against Black people who are feeling suffocated by the modern day struggles of racism, discrimination and every day life.

Dr. Monica Coleman, a Black professor and author who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, once explained that just the idea of going to therapy is taboo in the Black community.

“Seeing a therapist is generally seen as a sign of weakness or a lack of faith,” Dr. Coleman explained during an interview on PBS. “There is still an active mythos of the ‘strong Black woman,’ who is supposed to be strong and present and capable for everyone in her family—and neglects her own needs.”

Dr. Coleman revealed that during one of her own depressive episodes, a friend told her that, “[Black people] are the descendants of those who survived the Middle Passage and slavery. Whatever you’re going through cannot be that bad.”

48a7iStock_000011423371XSmall_depressed_womanIt’s a message that Dr. Coleman said upset her and angered her even more.

“No, depression isn’t human trafficking, genocide or slavery, but it is real death-threatening pain to me,” she added. “…That comment just made me feel small and selfish and far worse than before. It made me wish I had never said anything at all.”

That’s the unfortunate reality that many Black people, especially Black women, face.

It has become so normal for some Black women to subject themselves to limitless sacrifices, emotional stress and excessive burdens that they often don’t even realize when they have crossed the line into depression.

So whether it’s caused by undeserved shame or a lack of realization, Black women are indeed far less likely to report struggling with depression.

They are far less likely to deem what has been presented to them as the daily life and responsibilities of the “strong Black woman” as depression.

They will rarely open up to find comfort in others when they have been taught to always be the source of comfort themselves.

Black women may not report that they are depressed or even seek any help or advice.

This does not mean, however, that they are any less likely to be in the midst of a grueling battle with depression or any other disorder.