Full Description
Relatively recently it has been acknowledged that Black women too often experience extreme psychological distress such as depression, anxiety disorders, panic, phobias, fear, eating disorders, low self-esteem, loneliness from social isolation, PTSD/PTSS, emotional pain, suffering, and suicide to name a few. Mental health conditions both negatively or positively affect their physical health and wellbeing. For example, depression is found to be associated with an increased risk of hypertension and other chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis (Badescu et al. 2016; DeMoss et al. 2020; van Tuijl et al. 2023; Webb, 2022).
We, Black Superwomen, have a long history of denying our mental health challenges. The status of Black women's mental health has always shown up in our physical reality and, currently, we are in another moment of awareness that seeks to clarify the health consequences and costs of the Black superwoman trope. Originally published in 1978, Michele Wallace brought to our attention the myth of the Black Superwoman highlighting our struggles and humanity. More recently Marita Golden in 2021 explored the same issue interviewing Black women about the hidden mental health crisis surrounding their lives. Her book offers crucial stories about how important it is for Black women to ask for help, learn strategies for healing, and build self-care into their lives.
Unfortunately, when we do strive to heal ourselves, we encounter difficulties concerning access to care. So, we must creatively and collectively develop innovative avenues of care for ourselves. We, Black (Super)women, must prioritize our health and wellbeing not alone but also in concert with other Black women who are on similar journeys. Conferences such as the Annual Strong Black Women Redefined Conference (Renaye) offering self-love healing retreats organized for and by Black women, and podcasts like Therapy for Black Girls (Harden-Bradford) are designed to help. Today, there are a range of actions, methods, and expressive therapies to help soothe the soul, but many of us don't take advantage. Reading The Black Superwoman and Mental Health: Power and Pain is one step not only for ourselves as individuals, but for our communities as well. We must continue the early education of Black girls and other women towards healthier mental and physical wellbeing.
It is not easy to reveal oneself and to be vulnerable in a public way as the authors in this book have done. This is the act of resisting the voices and social scripts that say we do not air our "dirty laundry", we should keep "secrets" to remain safe, yet unhealthy. Audrey Lord encouraged us to speak out as our silence will not protect us and it will certainly harm our psychological and physical health and well-being (Van de Mortele, 2016). Therefore, we must find safe spaces to speak our truths, to heal. We sincerely thank these authors of poetry, short stories, essays, and research for their contributions as they bear witness to many of the circumstances that inform our lives. It is through the process of seeking, doing, and being, sometimes in private counseling (or psychotherapy), that many of us learn to acknowledge, analyze, speak, and eventually write the truth of/about our lives and to move closer to being whole black women.
Contents
Preface - Introduction - 1. Ever Taylor: 15 Times I Choked on My Own Silence" (poem) - 2. Georgene Bess Montgomery: Learning to Swim in an Endless Pool of Fear, Anxiety, and Fatigue (essay) - 3. Katrina Harden Williams: Hopes and Dreams 2022 (essay) - 4. Zoe Phillpotts: Burnout (essay) - 5. Janette Y. Taylor: Still So Deeply Tired (essay) - 6. Venise Berry: Beautiful Baby Boy Blues (short story) - 7. Tiana Warner: Ain't No Sleep for Da Mule (poem) - Media Representations (stereotypes and stigmas) - Moala Bannavti: My Sisters in Media (poem) - 9. Sharon Bramlett-Solomon: This is My Story, This is My Song: Coping Through Black Gospel Music (essay) - 10. Ashley Wells: The Black Woman and Abuse in Early Black Writing (research) - 11. Venise T. Berry and Aja Witt: Television and Representation: Motivating Black Female Viewers to Get Help for Mental Health Concerns (research) - 12. Shanita Baraka Akintonde: I am NOT your Superwoman: I Only Play One on TV" (essay) - 13. Yosara Trujillo: "Dis Con Nec Ted" (poem) - A Thick Fog of Ugly (navigating hurt, hate and bias) - Z Saj: Isolation (poem) - 15. Tessa Goodwin: I love My Birthday (essay) - 16. Anika Dean: Abandoned, Disappointed, and Angry (essay) - 17. JoAnne Banks: Healing through Intergenerational Storytelling (essay) - 18. Cynthia Harbor: Jess and the Boo Hag (short story) - 19. Tiana Warner: Black Women, Police Violence, and Mental Health (essay) - 20. Chelsea D. Hicks: Forever Tender (poem) - Demons Whispering in Your Ear (self-criticism and suicide) - 21. Averi Bryant: Holes in my Mind (poem) - 22. Valerie Nyberg: My Albatross (essay) - 23. Jan Pena Davis: THICK! (short story) - 24. Tianna Newell: Exhale (essay) - 25. Jalyn Lockett: The Falling Dream (poem) - Faith can Move Mountains (God, belief, and spirituality) - 26. Caitlin Smith: I Want to be a River (poem) - 27. Betty D. Doris: Coping through Spirituality and Faith (research) - 28. Venise T. Berry: Black Female Pastors: Superwoman Meets God (research) - 29. Olisa Yaa Tolokun: Who Heals the Healers? Grandmothers do (essay) - 30. Jacqualyn F. Green: In the Stillness a Voice Resounds (essay) - 31. Vergarie Sanford: Overcoming Obstacles through Faith (essay) - 32. Aja Witt: Grateful (poem) - The Black Superwoman (power and pain) - 33. Chelsea D. Hicks: Weighted Capes (poem) - 34. Ruth D. Edwards: Keep on Keeping On (essay) - 35. Sharon Albert Honore: Black Women Identifying Our Pain: Reidentifying Identity and Embracing Body Awareness (essay) - 36. Tanisha M. Jackson: Believing our own hype: Black Women Artists Cultivating Mental Wellness (research) - 37. Portia A. Jackson Preston: A Litany for the Homegoing of the Strong Black Woman (essay) - 38. Jamillah Witt - A Rainbow After the Storm (poem) - Author Bios
