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Black Women: On the Journey To Wholeness

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

       Is it hazardous to your health to be a strong black woman?
      Several studies say yes. On the one hand, strong black women often join solutions-and-survival-driven groups such as the Universal Sisters, whose numbers have climbed from 500 to 800 women after starting three years ago in the historic First Baptist Church of Bute Street. Or she may join the East Side Development Community Corp. which will hold a marriage seminar April 19 at the Virginia Beach Conference Center from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
      On the other hand, the strong black woman is like all women nationwide. More likely than men to suffer from depression—because women’s brains make less of the hormone serotonin—she is more likely to have a second heart attack within a year of the first one, according to the Society for Women’s Health Research. Although she will probably talk openly about her blood pressure or recent surgery, the strong black woman will say little about her own mental health.
     “There’s a fear of putting our business in the street, of somehow revealing too much,” said Lorraine Cole, president of the Black Women’s Health Imperative. “There’s a deep-seated feeling that going to seek professional help is a sign of weakness.”

     It’s one reason why a 2006 Wayne State University study links depression to hypertension in African American women. Researchers found a connection between high blood pressure, high levels of depression, and low-social support, in other words.
      More likely to suffer from obesity, depression, heart disease, and diabetes, according to several studies, black women are more likely to rely on the church, the community and relatives during stressful periods.
      Moreover, many black women are schooled to be tough and sacrificial. If such assumptions lead to a shorter life expectancy rate, as studies suggest, this is one reason why it is difficult to treat black women. Socialized at a young age to absorb hostility, the strong black woman is often trapped behind a mask.
     “We’re talking about subtleties—everyday insults that build up over time,” said Tene Lewis, Ph.D., a health psychologist in preventive medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
      In other words, strong black women suck it up and suffer in silence at chronically unhealthy levels, according to several studies by the California Black Women’s Health Project.
      In one study researchers found that African American women in California have the distinction of having the shortest life expectancy rate, as well as the highest mortality rate for heart disease and stroke. She will probably talk about her high blood pressure or other health-related issues, researchers noted. But she will rarely discuss her own mental health issues.

Posted April 2, 2008

    
    
     Instead, strong black women said they tend to repress feelings, let frustration build and release tension through tears or conflict, according to a 2002 study on 1300 women.
     “We have to sometimes say, ‘sister, your behavior is not healthy,’ “ said Seneca Bock, who co-founded the Healthy Marriage Network of South Hampton Roads. Active in several women’s groups in Hampton Roads, Bock has a sociology background.
      The strong black woman needs emotional support like everyone else. “But we tend to hide behind being too busy,” Bock said. “If we don’t talk about it we continue to run the risk of doing things that are detrimental. We have a lot of women who are struggling with mental health issues such as depression. Yet we know that when people have more support they also have more resilience.  Every woman should be connected to some sort of mutual-aid group,” said Bock who is helping to sponsor the upcoming marriage seminar in Virginia Beach. To register, phone 628-0204.
      But aren’t relationships with other black women often considered problematic? Who has the time? What about the last (15-1500) bad experiences?
      Such assumptions are highlighted in an assortment of troubling diaries which Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett includes in her book: Stress, Anxiety, And Strong Black Women.
      The women seem to be juggling two different realities, said Barnett, who monitored each woman’s blood pressure and heart rate, as she wrote her thoughts in a diary.
      Most were unaware that as they scribbled down calm thoughts, their blood pressure rates were shooting off the chart, Barnett said.
      “Several said to me, ‘Baby, I don’t have time to think about that mess. If I did, I’d be stressed out about everything.’ Yet taking time out to do something about it would go a long way to preventing the anxiety and the health problems associated with it such as chronic upper respiratory infections, hypertension, heart disease and obesity.”
      Bock said she believes the disconnect happened during the sixties. “There was a trade-off to obtain the gains we achieved,” Bock said. “But, we fell asleep at the wheel. What happened in the transition was that we bought into the nuclear family concept which is not necessarily good for a marginalized community.”
     “Now we can’t go back,” said Bock, who is also the president of the East Side Development Community Corp. She is also the president of the League of Women’s Voters. “But (the disconnect) does present a unique opportunity for us to begin to have some unique conversations about it.”
   
   

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