Race, Stigma and Silence (cont.)
”Standing in the Shadows: Understanding and Overcoming Depression in Black Men,” by John Head. Broadway Books, $22.95.
"No Secrets No Lies: How Black Families Can Heal From Sexual Abuse,” by Robin D. Stone. Broadway Books, $23.95.
The New York Times
August 17, 2004
By John Langone
............................................................................................................................
These books break longstanding silences about two problems as they affect African-Americans: depression in black men and sexual abuse, often at the hands of family members.
Mr. Head, a veteran journalist who has written on mental health and who himself
has struggled against depression, writes movingly about how, as his emotional
crisis deepened, he felt his manhood ''unraveling for the world to see.''
''I didn't want to behave this way,'' he writes, ''and
more than anything, I didn't want anyone to see me this way.''
Mr. Head contends that ''this country's troubled history of race, and its lingering racism, prevent Americans from accepting depression's destructive impact on black men and from confronting problems.''
The author also points out that mental health professionals are overwhelmingly white, and so, he writes, even if black men overcome the perceived shame of seeking professional help, ''it may be difficult to find someone with whom they can build the rapport that allows a patient to reveal his most intimate secrets.''
From the juvenile justice system through adult prisons, Mr. Head writes, ''behavior that might indicate a mental disorder is more likely, for blacks, to be ascribed to acting out.'' He cites the example of the boxer Mike Tyson, who said mental disorder explained his explosive rages. ''Even though he was supported by doctors' opinions,'' Mr. Head writes, ''Tyson was ridiculed as nothing more than a thug making excuses.''
In the end, the author says, black men ''must be reassured that we will not be diminished in our communities if we suffer from depression.'' They must end denial when the disease strikes, he writes, and ''must step out of the shadows of stigma and shame, into the light of acceptance and hope.''
Ms. Stone, a journalist and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, has written both a resource and a social commentary that includes interviews with victims of abuse, caretakers, family and friends.