Seeking Therapy While Black

With each passing year, we realize that there is increasing awareness regarding mental health. There has been a significant push to de-stigmatize mental illness, and this has had great benefits including increased resources for mental health services and improving access to these services.

However, for minoritized communities, the impact of the shift has been disproportionate when one considers intergenerational trauma and systemic barriers to mental health. For people of African descent, access to therapy goes beyond scheduling and affordability. Much of it goes to the legacy of oppressive and exploitative systems of colonialism and slavery, which has shaped generations of identity and sense of self-worth.

Taught to repress pain

For the Black community, the general view is that one should not talk about one's problems; keep it within the home/community. During slavery, complaints about suffering were met with punishment, and seeking and accessing help was a luxury. Pain was normalized, and endurance was seen as a sign of strength. Today, coping systems are composed of family, close friends, "aunties" and "uncles" who empathize and share the burden of pain. Seeking help outside of this network is often frowned upon and stigmatized due to the oppressive history of bureaucratic systems.

The Stigma of Mental Illness

A negative stigma is already associated with being diagnosed with a mental illness. However, it is practically taboo to discuss this in some cultures. An identity associated with a mental illness can sometimes cause a person to be castigated by their community and shunned by family and friends. Compounded by limited resources to get treatment, many people who struggle with mental health suffer in silence and/or become isolated while their condition declines.

The intersectionality of identities

The experience of oppression isn't limited to race for members of the Black community. For many, the experience of systemic barriers is further compounded by one's gender, nationality, faith, sexual identity, etc. Navigating the world while facing multiple oppressive experiences - experiences that can easily make a person feel invisible or unworthy - can be much more complicated when trying to manage one's mental health. It becomes a question of what came first: "Is my mental health shaping my experience of oppression?" or "Is the constant exposure to and/or experience of oppression affecting my mental health?" It can easily be argued that it's both, and as a result, the need to access support is that much greater.

Accessing culturally relevant therapy

A major barrier to therapy for many in the Black community is accessing culturally appropriate services . Therapy is a profoundly subjective experience mediated not only by the therapist's skills and the client's goals but the lived experience and lens through which they understand the world and the client's problems.

Therapists who work with the Black community have to be able to approach therapy from an anti-oppressive perspective, understanding the impact of intergenerational trauma caused by a history of colonialism and neo-colonialism. Some of the legacies of such trauma include family separation, internalized hate and shame, identity conflict, micro-aggressions, and emotional repression. It makes for highly effective therapy when the therapist and client can speak the same language - literally and emotionally/contextually.

The good news is that there are increasing numbers of therapists who are not only members of the Black community but share intersecting identities with many in the population along the lines of faith, cultural ethnicity, sexual identity and orientation, nationality, etc. Navigating the ups and downs of your mental health doesn't have to be done in isolation. If you need support, speak to your doctor or reach out to a therapist who you feel would be a good fit.